Everest 2006: Fi and Paul: Further up the Khumbu Valley to the town of Lobuche

Location: Lobuche
Altitude: 4930m
Local Time: Fri 31st March, 8:15pm
Weather: Fine during the day, but its cold now -10C

Hi all, it's Fiona here.

We've all made it further up the Khumbu Valley to the town of Lobuche today, putting us at an altitude of 4930 metres.

Today's Walk
This morning started at 6:30am with "Sherpa Tea" served to us in our tent - even though we're camping, we're not yet going without some luxuries! (Sherpa Tea is sweet, milky tea.) We then had breakfast; today it was porridge, a pancake, and a hard boiled egg, and headed off at around 8am.

The landscape around us seems to change so dramatically each day we move further up the valley. Today we saw the last of the scrubby bushes and grasses disappear, to be replaced by steep, rocky slopes and increasingly more snow. Around the middle of the day, the landscape turned to moraine and icy rivers as we near the foot of the glacier. We had lunch in Dugla (also known as Thugla) and then continued on and up.

As usual, there were lots of yaks on the trail. We all laughed when we saw one yak helping itself to the hay being carried on the back of the yak in front of it! Not surprisingly, this one didn't need too much encouragement to keep walking from the yak hearders.

A couple of hours from our destination, we passed through a memorial spot with tombstones and many stones to commemorate those climbers and sherpas that have died on Everest. A beautiful, peaceful place, but a very somber moment that was not lost on all, especially the climbers.

Lobuje
Lobuje is a small town that closes down each winter when the snow becomes too deep. This is the first time our group is not camped on the grounds of a teahouse - so we're using the dining tent that we'll be using at basecamp. When everyone is in it, it seems pretty warm but otherwise the temperature is pretty chilly. Paul and I have actually opened up our down jackets for the first time.

Bridget and Chris checked into the Eco-Lodge - one that's supposed to be the nicest in town. By the way, a few people have asked why they are staying in lodges while Paul and I are camping. Basically, our trek into basecamp is part of our overall expedition with International Mountain Guides (IMG). There is also a belief that by quarantining ourselves and staying away from the teahouses may prevent us from catching bugs - which could be debilitating for the climb. (However, we're obviously still talking to Chris and Bridget though!!) The tent camping is not too bad - our sherpa team makes sure we aren't doing it too rough.

Bye for now,
Fiona.

Updates

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