Hugh Maclean

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DAY 9 Gokyo to Dragnag

Published by Hugh Maclean

It would be remiss not to make amends for our lodge of the last two nights, as I may have been a little harsh earlier.
Sure, it is a building under construction, us being its first boarders as indicated by the lightbulbs being installed on our first night, and the entrance being about ten steps up with no balustrade, but aside from the fresh smell of paint and plaster the beds were comfy, and the doonas exempt of the ridiculous velvet covers, mainly because they didn’t have any covers!
The toilet may not yet flush, requiring manual application of water, but most lately have been this way….but a wash basin wouldn’t have gone astray.

The biggest plus was the dining rooms menu and meals, easily the best so far, probably because this is a commercial operation catering to a large and varied clientele, whereas most are smaller family run shows with more limited offerings.

Sleep in till 7 this morning, then a quiet breakfast, as everyone else was either struggling up Gokyo Ri, heading off over the Renjo La which is meant to be a tough day at the office, heading back down the valley, or joining us for the 3 hour “Nepalese flat” walk to Dragnag.

There are three types of description for the terrain here, as far as the guides go;
1. Aussie Flat…elevation of about 10 metres, basically flat (about 2%)
2. Nepalese Flat…solid hill climbs (20%)
3. Everything else…nasty, steep, exhausting (the rest!)

The walk entailed walking down into the glacier, crossing it, climbing up the glacier wall, and strolling “Aussie Flat” to our digs.

The glacier is nothing like we imagined, being a rocky surface topping over the ice flow. The path across changes year to year as the ice flow moves, melting and freezing from season to season. It really is the most remarkable sight, like a moon scape at 5000 metres.

Today is our only real rest day as we don’t need to acclimatise, so after getting to our lodge at 11.30 we had free time.

Time to wash clothes in the stream behind us, and wash our hair in said, freezing water.
Invigorating would be one word to describe it, Rachael might have mentioned another!

The rest of the day was spent reading, and in Rachaels case buying a data sim to relive all things Tigers.
Tomorrow promises to be the toughest as we cross the Cho La pass.
Yikes!

DAY 8 Gokyo Ri

Published by Hugh Maclean

Up until now the weather has been only ok, with quite a lot of low cloud obscuring what, presumably, are pretty spectacular views. We get glimpses of what’s behind the misty veil, tantalising us almost as much as a good coffee, but until now the Himalayas have been quite the flirt! Promising fields of gold, giving flint copper.

Not today though, sunrise produced a magnificent feast for the eyes, with breathtaking mountain peaks soaring up on the horizon. Clear sky’s producing an enormous promise for our walk up Gokyo Ri (5345mt) which is meant to have some of the most amazing views anywhere in this region.

We made an early start at about 6.30 to hopefully maximise the conditions, setting off pretty much straight up the hill from the lake, which was producing mesmerizing reflections of the peak above it.

Here’s a good excuse to stall the inevitable hike skyward…lets take a few snaps.
Done, time to haul glutes and quads up, up, up.
Three and a half torturous hours later we finally touched the prayer flags, which had been teasing us for about an hour, and downed packs for a well earned rest at what felt like the top of the world.

The views were stupendous, a glacier flow cutting through towering snow topped peaks, deep ravines plunging to a lake, glacier or river; a moon scape of rock devoid of vegetation tumbling asunder, clouds cloaking the scenery only to pull apart to reveal more magnificent peaks.

Everest finally showed herself before hiding shyly behind a curtain of cloud, whilst others peaked out to say hi. I would name these peaks but they are too difficult to remember their names.

It really was brilliant, but eventually cold and hunger forced our hand and we headed back down, taking only about an hour to get back to Gokyo.
Exhausted, we fell on our lunch, after coffee and hot chocolate, and spent an hour or so relaxing in the cafe attached to our lodge.

Dawa thought we looked too fresh, so off we went for another walk to lake number four, about 45 minutes away, and surprisingly, up a hill.

Enough already, Dawa, we are stuffed!
More coffee, which wasn’t too bad, special treat of Toblerone for us, white chunky KitKat for Liz for afternoon tea…delicious!
Rest, read, dinner, bed…at about 7!

DAY 7 Machhermo to Gokyo

Published by Hugh Maclean

Before we start the day lets talk about tea houses, our accommodation of choice on our trek.
There may be a more upmarket choice of digs up until Namche, but aside from the odd hotel all offerings are tea houses, or lodges.
Most, if not all, are family run and comprise dining room with separate sleeping quarters.
Sometime in the past a very persuasive salesman must have traveled these parts selling particle board by the ton, as it is the prevailing building material in all lodges.

The sleeping quarters are a 3×3 particle box with single beds on each side and maybe a small table between then. The thin mattresses sit, surprisingly, on a particle board slab, with doonas on top with very strange covers made mainly of velour, which play havoc with thermals.
Every time I’d turn over I’d have the doona cling to me like an over possessive girlfriend, prompting much wrangling to extricate myself from this unhealthy relationship.
We are provided sleeping bags with inner liners, but up until now the temperature hasn’t required their use, but one more velour induced tug of war, and out it comes!
The dining rooms are the hub of the lodge, providing meals, hot drinks, conversation, and warmth from the central potbellied stoves.

The days have been mild up till now, but the nights become cold, and the warmth from the stove is much welcomed by all, except maybe Liz, who has a tendency to combust pretty quickly!
These stoves are heated by wood up until about 4000mt, but from there is above the tree line, so the heating is provided by kerosene and Yak dung.
‘Heated by shit’ was the charming terminology used by our friend Rod, and both apt and correct it proves.

Dung is collected, molded into patties about plate sizes and slapped onto pretty much any surface to dry. Once dry it is stored to be used as required, providing effective, and surprisingly stink free heating fuel.
So, we are warm and stink free in the dining room filled with trekkers from all parts of the world. Our meals are ordered in advance, and normally come out about an hour later, served by our guides, who then proceed to hover over us like boarding house masters as we eat, checking our appetite is good, as a lack of appetite is an early warning of altitude sickness.
The lodges offer WiFi at a cost of about 500nrp ($6), power charging at about the same cost, hot showers (300nrp), and maybe laundry cleaning.
Toilets tend to be of the ‘squat’ variety, with manual flushing via adjacent bucket, byo toilet paper, or as Rachael eloquently puts them, “shit tickets”.

Meanwhile, back to the trek!
We had a fairly easy day today of about 4 hours, with a gradual climb along the river valley as we moved up to its source at Gokyo (4800mt)

Along the way we passed lake 1 & 2, before greeting the largest, and most spectacular lake, at the small lodge village of Gokyo which in the main services trekkers who converge here from about four different points.

The walk may have been relatively straightforward, but the higher altitude plays havoc with the breathing. The air is getting progressively thinner up here, and to put it into perspective, at 5000 metres there is only 57% of the oxygen as compared to sea level.
At our highest altitude of 5550mt there is only 50%!

Anyhow, we are here in one piece, still breathing and feeling ok, and probably not really looking forward to tomorrow’s walk up to Gokyo Ri (5350mt) which is the view we can see right now as we enjoy a coffee.

Oh, and just to finish the discussion on tea houses, tonight (and tomorrow nights) offering is literally a building under construction, no lights, no power, and not sure if the dunnies have been finished!

DAY 6 Dole to Machhermo

Published by Hugh Maclean

We had a nice sleep in till 7 this morning, so a very leisurely approach to breakfast.
While we’re on the topic of food, lets explore the culinary delights of the Nepalese high country.
Not much grows up here except potatoes, cabbage, peas, and a few assorted veggies, and everything else has to be carried in. The main others being rice, oats, noodles, pasta and eggs.

What we have here is a diet high in carbs and starch, low in fresh veg and protein, and dominated by the humble spud!
If you so choose you can have fried spuds for breakfast, spud & veg for lunch, and “finger chips” for tea.
Alternatively, how about potato with eggs, mixed fried noodles and fried momo’s?
Fried macaroni with cheese, anyone? Mixed fried rice? Veg spring roll, or veg cheese pizza?

Tibetan bread (you guessed it, fried) and jam…delicious!
For dessert lets give the arteries a solid workout with a snickers or mars roll. That would be a ‘deep fried’ roll! Haven’t tried these yet, may risk it on the way down.
I think you get the picture….a calorific smorgasbord!
Don’t worry about high altitude getting you, more likely a stroke!
Actually this morning, and most mornings, we have porridge and ginger tea.
The tea is pretty good, the coffee not so much except in Namche where there are a couple of excellent coffee shops, which will definitely get return custom in a couple of weeks.
Oh, nearly forgot! We actually had to walk today.

We followed Yak tracks which hugged the mountainside, drifting up and down (mainly up) for about three hours, the last in low cloud and drizzle, to the town of Machhermo (4410mt), where we will spend the rest of the day….with an acclimatising climb in the arvo, of course!

To finish the day we visited the Machhermo Rescue post, which provides medical services for trekkers who come into difficulty with altitude sickness, and other ailments.
The post is manned by volunteer Doctors during the trekking season and is fully funded by donations, as well as providing much needed services for the porters, with clothing & footware, also by donation.
The two Scottish doctors gave a small talk about the post and its services as well as altitude sickness in all its forms, how to identify symptoms and possible remedies, as well as ways to minimise risk.
We finished by testing our blood oxygen levels and heart rate, which we all passed…..food intake withstanding!

Oh, yeah…the highlight of the day was having a shower for only the second time this trek.

DAY 5 Khumjung to Dole

Published by Hugh Maclean

We woke this morning to low cloud after rain overnight, before the cloud slowly lifted to reveal a taste of the Himalayas, one peak after another rising out of the mist, giving everyone a glimpse of what was to come.

As it was our last morning together we gathered outside for a team photo before heading off at 8.30 for the long trek to Dole (4200mt).

The views on the way to lunch were breathtaking, soaring peaks descending to the valley floor on both sides with us zigzagging our way both up and down along a thin ridge, forest of rhododendron and pine splitting the pathway, shear drops to the raging river below.

We had morning tea at the Everest View tea house (3950mt), falsely advertised sadly as she was covered in mist, before cruelly descending back to 3600mt for our farewell lunch to the EBC crew, who we will see again briefly as our paths will cross in about a week.

The highlight of the day for Rachael was being able to get enough internet connection to be able to cheer home her mighty Tigers to a Grand Final win.
Out came the Tiger beenie for a photo opportunity with the Himalayas as a backdrop!
She is one happy camper!!

We had a leisurely lunch for about an hour, said our farewells, then started the long uphill slog to Dole. It was a beautiful walk thru the forest with some tough uphill sections, broken up with regular breaks to let Yak trains weave past, their singsong bell cry being a dead giveaway to their approach.

We finally made our way into Dole at about 4, the last hour or so in a slight drizzle.
It had been a fairly solid workout, which continued after a coffee and a quick check of our room, as Dawa Sherpa thought an acclimatising walk of about 300 meters up was needed!

In drizzle and gloom we trudged up the mountain, with regular breaks to acclimatise, before finally getting back to our lodge at about 5.30 for dinner and sleep.

DAY 4 Namche to Khumjung

Published by Hugh Maclean

After a good nights sleep, we woke at 6 to the most magnificent view of Mt. Kongde from our window, absolutely striking, and fleeting as the clouds rolled in 20 minutes later.
Breakfast of porridge and Tibetan bread, then off for a leisurely stroll of about 4 hours to Khumjung (3790mt).

Well, the first half was pretty relaxed, a beautiful walk thru pine and rhododendron forest with breathtaking views over the valley floor with soaring mountain peaks opposite.

Unfortunately, to ascend you have to climb, and the second half was back to steep steps up, until a final descent to the wonderful village of Khumjung which is the largest Sherpa village in the Khumba region.

After a long anticipated lunch we went for a walk around town, thankfully without our backpacks for the first time.
We checked out the Khumjung Gompa (monastery) famous for housing a rare Yeti Skull, a legend around these parts.
I must confess, it was a little underwhelming, a hairy dome stuck in a tiny glass and wooden box.

After many spun pray wheels, we looked over the local hospital supported entirely by donations, plus the local school founded by Sir Edmund Hillary, and once again mainly funded by the Hillary Foundation.

The school is the only secondary education within the region, with students walking for hours each day to attend. Excellent training for future guides for treks like ours!

Our lodge is pretty good, nice and cosy, but they obviously don’t know how to rotate stock as they had a cheeky red wine offering of Stanley 4lt cask Rouge Rosso with a used by date of 1998!!!

Tonight is the last with our extended group before we split off at lunch tomorrow, and it has been great fun having their company.
Mike and Rod from Canada have been great fun, with both providing plenty of laughs and stories of holidays past. It was fabulous to see how their friendship grew out of a previous trek, and shared love of travel, and survives in spite of Mikes snoring! Allegedly!
Mike will be in Chamonix just as we finish our Mont Blanc trek next year, so hopefully we will catch up with him and his wife for a rose or two.

Hannah and Steve, the Brits were a little more reserved to start with, happy in their newly engaged status, but as the days rolled on opened up more and more, with plenty of laughs and stories. They are looking to get married next September in Wales, and we have all threatened to gatecrash.
Aussie Steve kept everyone amused with a myriad of stories about his life and adventures, and provided great entertainment regaling tales of his preparation for this trek which involved watching hundreds of YouTube videos on treks to Base Camp. He had everything down pat, was all over the details of his trek, was super excited and involved in everything and everyone he met along the way, shaking hands and chatting to everyone who came past….pity he forgot to prepare his gear!
Yesterday Mike had to take him shopping for a pair of pants, the only ones he had were trackie dacks!

Days 1 to3 Kathmandu to Namche

Published by Hugh Maclean

Leaving Kathmandu for Lukla, hopefully.

A busy day today with a 4am start to be at the airport by 6, for a 6.30 flight to Lukla to start our trek.
That is if the weather permits us flying, as the airport at Lukla is a manual landing requiring visual contact with the runway.
Lukla airport is regarded as one of the hairiest places to land in the world, being both steep and short, finishing up the hill by a stone wall. Go too fast and the wall greets a new friend, misjudge the landing and crash into the ravine.
Being able to see the runway becomes somewhat important, and the early morning weather deemed this improbable, so we sat around the unairconditioned departure lounge waiting for the clouds to lift.
6.30 turned into 9.30, then luckily we had the all clear to board for the 30 minute flight on a tiny 17 seater twin prop plane. But not before sitting on the tarmac for 30 minutes in the searing heat with no air conditioning in the plane, save for the pilots leaving their doors open whilst we waited for our turn. Talk about building up the suspense!!
The flight was spectacular with stunning views of the Himalayas through the clouds, before the crazy landing, which once completed induced spontaneous applause.

Another flight landed right behind us, and that subsequently became the last for the day.
Our lucky day, celebrated with an early lunch in Lukla (2850mt) before heading off on the relatively short walk down to our overnight stay in Phakding (2650mt)

Slow and steady we go acclimatizing with regular stops and plenty of water.

The walk to our accommodation took 3 hours and already you can start to feel the effects of altitude. We have been joined for the first few days by a crew doing the classic base camp trek, who we met on our second day in Kathmandu. Two Canadians, Mike & Rob who met on a trek in Peru a couple of years ago, became buddies and now trek together. Nice story! Two Poms, Steve & Hannah, and an Aussie from the Gold Coast, Steve who is quite the character….but more on him later.

Upon arriving into Phakding it was a cruel steep stair climb up to our accommodation where we were welcomed with a coke, tea or coffee.
We are staying in tea houses throughout, which are a little like old style ski lodges with a dinner room, with separate sleeping quarters, very basic with two single beds, no heating and wood everything!

We keep hearing that the dorms are cold, and I can see why!
If you want a shower, join the queue after paying 500nrp ($5), or just stink it up!
Off to our rooms to change for the evening before meeting again at 6:30 for dinner, our only challenge was to stay awake for it.

Phakding to Namche

Up at 6am after a restless nights sleep, surprising warm and humid, with not much give in the paper thin mattress.
Breakfast was great, a mix of pancakes, eggs or potatoes, spuds being a staple up this way.
Tea or coffee, and off we go at about 8.30 for a long 8 hour day.

We are ascending 800 metres today which is the most in a single day for our trek, and slow and steady is the go.

Acclimatising requires a very slow pace with plenty of stops along the way, including an hour for lunch.

The first 4 hours was reasonable comfortable thru verdant forest of pine, fern and grass lands following the most incredible river which streamed and swirled relentlessly, a rage of whitewater.

Lunch in a tea house cafe with incredible views, was followed by 4 hours of tough walking, mainly up, with thousands of uneven stone steps to break up the momentum.

The highlight of the day was the five river crossings over suspension bridges, especially the last one which about 250 metres long, hovering about 125 metres above the raging torrent, with an older bridge laying dormant below.

We finally climbed, and climbed, and climbed up to our home for the next two night in Namche (3440mt), arriving at about 5.30, stuffed.

Liz sat down, and stated this this was “the hardest day I’ve ever had”.

Namche ‘rest day’

Happy days, this morning we had a sleep in until 6:30 as today was an acclimatizing day in Namche. Every 500 meters gained, or there abouts is followed by a day climbing higher, then returning to sleep lower. A leisurely breakfast followed at 7:30 before we all packed our day packs ready for our 400 metre acclimatising walk up to the Namche airport, which should be about 3.5 hours there and back.

Along the way we stopped at the Monument dedicated to Tenzing Sherpa, the first Sherpa to scale Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary. The backdrop to this wonderful monument was our first glimpse of Mt Everest and another nearby mountain Lhotse. As the clouds parted and the sun came out so to did everyone’s cameras to capture this magnificent sight. Everest is the tiny peak in amongst the clouds to the left of the statue.

Phew, having come all this way there is always the chance you don’t see Everest due to the weather, but now that we have, we breathe a sigh of relief and continue on our journey to see Everest even closer up over the next few days. The monument below has a stone from the Dead Sea, the lowest altitude on earth, and a rock from the top of Everest. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ A quick visit to the Sherpa museum before heading off on our 400 metre ascent, straight up.

Slow and steady we went, the purpose of our walk was to continue acclimatizing but it also gave us a fabulous view of Namche from up high. For a walk that took 45 minutes to climb, you can really feel the affects of the altitude. We reached the top which took us to 3700 metres but did not go to the Mt Everest Hotel as the clouds were starting to roll in and the visibility of Mt Everest from that vantage point was lost for the day.

We returned back to our Hotel, had some lunch and free time for the entire afternoon.

Namche is the largest village in the region, and a thriving little town it is, chock full of trekking shops, local wares, grocery stores to top up on supplies, and most importantly, some really good coffee shops.

We love the acclimatizing days, so relaxing in comparison to what we have done so far.

Tomorrow we head off towards the Gokyo Lakes, which will take us 4 days, before crossing the Cho La Pass, another 2 days and then a few more days heading towards Everest base Camp. From this point on we have no WiFi access so our Blog will not be posted until we return to Namche in 2 weeks. Wish us luck as embark on our Everest journey, no mean feat, but one we have trained for and are ready to conquer.

Two Days in Kathmandu

Published by Hugh Maclean

We got into Kathmandu at about 10.30 on Saturday night, but didn’t get to our hotel till about 12.30am due mainly to the shambles that is arrivals at the airport.
Filling out Visa forms on ancient computers, lining up to pay for the visa, then queuing to go thru hand luggage scanning. Why? No idea, but only one machine worked, and regardless of whether it flashed red or green, the security guy just sat looking bored as.
The baggage collection area was a sea of bags, flung every which way.
Finally, after finding our bags randomly, a crawl thru to bag inspection, then thankfully out looking for our lift.
A complete dogs breakfast!
Our ride was there, so all ended well.
Sunday was catch up with sleep morning till about 9, breakfast, then out to find coffee and a few supplies.
Nepal is a third world country and Kathmandu fits the bill nicely.

It is a glorious riot of crazy electrics, wild traffic on crumbling roads, cars and bikes competing for precious space, horns playing their own strange symphony. Friendly Nepalese wanting to “practice their English”, touts pushing their dodgy wares, shopkeepers inviting you in to their magnificent establishments, traffic police fighting the good fight, in vain!

Did I mention the power poles, the mad lines, an electricians worst nightmare…not to mention the OH&S officer!?

Oh, and the roads are seriously deficient in any meaningful bitumen, or footpaths.
The place really is nuts, but in a polite, no nonsense way. We certainly never felt in any danger, everyone goes about their particular business in a quiet, almost respectful way.

We found coffee, nice but strange then proceeded to buy some ‘genuine Arc’Teryx gear…..or not! It was cheap for a reason, a solid knock off. We are in the Thamel area, home to all the trekking hotels, and therefore all manner of trekking shopped both real, and imagined.
They say you get what you pay for, sort of!
Lunch was a great meal in ‘The secret garden’ which was fabulous, more shopping, then a briefing with our guide, Dawa, who went thru our trek in detail.
Dinner was around the corner, including a cultural show (read, a lot of dancing), and a delicious meal of Dahl Bati.
To end then meal, Liz tried to pay 3500NRP, instead of 350NPR….and that after two drinks (a coke & a water)!
We met a few other trekkers, swapped yarns, ate too much and were in bed at 8.30. Another great sleep, quick brekky, and Monday starts.

Today we are off to a couple of important sites on a half day tour starting at Pashupati Temple, which is a World heritage listed site, and the most sacred Hindu site in Nepal.

The holy river is the site for Hindu cremations, which were in full bloom while we were there.

A little confronting, especially when one was just starting as we arrived. Just upstream a recently deceased (very recent) woman was being washed in the water before her cremation, with family surrounding her waving incense and sprinkling offerings over her.

PLUS, a couple of incredibly insensitive tourist wankers leaning in to take photos. Incredible!
Not to mention the couple taking selfies with a cremation in the background.
One born every minute!

Great experience, not withstanding the monkeys, who actually behaved.

Second stop was The Great Boudha Stupa, which is a religious, cultural and archaeologically important site.

Once again, a world heritage site, this time to the Buddhist religion, and a super impressive place.

Heaps of photos later, a visit to an artist school where people train to be master artists in the Mandala art of Buddhist life.

Impressive, intricate, painstakingly fine brush strokes produce these art pieces, which surprisingly were available to purchase, at prices which reflected the level of artistry achieved.

Unsurprisingly, we purchased a piece which will be framed when we get home.
Tour over, we headed back to the hotel, quick refresh then off for lunch, coffee and a bit of last chance shopping.
To end this report, a moment of shame….I bought fake crocs!

Needless to say, I have no words….I hang my head…

Melbourne to Kathmandu, via KL

Published by Hugh Maclean

Our journey begins at Melbourne International Airport, which would manage a miserably low score of about 2/10, and the 2 is for speed through customs, the rest, forget it!
The whole place is under renovation, except Hungry Jacks, which should be!!
Seriously folks, the most diabolical excuse for a hamburger EVER!! The queue went for ever, courtesy of being about the only joint open, and the end result….
This was Liz’s first Hungry Jacks experience, next time we’ll just slap two bits of cardboard together with a sliver of grease.
To wash the horror out of our system we went searching for a drink, with limited success. Every promised offering was “coming soon”!
Finally a beer was secured in a random bar, then thank God, our flight boarded.
Thanks to changed layover times, we had 12 hours to kill in Kuala Lumpur which luckily included use of the airport hotel for the day.
Man, the bed looked enticing, but why catch up on no sleep when you can schleep around town for a few hours?
After airport Starbucks coffee (I know, all credibility crumbles), we caught the express train into the center of town.
Now would be the perfect time for a sermon on Melbourne’s pathetic excuse for no airport train service, but I’m sure hundreds of government officials, State and Federal are presently coming up with all manner of feasibility study to dissuade any nonsense around joining in on world best practices!!!

KL is huge and time was short, so we headed straight to the most noticeable monument, the Petronas Towers, which is spectacular and has brilliant city views from the sky deck on the 86th floor. Or so we were told, as the next available time to validate said claim was at 4.30pm, so we missed it.

A quick lunch at that most Malaysian of restaurants, Nando’s, and we headed back to the airport…..just in time to confront the elephant in the room.
Sigh…….as some of you may know, Rachael loves the Tigers, who just so happen to be playing off for a place in the Grand Final…..NOW!
ALF live, No.
FOXTEL, No.
TV, No.
Nothing, except spotty commentary thru a radio app, listened to on dodgy wi-if!
Anyway, we managed to keep up with the scores for the first half over beers at an airport bar, then we headed back to the hotel for a couple of hours to let Rachael pace in peace.
I might have nodded off for awhile, and was woken up to find Rachael at the foot of the bed, in tears as her beloved Tigers romp home to book their first grand final appearance since 1982.
The Grand final next Saturday is on day five of our trek, and we run out of connectivity on day four!!!
Oh, the humanity!!!
Rachael is being a great sport…..but I do feel pretty guilty.
And to think that next year we are meant to be in Europe for the whole of September! I guess I’ll have to revise that itinerary!
Anyway, the good news was our flight was on time, and we got into Kathmandu at about midnight, after about 36 hours….three very tired travellers.

Everest Base Camp via Gokyo Lake

Published by Hugh Maclean

I have been hinting, suggesting, and trying pathetic mind games on Rachael for quite some time now regarding a particular ‘bucket list’ item of mine.

An item that needed to be ticked off while my knees could still hack it, not to mention the achilles, back, hammies, feet, shoulders etc, etc!

Paris, London, Berlin? Exotic river cruising down the Nile, maybe? Doing the ‘sound of music’ in Salzburg, or catching the Orient Express?

Nah….how ‘bout a nice pleasant stroll in the fresh air? A nice, LONG meander!

Having not done any hiking/trekking for over 30 years, why not, how about…pretty please can we….take a stroll up to Everest Base Camp? How hard can it be?

Oh, and seems as we are there, lets not do the standard 13 day trek like the sensible folk, but whatcha reckon we add a few days (5!) and make it harder (a lot) by going via the Gokyo Lakes? The views will be great, the track quieter (‘cos most people are sensible), and the air fresher, thinner, and just that little bit harder to find, but what’s a little extra altitude (not attitude, Rachael…altitude) amongst friends, hey?

You’re in? Great! “When can we go, when, when, when….?”

Well , how about now?

Yep, the countdown clock has dipped to nill, and we are off. And not to appear foolhardy, we’ve roped in our great friend, Liz to come along and witness the shenanigans first hand!

How exciting, a trek in the Himalayas? Oh, hang on, we might need a bit of gear….and a training regime, and did I mention gear?

Training was a doddle, sort of! Walking…..lots of walking! Hills and weight vests spring to mind, Birdrock fire track with weight vest to be precise! Unless the Moorooduc quarry fire track with vest is a more enticing option!? Oh, and more walking, up Arthurs Seat, and the dreaded Glasgow track (uurgh), plus strolls to Mount Martha for brekky at the Milk Bar, then home via the boardwalk. Plus laps around Mornington to fill in the down time!

Lets not forget 3-5 gym sessions a week with the Reach Your Peak crew!

I reckon we may have the training nutted, time will be the judge.

How much stuff do you possibly need for a trek? Surely you just stink it up in the same gear each day, sort of.

Mmmm, no!

The principles of layering is brandished on my brain. The complex molecular structures imbedded in the materials that fashion the insulation layer. The mind boggling array of choice of “hard shell” outer layer (read…raincoat!). To gore-tex , or not to gore-tex, that is the question! Wool, or synthetic polytechnic, ‘non-stink’, fly to the moon and back, stuff!

The undies, one pair for 42 days is the advertised claim! I’ll let you know how that one pans out!

Walking poles cheap on eBay, check. Merino base layer T-shirt’s cheap from Aldi, check. Fancy ‘technical’ outer layer Montane jacket under half price, tick. The clearance section, (you know the one…right down the back under the gloomy lighting) at Paddy Pallin, yep. Osprey packs courtesy of Christmas gift vouchers, done. (Yep been planning for quite awhile) etc, etc.

The boots…yeh Gods, the cost!! Probably the best investment I made, and most likely the only one at full retail! Except for the undies….42 days of trial and tribulation don’t come cheap!

I think (read….pray) we have the gear all sorted.

I’m heard the Himalayas are reasonably spectacular,!), In fact tres fab, lets face it I’ve seen the movie ‘Everest’ (which in hindsight probably isn’t such a great idea) so I need camera stuff, and other gizmos.

I was going to upgrade the camera, but couldn’t get it past the hanging judge, so contented myself with a new lens instead, a very swish lens at that. I’ve always lusted over (in a strictly plutonic sense) the Lensbaby range, and got myself a Velvet 85mm, (actually, Rachael got me the lens for my birthday, clever girl), which promises an arty, cinematic style of shot….hopefully. You’ll see what I mean in later posts, I think this lens will get a fair workout.

I’m dragging alone a couple of other lens, plus a bag full of batteries, as from all accounts altitude plays the fool with battery life. Taking two portable charge up units to keep the electrics electric!

Especially the iPad, new brand new fancy pants iPad Pro 10.5’, which will be the driver of this blog, plus editing suite for photos, and somesuch

Lucky the bag limit is 30kg!

We are doing the trek thru No Roads Expeditions, in conjunction the Mountain Monarch in Nepal.

It’s been a long time in the making, but here we are, exciting times! Nothing for it now, but to hit the road.

We’ll update as we go along, connectivity willing!!

Hugh Maclean

Places, People, Pictures, Wine & Food….Perfect!

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