Day 13 -- October 10 => Phakding to Namche Bazar

Thamserku (6808m/22,336')

Under an almost clear sky, we left our campsite in Phakding (2640m/8660') at 7:45am. We began the ascent to Gumila (2813m/9229') in the cool shade but finally reached sunny slopes as we approached Gumila. After passing a waterfall, we got a beautiful morning view of Thamserku.

Khumbila (5761m/18,900')

Continuing up through blue pine and rhododendron forests, we arrive in Benkar (2905m/9,531') and get our first view of Khumbila (5761m/18,900') off to the northwest. Khumbila is the "sacred mountain" -- no one is allowed to climb it.

Sagarmatha National Park Visitor's Permit

After crossing a suspension bridge over the Dudh Khosi, we begin ascending again past Chumoa (we will stop here on the way back to Lukla) among many vegetable farms. Cross a suspension bridge over the Kyangshar Khola at 2773m/9098' and up to Monjo (2835m/9300'). Here we had to wait for Chris to catch up to us so he could go on ahead to the Sagarmatha National Park entrance to deal with our park permits.

Sagarmatha National Park Entrance

From Monjo, there's a brief descent before it quickly turns into a big hill upwards to the Sagarmatha National Park entrance. The entrance fee for visitors is 1,000 rupees, or about $20 CAD. Chris took care of this for us and we were simply waved through just before 11am. There's an immediate descent to a wooden suspension bridge over the Dudh Kosi. We then stopped for lunch at 11:15am at a convenient spot beside the river. We never did see where the kitchen staff were preparing lunch this time.

Bridge over Bhote Khosi towards Namche Bazar

Leaving our lunch stop around 12:30pm, we ascended to the wooden suspension bridge at 2865m/9400' over the Bhote Khosi. A traffic jam of Dzopkios and two horses slowed progress at the end of the bridge. The problem was a set of steep stairs at the end of the bridge -- the horses needed a lot of coaxing to get them down.

Outskirts of Namche Bazar

Now the hard part started -- a grueling ascent up a very big hill to Namche Bazar with the sun beating down on you. After a two hour grind, the first few buildings of Namche Bazar (3440m/11,285') finally come into view.

Just before 3pm, we reached an army checkpoint at the lodge in the picture. It took about 15 minutes before one of our guides, Baboram, was able to sort things out so we could continue on. It was another 15 minutes up the steep hillside before reaching our campsite beside the Sagarmatha NP headquarters around 3:30pm. We had been in t-shirts on the big hill but we quickly changed to heavier outerwear as the clouds began coming down to us and a chilly wind was blowing. While we had some rock walls around the campsite, there were few trees. Just before sunset, the clouds cleared just enough for views of Kwangde Ri (6187m/20,298') immediately west of Namche.

Six of the eight porters that had been hired in Jiri to carry our stuff were let go since Dzopkios would now be used to carry most of our gear. Of the two that remained, one was my porter "Bat". The sirdar told us that the two porters who had been chosen were better equipped for colder weather. I was happy to see my porter continuing on as we gotten along well and he could speak some English. Of course, he also did a phenomenal job of carrying my kit bag.

Namche Bazar was under curfew from 8pm to early light. If we ventured outside our tent during that time (e.g. toilet), we were instructed to point our headlamps towards the ground. Whenever I was returning to my tent I could see the guard tower lights and I always got the impression that there was some soldier out there watching me in his rifle scope. I don't know if that was true or not but it sure gave you a weird feeling.

Day 12 - Surke to Phakding Day 14 - Namche Bazar Acclimitization day

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Created: November 24, 2002. Revised: November 25, 2002.