Deboche 3820 metres / Dingboche 4410 metres
Leaving Deboche with Ama Dablam in the horizon.
From Namche Bazar, we ascended to Deboche at 3800 metres. We crossed mountains with rhododendron forests in bloom, numerous smaller bridges crossing glacial streams, and trekked the Nepalese flat (large sections of up and down).
Rhododendron forest.
I always speak to strangers when I'm trekking alone and find they are more than happy to share stories about themselves and where they've trekked. There is a certain camaraderie in the trekking community and people generally converse with strangers along the paths without exchanging personal details. I find it very helpful when they have pointers about my itinerary and give me advice where or where not to go, what to watch out for, etc. Their backstories can be very interesting and amusing as well.
At lunchtime before arriving in Deboche, I started chatting to an American family, formerly based in New York, and now living in the American South. They were, obviously, at that point that families get to when they've been in close quarters for a couple of weeks. They were completely irritated and annoyed with each other. Unless you are the Waltons, this seems to happen regularly on trekking holidays. They had conflicting stories about their experience and complained about different aspects of their trip.
In my opinion family bonding when you have altitude headaches, are feeling nauseous, are in difficult living conditions, is just a romantic notion. If you want to have a terrific family holiday, take the lot to the beach or an exciting city. Ply them with cocktails that have olives, celery, even small umbrellas and the days will end with smiles. Trekking is best done with like minded mates.
On the other side of me was a Singaporean hiking group looking tired and extremely traumatised. They lost half their team to altitude sickness at various points of the trek and were hit by a blizzard in Kala Patthar. They had their iPhones die due to subzero temperatures at basecamp,so they didn't even have photos to show for their troubles. I felt for them.
On with the trip. En route to Deboche, we visited the famous Tengboche monastery. This monastery was founded in 1916 by Lana Gulu and has been built and rebuilt twice through the centuries. Lana Sangwa Dorte brought Buddhism to Nepal in the 1700's and they believe his footprint is set in stone in the entrance. Climbers come here for their very colourful and musical ceremony and blessing before attempting the summit.
In both Deboche and Dingboche, Ama Dablam rises above all other mountains and is an impressive sight. She is known as "the Matterhorn of the Himalaya" and deemed to be the most elegant. It translates to mean mother's jewellery box and from the western aspect, looks like a woman reaching out with a dablan (a pendant worn by Sherpa women). The mountain is supposedly a difficult technical climb (much harder than Everest) and thus, a life taker.
The two "lodges" I stayed in both villages were incredibly basic. Apparently, it is very difficult to build anything along the route to Everest, since all the building materials are flown in from Kathmandu then portered up from Lukla.
Back to the lodges, I stayed in a small bedroom with an ensuite bathroom. The shower didn't work, of course, and heating is non existent. To make things worse, you aren't allowed to throw any tissue into the toilet but only into a bin next to it. Gross.
Armed with anti-bacterial wipes and sanitiser, I was ready to deal with the loo. I prepared my sleeping bag (I sleep with my trekking outfit on), put in the hot water bottle inside to warm it, put my technology and batteries inside to extend their life (so not comfortable) and throw in a few hand warmers.
At altitude, sleep apnea becomes an issue. You stop breathing for a few seconds then come back to life snorting. This, coupled with the Harley Davidson motor sounds you produce from eating too much local dal bhat (lentil stew) it's a pretty noisy but somehow restful evening.
At this level (4000 metres and above) altitude sickness becomes a serious concern. Part of your Sherpa's responsibility is to walk in front of you, slowing you down to window shopping pace, so your body can acclimatise slowly to the ever increasing altitude. Helicopter pick ups are frequent, you see them all the time. Many young people are either too enthusiastic,or too impatient, and bound up the way, only to come down with severe headaches, dizziness and vomiting. This is taken quite seriously and may result in death. Once these symptoms manifest themselves, you are carted off to hospital in Kathmandu immediately, not even waiting for nightfall. Some say the sherpas who allow you to walk fast are probably in commission from the helicopter companies, since it costs thousands to be moved from here. Slowly, slowly rules,
Today I acclimatised to 4750 in Nagarjum, a mountain just above Dingboche. Tomorrow the real challenge starts at Lobouche 4950 metres (16240 feet). Not only is it difficult to sleep at high altitude, it means staying in very challenging tea houses. It's the starting point for the trek to Kala Patthar 5643 metres(18,513 feet) which starts at 4 am, in subzero conditions, in steep and snowy terrain.
Here comes the hard part...
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