Our Virtual Everest Trek day Eight

Our view of Ama Dablam

Brigantes Everest Expedition Day 8

Two days ago we dropped down from the ridge into Dingboche. Today we had to start by climbing back up it. There was a bit of grumbling but that all stopped when we saw the view. We were surrounded by mountains and for the first time were genuinely inspired by what we saw. We were in the Himalayas proper! I thought the best was Ama Dablam which was actually behind us as we walked. It was a glorious morning with clear blue skies and we weren’t even put off by a sharp descent to the Khumbu Khola valley and the inevitable haul up the other side.  By the time we stopped for lunch at Dughla we’d had a good morning.

                                But how quickly things can change in these parts. No sooner had we set off to climb the terminal moraine of the Khumbu glacier than the weather closed in. It’s a hard climb at the best of times, with boulders everywhere, no clear path and cairn memorials, usually just heaps of stones with prayer flags, in memory of yet more mountaineers who died on Everest. All a bit desolate. Never were we so glad that we had Dowting and his Sherpas to guide us.

It began to clear as we approached Lobuche. Now there was a new danger – from rock falls. We were told to keep eyes and ears open. We survived but we could see where there were new falls. We’re now at over 16,000ft and Lobuche is a cold, bleak place – in fact no more than a few so-called ‘lodges’ (more like huts) at the bottom of a hillside beside a stream. Apparently nobody sleeps well here. Some trekkers just pitch tents but still come into the lodges in the evenings to keep warm by the stove. We made the best of it. Some of our group have gone very quiet as the enormity of it all sinks in. I can see one or two who’ll be very happy to sit it out at Base Camp.

 Watch out for rock falls!

I have to tell you about the amazing sunset over Nuptse, with the pink and crimson from the clouds projected onto the jagged, snow covered slopes. Nuptse is almost 26,000ft.  It means West Peak in Tibetan and, with its twin Lhotse (South Peak) was so named in 1921 by the legendary British mountaineer George Mallory. Best not to talk about what happened to him.

Luke N Brightside

Expedition Communications Officer

Lobuche always shakes them up a bit. After the lovely valley of Dingboche it’s a real culture shock. One or two of the stragglers had a bad afternoon. We had to keep going back and checking numbers in the mist to make sure we hadn’t lost any. We even discovered a couple of them sitting on a rock trying to get their mobile phones to work. Probably looking for the bus timetable to get them back to Lukla. 

Sherpa Dowting

Head Porter