Thunder Snow in the Himalayas.

Days 1-3. Trust the Journey

I have been dreaming of this 18 day trek in the Himalayas since I was sixteen. All the paperwork, planning, and reservations aside I took a small gutted schoolbus in the sky to the worlds most deadly airport. Lukla airport is deadly because the runway ends AT the mountain face. Fog, speed, or the ” crackerjack pilots” that are banned in most European countries from flying can cause the plane to come to a ” dead stop”.  My flight was fun, 30 min from Kathmandu, and uneventful. We immediately began the trek.

My guide ” Rom” and porter ” Mekh-man” and I are the group. It’s the first trip in over a year for these guys due to covid shutting down travel. They were eager to make money and to see their friends up the mountain trail. The trek just to Everest Base Camp is 8 days one way. I will try and add some lower peaks and passes beyond the standard EBC trek. But… we will see.

I hired them for 18 days and can customize as I wish. The guide will handle the accommodations wherever we end up. He knows everyone and most villages are ghost towns from covid. Many teahouses are simply shut down. An average day ,I am told, you see 1000 people on the trail. We saw 6 on day 1. On day 2 we ran into a group of 8 Israelis doing the famed “3 passes circ”. My route only hits 2 and maybe only my original one over Cho-la pass to Gokyo lakes. I was talked into adding Renjo La pass and down to Thame monastery to make a nice circ . These are high passes at 18,000 ft and may be impassable due to recent storms and temps not exceeding the freezing point. We will see.

Night one on trail was at a friend of Rom’sThe window didnt close and no teahouses have heat. There were a dozen Nepali cockroaches i saw at a 3 am potty call. I killed 5 of them. It was 16 degrees F. The roaches just wanted to snuggle. I left the light on.

Day two is the steepest climb of the trek to the sherpa village of Namche. The NOAA radar on my phone said rain began at 11 am. I told Rom we should start at 6 but he didnt want to start until 8. We walked 2 hours in the downpour of 34 degree rain. He said he should have listened go me. When the sun went down the heavy system continued with thunder , the rain turning to heavy snow continuing til midday on day 3. We hope for some melting but expect a muddy and slippery trail to Tengboche temple and then to Pangboche for the night.

The 2 nights of acclimation was hard to just sit in town , but my body needs it. The climb to Namche was slow and my O2 sat after dinner was only 87%. Usually 97-98% back home. A day of acclination did not help. Dinner the next night was 87% . No improvement. Believe me I have already wondered what I got into and worry about my ability to finish. To have doubts already is not good and I repeated to myself all day to ” Trust the Journey”. Sorry I cannot philosophize tonight about it. I have to get sleep for tomorrow’s climb of 6-7 hours. Just wanted to let you know how its going. We will talk more in a few days if I can find signal.