Yaks, Sherpas and Earthquakes, oh my! Phakding to Namche Bazaar – elevation 11,700
Another 8 AM star to what became a long day. We left Phakding and headed north along the banks of the Dudh Kosi (Milk River), crossing back and forth on suspension bridges five times. We pass Ghat Village and entered the Sagramatha National Park and shortly thereafter stopped for lunch beside the river. There was a steady stream of Sherpas carrying almost anything you can imagine including doors, beams, and lumber for a house construction. After lunch we crossed the river for the last time and began a long climb (gaining a total of 2700 feet of altitude by the time we reached our destination.
The climb itself began with switchbacks and after reaching the ridge line we traverse this for another 2.5 miles and came to Namche. We hiked through Namche to Namche Bazaar and a wonderful hotel called Panorama Lodge – with hot showers, and electric blankets to keep us warm, and another hot meal from our cook!
A few words about our Sherpa team: our head Sherpa – called a Shirdar – summited Everest 7 times; our cook and cooked for 19 climbing teams at Everest Base Camp – so we are in very experienced hands!
There was on unexpected occurrence. Around 6:45 pm the hotel shook a bit, paused and then started really shaking. We all look at each other and then made a bolt for the door along with a couple of other groups and all the staff. I got outside and stood in a light drizzle for about 10 minutes waiting for my heart to stop racing – I never experienced an earthquake. Turns out the quake measured 6.9 and was centered in Northern India. It apparently caused mudslides in India and killed several people.
We went back inside and finished dinner and around 30 minutes later 30 children arrived and came into the hotel from the local boarding school, very frighten from the quake and the hotel put mattresses down on the floor and the kids spent the night here with us at Panorama Lodge.
The next day – Monday – we rested in Namche Bazaar enjoying the village, surrounding mountains even though clouds were low and constantly moving through we were able to get quick glimpses of Lhotse and Lhotse Star – two mountains at 8500 and 8350 meters high respectively which are east of Everest. In fact Lhotse shares a saddle with Everest.
We also visited a Sherpa memorial and a Buddhist monastery. In the afternoon I rested a bit and then caught up on emails and of course what you are now reading.
More soon!
