last day in Nepal

We arrived back in Kathmandu from Lukla yesterday (Friday). It's jarring to be surrounded by car horns and souvenir vendors again, and it's hot.

Let's see, some tales from the trail...

I have two new nicknames. A woman in my group refered to me as "Prissy Missy" (on the day I puked on my shoes--what's prissy about that?!?) and it stuck. Then a grizzly Italian mountain climber/scientist called me Yellow Spirit, to which my group added Pale Face (b/c of the sunscreen I wear). Prissy Missy, a.k.a. Pale Face Yellow Spirit. I guess I've been called worse.

After our 2 days in Namche Bazaar we spent a night in Khumjhung, where our guides are from, then in Tengboche, site of a well-known monastery. Then we spent two nights (to acclimatize) at Pheriche, where the Himalayan Rescue Association is located. My Duluth friend Scott Wolff was a volunteer M.D. there in 1987 and I found his name in the register. Scott, Ang Rita Sherpa remembers you and even did an impression of you! I'm sure he would get a kick out of seeing you again, maybe next year....??? Baby yaks in Pheriche, very cute. We met a young Malaysian man who summited Everest a few years ago and will bike across the U.S. starting in June.

After Pheriche the places you spend the night are pretty much just a cluster of teahouses/lodges, rather than any kind of village. No animals around, unless they are carrying trekker loads up or down. Our next stop was Dughla, where we met a climbing team on their way back to Everest basecamp after resting for several days at a lower elevation. They had spent the night at Camp 3 already so they were getting pretty close to being ready to summit. Their group included an 18-year old woman from Los Angeles who, if she summits, will be the youngest person to climb the seven summits.

Also at Dughla I saw a woman I know from ten years ago in MN who now teaches outdoor education in Newfoundland and was attempting to climb Everest (her first try, she's climbed a bunch of other stuff). Unfortunately she was sick from bronchitis and giardia and was going down to Pheriche to rest and try to gain back 20 lbs (she played hockey for U of MN, she's pretty solid!). It was a fun coincidence to run into her, and I hoped we would cross paths again when she headed back to base camp.

After Dughla came Lobuche, where we had surprisingly good coffee (it's all instant, but usually I had to add espresso powder to make it something more than pale brown hot water). Met a very nice couple from Hungary who we saw a lot of over the following days. They were happy to hear that I'd been to Hungary.

We left Lobuche at 6:00 a.m to go to Everest Base Camp. One woman in our group didn't feel well when we got to Gorak Shep, the last place before EBC, so she stayed their with one of our guides. The rest of us continued on. Some of the terrain is fairly challenging, especially for folks who haven't hiked on boulder fields before. The clouds came in and it was chilly when we arrived mid-afternoon. We didn't have time to visit the climbing team we'd met but we did stop at the bakery for apple pie, which really hit the spot. Put on warmer clothes and headed back to Gorak Shep for dinner and sleep...