Nov 5 2025 – Dingbouche Rest Day

So last night it snowed.

My plan for today was a hike up the 16,662 foot Nagkarshang peak. But I was dubious about it because the weather forecast said it was supposed to snow all day today too.

Instead, the clouds cleared. So I started hiking. I ended up making it to 15,300 in 4 hours, realizing it would probably take another 3-4 to get to the top, and decided I’m not THAT in it to win it for a photo op. Also, coming down a steep mountain covered with snow seemed dubious to me.

I did get lots of snow covered Himalaya pictures.

Slightly to the right of center is Ama Deblam. I’ve actually been in its shadow for days, but it’s been obscured in clouds. Connected to it via a ridge, slightly left of center, is Amphu Gyabjien. A very early version of my itinerary would’ve had me climbing that today. Seeing it in person, there’s zero way I’d have pulled that off.

That’s looking up the valley towards the village of Chukhung. I was planning on heading up there and spending two days climbing stupidly large mountains before heading over an 18,219 foot pass to the valley Everest is in. I’m passing on that portion of my itinerary now. But I did get to see one of the things I wanted to see:

Makalu, 5th highest mountain on earth. Pretty obscured by clouds. 66x zoom. It’s roughly 20 miles away.

My new itinerary will take me up the valley to the Khumbu Glacier.

That’s the way to Everest, though it’s still 2-3 days away and not visible from here.

I also saw evidence of Himalayan wolves. Lots of tracks, and came across a spot where territory has been marked. It wreaked of wolf pee. Wolf pee smells distinctively different than dog pee, and there’s also no reason for a dog to have been up there. The paw prints were also way to large to be a dog.

Also, I discovered that at this elevation snow doesn’t melt, it sublimates. Turns right directly back into a cloud. Super weird to watch it happening all around me.

For the remainder of the day I’m gonna just hang out around my lodge and read. Tomorrow the pack goes on, and I’ll head to Thukla, which lies below the terminal moraine of the Khumbu Glacier, and if I have the energy to climb the 1,200 foot moraine I’ll head to the village of Lobuche. Lobuche is the last stop before Gorak Shep, which was the original Everest base camp during the 1952 Swiss expedition. The current base camp is a 1.5 hour hike further up the glacier.