Dragnag 15,387ft back to Namche Bazaar via Phortse (12,467ft)
There is no rush to get out of bed today as compared to the last four days we have a couple of easy days walking ahead of us to get back to Namche Bazaar and a rest day. The Cho La Valley resort, our home for the night was very comfortable and we had a lazy breakfast before setting off, walking down the quieter side of the Gokyo valley, as recommended by Mark for our stop tonight at Phortse.
As a result, we didn’t see any trekkers all day, I think Mark, used to walking in the wilder areas of Nepal was quite pleased about this. I’m not sure the lodge owners where we stopped for lunch would think the same way though. I was awake in the night with a sore throat, another symptom of the dry air and have determined to take in more fluid today. Although you know you should, its hard getting 4 or 5 litres of fluid down you in a day, soup and tea in the lodges helps but it still means drinking a lot of water, which in the cold isn’t easy and I think we are all a bit dehydrated. I know I have drunk more Coke on this trip than I have in my whole life, Coke and Snicker bars seem to have become part of my staple diet.
It was a tiring second half to the day after lunch with a fair bit of up and down on route to Phortse. The lodge owner at Cho La Valley said he was going to phone his relative who ran a lodge in Phortse and book us in. It took us a while to find it and when we got there it was blank looks all round and they were full anyway. We did manage to get in the lodge next door though.
Phortse, at 12,467ft is the lowest we have been since Tyngboche, a week ago now and you can palpably feel the air getting richer in oxygen again, its a strange feeling, breathing is much easier and you feel much stronger. No wonder some of the best long distance runners are from the oxygen depleted highlands of Ethiopia and Kenya, running at sea level they must feel like supermen. The lodge we were in had a first floor dining area/room with a rather bizarre spiral staircase to access it. As well as the oxygen returning as we get lower, the quality of the lodges and rooms also gets better, a result of not having to carry things so high up into the mountains with only a yak for transport and raw materials being more available.
For map and route details of this walk click ‘Learn more’ below
Phortse (12,467ft) to Namche Bazaar
I slept well in what now seems a rather plush room with solid wood instead of plywood walls and we left the lodge about 9.30am. It was a massive climb down from Phortse to get to the bridge crossing our old friend the Dudh Khosi river, who has rejoined us. All this was slightly disheartening as we knew that after crossing the river we would have to regain all the height we had just lost and more on the other side of the valley. Still, until someone builds a mile long suspension bridge, which is never, that’s the way it is going to be. We had a rest at the bridge and I then just set myself into crawler mode and ground out the long ascent back up the other side of the valley. About half up way we rested and I could see Phortse, now on the opposite side of the valley at about the same height as us, with a lovely view of Ama Dablam behind.
We got to the village of Mong, which conveniently sits at the top of the valley at about midday, just in time for lunch. Safe in the knowledge that the hard work of the day was done and it was in the main downhill or flat all the way back to Namche Bazaar now, lunch was all the more enjoyable. We sat outside on the terrace and I enjoyed a sugar pancake and Coke. It was another dry sunny day and we sat chilling and chatting in the sunshine, resting our legs and admiring the great views all around us, in no hurry to leave. Eventually, lunch and sunbathing over we got ourselves moving and started the long walk back to Namche.
Not long after leaving Mong we rejoin the Namche to Tynboche trail that we had walked up on a week ago. The trail and the walking here is good. A wide flat path traversing the valley side all the way back to Namche Bazaar with the glorious view, behind us now of course, of Everest peeking over the Nuptse wall that I took so many pictures of just eight short days ago. On the way down Mark spotted a Himalayan Tahr, a bit like a goat but quite rare apparently, high up on the valley side and we watched it for several minutes.
We rolled into Namche Bazaar about 4.30pm and are staying in the Hotel Tibet again. Perception and experience are strange things. Eight days ago I would have told you that the Hotel Tibet was a pretty basic place. Today, after eight days away in far more basic conditions, I would tell you that the Hotel Tibet, with its hot water, western style toilets, sinks and solid bedroom walls is positively the height of luxury. I had a hot shower for the first time in two weeks and felt really good afterwards. Rest day tomorrow.
For map and route details of this walk click ‘Learn more’ below
