Sagarmatha: trail to the top of the world

Friday morning we were up early for a 6 a.m. flight to Lukla, the gateway to Sagarmatha National Park and where the trail up the Khumbu Valley starts. The prospect of trekking in the footsteps of Everest expeditions was exciting.

On the way to the airport, the man who had arranged our travel got into an animated phone conversation, after which he informed us that we'd be taking a helicopter instead of the planned Goma Air flight. Alright, an adventure!

At the airport we met Kellie and Tim, friends who had a parallel trek planned, though they intended to hike all the way to Everest base camp, a popular destination. We were going to Tengboche, a village about halfway there at 12,500'.

The helicopter ride was great fun, especially since I got to sit up front and listen to air traffic control. I was impressed at the professionalism of ATC and the pilot--just like back home. Soon the Everest Range of the Himalayas came into view.

Lukla airport has been called the most dangerous in the world, and given the 9334' altitude, short 1700' runway, and mountain wall at the end, that's not complete hyperbole. I found the runway numbers at the "approach" end of runway 24 amusing though. That would be a very steep approach.

Leaving our luggage at a hotel in Lukla  essentials for the trek went in our daypacks and a 25-pound bag for our porter and guide, Rei. We were also accompanied by Tim and Kellie’s guide, Bhakta, and their porter, who everyone called Mac (sometimes Macaroni, just for fun). Mac was an elusive 18-year-old little guy but he carried two full size backpacks and outpaced us all.

The town had some eerie familiarities, but we were soon on the trail. 

At a trail switchback we caught the first distant view of Everest.

Buddhist prayer wheels are everywhere along the trail, and travelers spin them to activate the prayers written within. A few were automated, driven by a water wheel. There really is something to it; I felt more open and relaxed each time I spun one.

There is a continual procession of porters and animals carrying goods and supplies up and down the trail. It occurred to me that it's their equivalent of the endless semi trucks on I-40. Since there is no road, everything beyond Lukla—furniture, building materials, food, expedition supplies—comes on the back of a person or animal or by helicopter. We saw one guy with 15 eight-foot 2x4s on his back. They get $15 for a two-day haul from Lukla to Tengboche.

At lower elevations, mules and dzos (a yak-cow hybrid, which the locals pronounce jo-pe) are used, and above Namche, more so yaks, which better tolerate altitude. There are wild yaks too, but they’re scarce and live way up there at 15,000-20,000’.

The rule of the road here is to give way to porters and animals, and to stay on the uphill side, lest you find yourself unexpectedly downslope. Getting stuck behind a train of yaks, dzos, or mules causes inevitable delays, and extra attention to your footsteps is a good idea.

After a restful night at Chumoa, the climb to Namche Bazaar was tough and took about four hours. The steeper parts of the trails are made of rock stairs, which makes for a real workout. Namche is a last-stop marketplace for mountain expeditions and travelers bound for the higher villages or base camp.

Happy to be at Namche, we settled in and enjoyed yet another delicious portion of dal bhat. The Hotel Kamal is typical of the tea houses in the valley: a nice dining room where guests gather around the woodstove in the evening, and basic unheated rooms—essentially, you sleep in an uninsulated plywood box. If fortunate, you’ll find a place with solar hot showers (not here though). I was surprised to find a TV on; the favorite programs seem to be pro wrestling and Bollywood soaps.

We spent two nights. On the first morning, we climbed to a hilltop monument honoring Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, who with Sir Edmund Hillary, was the first local to summit Everest in 1953.

Everest looms under his elbow, behind the Nuptse ridge.

The term “sherpa” has two meanings. People who bear the surname Sherpa are descended from four families that came here from eastern Tibet hundreds of years ago. They settled first here in the Khumbu Valley, then moved west on the salt trade routes. Others, including our guides, identify with the profession of sherpa, those who guide adventurers to the mountain tops. I’d expected them to be nearly superhuman, but they climb step by step and get tired just like we do.

That afternoon, we walked over to the village helipad to take in its expansive views of the valley and mountains. Bhakta was on his cell phone, a ubiquitous tool even at these heights.

Afterward, Judy and I found a trail through the forest that led to a beautiful painted rock outcropping adorned with prayer flags. Below was a peaceful monastery where the monk who welcomed us in was all heart

People work hard here. These men working on a new building were using a six-foot-long hand saw to rip a big timber.

After a good sleep and breakfast, we were off to Tengboche village at 12,500’, just below treeline. Having lived at altitude at home and with our trip to Lo Manthang, we didn’t have any problems with the thinner air. The steep trail was a real butt-kicker though, and it was a relief to enter the village “plaza” that lies in front of the highest monastery in the world. This is yak country. It was also Tenzing Norgay's home town.

In the morning and afternoon, monks blow shell horns as a kind of call to prayer. Though there are several monks in residence, there was just one that afternoon whose chanting we observed. Apparently, as at Lo Manthang, most migrate to lower elevations until warm weather.

After a cold night (and thankful again for snug sleeping bags), morning offered a spectacular 360-degree view of the rugged Himalaya.

I didn’t expect helicopters at a remote village, but it turned out to be a busy morning, and one boy with altitude sickness was taken out by air. Turned out this is necessary multiple times per day, and the copters keep busy, even in bad weather, as we saw later.

Tim and Kellie’s plan was to press on up the trail to Everest Base Camp at 19,000’, but Tim, feeling the effects of elevation, wisely decided to spend the next few days here, while Kellie, Bhakta, and Mac continued. We were rooting for her, and look forward to seeing photos of their trip, which will be auctioned to benefit a NGO helping victims of human trafficking.

Judy and I took a last look at Everest, said goodbye to Kellie and Tim, and headed back down the trail. Whenever I leave special places and people, there's an emotional tug.

The day’s destination was Khumjung, a large village nestled in a mountain bowl. Even the bigger villages carry on with ways that seem primitive to us, such as wooden plows. Not a power tool in sight.

The monastery here possesses what is claimed to be a yeti skull. Legend has it that Khumjung received it as a gift from a neighboring village but the people were so disappointed at the present that they kicked it all the way home. There are various scientific explanations, but the locals believe the yetis exist.

After climbing Everest, Hillary used his fame to help the local people and built this school in Khumjung. 

In all of the villages, children were going to and from school. Recently, the schools have started teaching in English. A six-year-old we met in Lukla could read and speak English fairly well, but his ten-year-old brother couldn't.

Namche school

In the dining room of our lodge in Khumjung, we saw a schoolbook about the snow leopard  with alternating pages in local language and English and a certificate on the wall for “excellent Sherpa dancing.” By the way, snow leopards, though rare, are around; our guide in Lo Manthang said that one killed 32 goats in his village two months ago. 

The following day we had a long hike back to Chumoa. Though there was a net elevation loss, it's always a lot of up-and-down on the trails. One of the guides joked that Nepal’s national flag on its side represents trekking in Nepal. But more spectacular scenery! 

Julie Andrews?

Well above Namche has to be one of the highest airstrips in the world. As a business venture, it was built to bring Japanese tourists to a fancy new hotel, but they all got altitude sickness and the enterprise was a bust. It’s now a drop-off point for expedition supplies, and for two days we saw a procession of helicopters carrying loads underneath. Climbing starts in May, so the preparation for Everest and other peaks was in high gear.

In Chumoa, it was another night in a plywood box, but we were back to flowering trees and hot showers! Humidity is high here, so after a long trek, that’s a real treat.

The brand name for this Hindustani toilet tank was Hindware.

Our final trek back to Lukla was not as easy as expected, having forgotten that from the riverside, downhill going is uphill coming back. We were better off than these guys, though, who were hand-shaping granite blocks for new buildings with sledge hammers and chisels. The larger buildings are made of these blocks, and I can't imagine the work that went into making and transporting them.

One long final uphill stretch, and Lukla at last!

In the morning our flight to Kathmandu was cancelled--bad weather in Kathmandu cleared in time for the clouds to close in at Lukla as they normally do in the afternoon. Three rescue helicopters stopped at the airport, but no otgher flights. But so far Nepal has had a better plan; we’ll see. It's raining right now but sunny skies are forecast for tomorrow.