Because the best travel stories don't end with ". . . and everything went according to plan"
Nov 14 2024 – Kyangjuma to Namche Bazar Easy day today. Just a mostly flat stroll back to Namche. Once I got back to Namche I deliberately chose a teahouse in the lower portion of town. No up and down for me this time! Also bought some postcards with the intention of mailing them home. …
Nov 13 2024 – Tengbouche to Kyangjuma Could’ve made it all the way back to Namche. But spending three nights in a place I’ve already spent two nights just seemed silly. Especially since the 1000 vertical feet climb to get here took a lot out of me. Anyway, Kyangjuma consists of two oldish lodges on …
Nov 12 2024 – Periche to Tengbouche Opted for better the devil you have some familiarity with, in terms of climbs, so basically retracing my steps. I did ponder taking the high trail from Pengbouche to Phortse in reverse of the route I had originally planned to come up, but I opted against it. Monastery …
Nov 11 2024 – Lobouche to Periche Today was my only true downhill day, where it was literally all downhill. All days to come are going to be a bunch of uphill where I somehow end at a lower elevation because of Sherpa magic. From the Italian Pyramid it’s basically backtracking to Thukla. Once there …
Nov 10 2024 – Gorak Shep to Lobouche Tonight I’m sleeping in a Himalayan Bond Villain Lair. It’s known informally along the trail as the “Italian Pyramid”, but it’s formal name is “Pyramid International Laboratory-Observatory”. Its story is interesting. 20 something years ago the government of Italy wanted to build a climate monitoring station in …
Nov 9 2024 – Everest Base Camp (Almost) One of the more bizarre things that happens to the human body in hypoxic conditions is you have really weird dreams. You also don’t necessarily have full control over your bodily functions. I had a dream in which I went to the bathroom, and woke up to …
Nov 8 2024 – Lobouche to Gorak Shep Super weird dreams aside, I woke up feeling mostly okay today, so I decided to head up. The topographic map I have basically showed today being 800 vertical feet of elevation gain over 3.5 miles, which would’ve made today the easiest day of the trip. Sadly, the …
Nov 7 2024 – Lobouche Day 2 Last night after dinner I played cards for a while with a girl from Germany and a guy from Israel and then I went to bed. Woke up a few hours later with a pounding headache and a powerful wave of nausea overtook me. Ended up vomiting in …
Nov 6 2024 – Dengbouche to Lobouche Got a later start this morning than I have been. Didn’t hit the trail until 8am. Was stuck behind a long conga line of people on a narrow trail heading up to the ridge above Dengboche, which was pretty frustrating. Fortunately once over the top of the ridge …
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 …