18 October 2005
Day 2: Phakding - Namche Bazar (3420m). 6 Hours
Hard day today. Woke up and felt pretty good, little sore on my hips, legs, back and feet but popped some advil and hit the "freeway" (the trail is the main route between villages). Made it to Jorsalle pretty easily and picked up my Sargamatha permit, feeling quite good. Dipu played the flute and we walked under the massif of Kusum Khangarau (6200).
After Jorsalle the trail went up at a pretty decent clip. Altitude + pack + steep really fucked me. We did get nice views of Everest as we rounded switch backs but it was quite a struggle to get through the town to the teahouse (conviently located at the very top of the village). My quads burned like they haven't for about seven years.
Lets talk Sherpas. These people are ridiculous. They take three backpacks, duffel bags, cardboard boxes and a Japaneese woman, lash them to wicker (or rattan) baskets and strap the whole thing to their foreheads. Then walk up a mountain. Its nuts. Everything in the stores, in fact the stores themselves, are carried in by these porters.
Namche is the Khumbu region metropolis. Lots of teahouses (maybe 30), bakeries, bars, trekking stores, banks and even high speed internet. It is in some regards bigger than CB. Lots of Tibet made goods, brought over from China. There is an awesome photo of a Sherpa trekking in a dryer, how awesome would it be to see one with a satelitte dish on their back?
After Jorsalle the trail went up at a pretty decent clip. Altitude + pack + steep really fucked me. We did get nice views of Everest as we rounded switch backs but it was quite a struggle to get through the town to the teahouse (conviently located at the very top of the village). My quads burned like they haven't for about seven years.
Lets talk Sherpas. These people are ridiculous. They take three backpacks, duffel bags, cardboard boxes and a Japaneese woman, lash them to wicker (or rattan) baskets and strap the whole thing to their foreheads. Then walk up a mountain. Its nuts. Everything in the stores, in fact the stores themselves, are carried in by these porters.Namche is the Khumbu region metropolis. Lots of teahouses (maybe 30), bakeries, bars, trekking stores, banks and even high speed internet. It is in some regards bigger than CB. Lots of Tibet made goods, brought over from China. There is an awesome photo of a Sherpa trekking in a dryer, how awesome would it be to see one with a satelitte dish on their back?
