Every mountain top is within reach if you just keep climbing
DAY -8
14 October 2022 Friday, Namche to Tengboche (3,860m) to Deboche (3,820m)
We hiked 12.5 km, 8 hours with a total ascent of 1,100 meters and got impacted by mild symptoms of AMS.
I woke up about quite early today, maybe we had a good rest yesterday - felt very fresh to continue the journey to Tengboche. As usual, the dining room was full with hikers preparing for the day. I don’t know what to have for my breakfast, so I just choose bread and honey. Coffee is a must! As we are having our meals, one by one hikers start leaving the teahouse for their own directions - some may prepare the acclimatization, some may head to Tengboche and other may go back to Phakding.
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| Hikers |
Today will be a long journey as we are starting hiking above 3,800m elevation. Less oxygen and high altitude. We need to be extra careful to avoid AMS symptoms. Once everyone is ready we start our trail out from Namche. For about 10 - 15 minutes, we are using the same route like yesterday to Namche until we make a right turn with a slope down along the side of mountains. I noticed quite a lot of people on the trail heading to Tengboche. I can see clearly in front of me is Mount Everest (most of the time hiding behind another mountain), Mount Lotshe (on the right of mount Everest) and Ama Dablam, mostly on the right side of your trail. Really stunning view.
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| Amazing trail |
After nearly 2 hours of hiking, we had our coffee break at a village called Ama Dablam with the view of Ama Dablam. We are waiting for another person who has a problem with knee injury. We rested for 20 minutes and then continued our hiking until we reached Phunklu Thanga where we had our lunch there - Dhal Bhat.
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| Dhal Bhat |
From Phunklu Thanga, we need to cross another suspension bridge to cross the river. We saw the helicopter perform the rescue. We learned that there was a hiker who had an accident and broken leg. We knew that we needed to be really careful in this expedition because we are in a remote area and it is not easy to get any help if required. After crossing the suspension bridge, for the next 3 - 3.5 hours the trail shot straight up until we reached Tengboche. This is one of the toughest hikes - do not worry about how far the distance is, just one step at the time until we reach there. We reached there around 3.30 p.m.
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| Ama Dablam rest area |
Tengboche is just a small mountain village at 3,860 meters and this is the largest monastery in the area. From Tengboche we can see the panoramic views of the mountainscape of Himalayas - Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse (7,861m), Tawache (6,495m), Ama Dablam (6,170m) and Thamserku (6,608m) in just a view. We spent around 20 minutes enjoying the amazing 360 degree mountain peak views and felt so relaxed that we almost completed our journey today. I think this is my favorite trek between Namche to Tengboche - nice spectacular walking in the forest, amazing view of the mountain peaks, nice teahouses and nice weather (acceptable cold).
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| Struggle - knee pain |
We learned from our guide that we need to continue to a small village called Deboche overnight. From Tengboche we descended slowly in quite a thick forest before reaching Deboche for about 30 - 40 minutes. We met Naomi - the Japanese lady hiker who planned to hike to EBC and Three Passes alone, unfortunately she was unable to get the room in this Teahouse and went back to Tengboche to find her room for tonight. If not mistaken, the first time we met her was at Paiya village. We stayed overnight at Paradise Lodge & Restaurant Deboche.
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| Paradise Lodge Deboche |
I think the altitude has impacted me - I felt dizziness, headache and fever. I went to the dining room and there was a nice heater in the center of the room. I sat near the heater while waiting for my dinner. Really make me warms, that helps a bit for my body to recover. Maybe this is my lucky day, I can still WhatsApp my doctor, Dr Yusni Mohd Yasin, UNI Clinic - seek his medical advice on my situation. I took some medicine as prescribed (also provided by him before the expedition) and went inside my sleeping bag. It was really hard to breathe, I woke up every hour of the night - really a long cold night for me.
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DAY -9
15 October 2022 Saturday, Tengboche (Deboche - 3,820m) to Dingboche (4,410m)
11.6 km hiking for 7 hours with total ascent of 1,600 meter, cross the mark of 4,000 meters altitude and acclimation hike to 4,348 meters
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| Recite prayer |
I felt much better this morning compared to last night - no more headache but my breathing still not good and felt like no oxygen went to my tired muscles. Unfortunately, we don’t have much time to spare, we lost 4 days because we were stranded in Phaplu and a new starting point for hiking at Kharikhola instead of Lukla. On top of the original plan from Lukla, our additional two days was equal to 35 km in hiking and more than 3,000m in elevation.
Tomorrow we needed to skip a day for the acclimation at Dingboche to make up for time. Our plan was to acclimatize while hiking slowly and once we reached Dingboche, we will do an acclimation hike - as long as it is higher than our sleep altitude, i guess it should be fine.
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| So amazing |
We saw a lot of white monastery statues along the hiking trails. After a while, I noticed that there were not many green trees around us, I guess we had crossed 4,000 meters in altitude. We have crossed the tree line and expect less oxygen - heavy breathing. We need to stay calm and think positive - physiology to avoid AMS. Like our guide keeps reminding - this is your epic holiday, enjoy the scenery and don’t push yourself. Just enjoy!
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| 4,081 meters altitude |
We break for lunch at Annapurna Fast Food Kitchen 4,081m (according to Garmin) - if not mistaken the place called Pangboche. As usual, Dhal Bhat or Maggi are our choices, but yet the taste is getting tasteless - just for carbo loading. I do not really take much for lunch as I looked beside the Teahouse is a small dusty hill that we need to climb after lunch. At 4,000 meters altitude, every step is really hard and every deep breath to feel the oxygen going into your lungs. The sunshine was really bright in the cold temperature - we walked on a fine dusty trail like a desert with a 360 degree view of mountains. The panorama view of majestic and magical mountains captured my mind. I knew that I missed it soon.
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| Crossing the tree line |
I can feel that we have a lot of up and down hiking today - when I looked at my Garmin Fenix 7, I noticed that our total ascent is 1,600 meters - that is a really high climbing day. Finally we reached Dingboche where on the right side we saw the glazier river come down - i guest from Ama Dablam or other mountains near mount Everest and on the left side were the hills that we need to climb to Loboche tomorrow.
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| Yaks attack! |
It was a really tiring day cause I was not well this morning but reaching here is a blessing for me. It is just another two days before we reach Everest BC. It's just another two days that I need to stay strong and keep healthy to ensure my dream comes true. I am really tired but yet tomorrow we will skip our acclimatization hike due to time not permitted. It is a bad idea!
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| Dingboche |
We decided to do an acclimatization hike today - as high as possible. Climb high, sleep low is the concept to avoid AMS. After checking-in, we just left our duffel bag and backpack in the room, drank a lot of water to keep me hydrated and started climbing the Nangkartshang Peak. We scale halfway at least 4,500m elevation - hope it is enough for acclimatization. Nangkartshang Peak is 5100m altitude located behind our Teahouse.
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| Stupa Inn Dingboche |
We descended down back to our Teahouse - Stupa Inn, Dingboche 4,410 meters, we saw quite a number of Yaks eating around the area - de-tour a bit to avoid the Yaks. The view from the top of the hill is so fantastic, we cannot stay longer due to the cold weather. At that time, I just thought a cup of hot coffee would make my day.
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| Acclimation hike |
As usual after dinner, we chatted for a while and the guide briefed us about tomorrow's journey to Lobuche. For the first time tomorrow, we will cross 5,000 meters altitude. Amazing experience for my Epic journey and the best part is we are far away from “the world”.
Good night.
