Day 1 at the airport. Waited all day for the plane that never came…
…so we went for Thai at Bungalow.
Ashish enjoying Thai beer drinking culture.
On the phone with our guide Lakpa trying to arrange a desperation helicopter to no avail. Nothing in and out of Lukla today. Trying again tomorrow.
Sister Janarjan “Rikki” Adhikari and brother Ashish ready to board.
Destination: Mountain.
All clear after the false start.
Watching the last 6 minutes of the Nebraska game. They made it to the Sweet 16 for the first time, but lost to Iowa 77-71.
More delays due to runway traffic. One more hour. So close…
Landing in Lukla soon.
Local ashtray.
Officially starting Day 1 of the trek from Lukla headed for Phakding.
Springtime in the Himalayas.
Massive “mani walls” adorn the trails.
Rainy day most of the way.
Ashish flirting.
Butchering a whole pig.
Daal Bhat with fresh pork.
Day 2: Phakding to Namche Bazaar
Getting our trekking permits checked as we enter Sagarmatha National Park.
Cheese balls ayo! 57 kg porter hauling an 80 kg load.
Arriving at Namche Bazaar.
Having a pint of Sherpa Red Ale (on draft!) at The Irish Pub.
Live music at The Hungry Yak.
Evening in Namche.
Day 3: View walking outside of the teahouse in search of a coffee.
Typical team breakfast.
Tall flag poles in front of Sherpa homes are called “chhodar”. The height of this flag pole is almost 10 m. The flag is almost from the top of the pole to slightly above the ground. Rarely it is plain white and more often comes in five different colors (green, white, red, yellow and blue). These five colors represent sky, cloud, mountain, earth and water. The tip of the flag represents victory and the flags have sacred scriptures written on them.
Another type of flag is called “lungdar”, which is also very popular in Sherpa culture. This flag is fitted on a long string and strung across hills, jungles, water springs, across the tops of stupas, or on the roof of houses. They also have five different colors with sacred scriptures and it is believed that the wind passing through them becomes sacred too reaching everyone with blessings of luck and happiness.
Ashish worries that we won’t see Everest today due to the heavy clouds rolling in.
Just happy for the beautiful day
Feeling lucky to catch a view of Everest (our first) from the trail. Amadablam (mom’s necklace) on the right.
A nak mom and her calf maybe 3-4 days old.
View from our table at Hotel Everest View. Tengboche village rests below Nuptse (left), Everest (middle), and Lhotse (right).
Sipping ginger tea and coffee while we enjoy the views. Furba dai, our porter for the trip, on the left of Rikki dai, and Lakpa bhai on her right.
The Sagarmatha Next art gallery featuring pieces from Kumar Thapa when he was an artist in residence. Pieces are created from discarded materials taken from the surrounding area.
The current artist in residence is Shreemila, an art student at Kathmandu University who has completed 3 of 4 weeks at the Sagarmatha Next studio. She has been working on several pieces inspired by the local landscape. Here prayer flags are featured with plastics and yak wool that have been collected from bushes that accumulate the wool as yaks brush by them.
Tenzing Norgay with pickaxe over Everest in front of The Tenzing Norgay Sherpa Heritage Centre.
Typical team lunch. Thukpa with timmur in foreground. Fries, nak cheese, and potato and cheese momo in background.
Cafe Danphe Bar.
Lakpa bhai waiting to hustle us.
Aahish sinks the winning shot.
Scott quick pooped into this urinal and had to scoop it out with an empty glass…
…so we wouldn’t get kicked out but then he poured a gorkha strong into the poop glass…
…and got gastro from drinking it lucky it was our last day so he only missed a day of walking.
Typical Ashish special recipe breakfast of Tibetan bread, peanut butter, and boiled egg.
Day 4 begins toward Khumjung Village. Another beautiful sunny day.
Got yak-tracked at the yak farm.
Helping out mother and daughter with the daily feeding before releasing all the yaks to frolick in the field.
Leaving the farm and back on the trail we are lucky to see Everest and neighboring peaks again.
Entering Khumjung.
Khumjung below.
In Sherpa culture Padmasambhava was one of many Buddhas who had blessed the Himalayan valleys. These valleys or “beyul” were hidden by him and secured for the Sherpa people as relief from great difficulty.
If someone enters into the beyul, their life is believed to be sacred and protected by the mountain deities.
Boiling water by direct solar power.
Rikki bumbu orders a plate of local aloo (known as “rikki bumbu”) for lunch (with a side of nak cheese).
Amadablam peaks out of the clouds while local women plant potatoes. Ashish has fun flirting as Furba dai speculates that their husbands are out working the mountains.
Catching up on some work before dinner.
Day 5: Ashish begins the day by helping out Furba dai
Leaving Khumjung for Dole.
Approaching Mongla Hilltop – our first stop of the day.
On our way to Phortse Tenga. Phortse pictured in the distance.
Final stop in Dole. Keeping warm as it begins to snow. All of us dealt with a healthy dose of altitude sickness, but we survived the night.
Day 6: Leaving Dole for Gokyo
Snow covered Dole.
Playing baseball on a rest stop. Miss 1.
Miss 2.
Miss 3.
🎯
Resting in Luza.
Heading in to Machermo.
First peek of Gokyo Lake.
Approaching Gokyo.
Day 7: Out the door at 4:30a to summit Gokyo Ri. This is several hundred feet up looking back at Gokyo at first light.
Sunlight just kissing Everest at middlish left.
Sun rising over Lhotse. Everest just left of Lhotse.
Gokyo Ri summit at 17,500 ft.
Lakpha bhai getting some “oxygen” amongst the prayer flags.
Day 9: Heading back to Lukla from Namche on a beautiful last day.
Carrying an 83 kg load.
Fresh fruits and vegetables of the day.
One porter rests as another crosses the bridge.
Furba Sherpa host us in his bhatti pasal where his wife serves us fresh chhyang made from corn brought from their village.
Final beers and games of pool at The Blue Wave Bar. Ashish and Rikki were reigning champs of the night winning all of their games.
On the dance floor.
Petting a stray donkey on the way back to the guest house.
