Trek day 7, Pheriche back to Tengboche

admin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:48:48 +0000

We were at the highest point of our trek this morning, and had to spend 24 hours there to acclimatise, so had a chance to get some decent pics! A nice little treat was seeing the local heli dropping off supplies – the only way to get anything up here is via foot or helicopter (not a good place to be badly ill!). The village also houses the last medical outpost before Everest.

The heli is the only way other than foot to reach Pherice which is at 4.3 km up

Me with the glacial valley, floored with peat, in the background and the glacial head (corrie) in the distance

A local girl decided Rohan’s tripod looked like a fun climbing frame!

Abu Dami (or something like that), one of the most challenging peaks to climb int he region.

A real mountain Yak – the others we had seen (with less hair) are cow-yak hybrids. These ones can only survive above about 3,000m.

Half-way back to Tengboche

Everest (far left) and its neighbours wreathed in their own personal clouds.

Photos from Trek day 6, Tengboche to Pheriche

admin — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:32:34 +0000

Last night was my first without John for simply ages (probably two months) and it was very strange. I have not been able to speak with him either, in fact all I managed was a couple of messages sent via the Danish channel 5 film crew’s borrowed satellite uplink and Facebook of all things!

I was thoroughly back into the swing of things today, and resumed my usual position at the head of the first group. I have really started to get the hang of using poles now too – it is rather like cross-country skiing if fact, using them to push myself along. The reason I was up the front, by the way, is so that I could stop and take pictures of some of the breath-taking scenery without getting left behind the group – rather like I do when SCUBA diving!

We stopped for lunch just past 13,000 feet – a massive 4km up. Unfortunately the weather turned, and it was very much “head down and get there” for the last stretch to Periche at 14,000feet (4.3km) – the highest point on our trek. Despite the rain the scenery was still awesome, walking along the base of a glacial valley dotted with massive morraine (boulders deposited by the glacial flow several thousand years ago). We had also no moved well about the tree-line, and the plant life was become more and more sparse; small shrubs clinging to the landscape.

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Trek day 7, Pheriche back to Tengboche

Photos from Trek day 6, Tengboche to Pheriche