The life of a Himalayan trekker

We eat, we walk, we sleep while bring treated to the most stunning landscapes and enjoying the company of our sherpa and porters and the Nepalese culture.

Lodges
These tend to have quite grand names such as Gokyo Resort, Yeti Lodge and Hotel Zonglha Inn. The names don't so much reflect the quality of the structure, more the huge effort gone into transporting the materials by yak and porter. Some we have stayed in are only just over a year old but they look like they have been here for years.

The Snowland Lodge in Pheriche.  Peter Hillary, Rob Hall and Gary Ball stayed here for their 1990 Everest Expedition

A typical room in the Phortse Guest House

A typical dining room with yak dung burner. Here we are enjoying tea at the Phortse Guest House

The walls are ply and bedrooms are small with 2 single beds and window. If you are lucky you will have a small table and some wall hooks. There is a dining room with a yak dung fueled burner in the centre of the room. Squat toilets are the norm that are flushed with a jug of water. There have been a couple with standard flush toilets too. There is the chance for a shower but trickle would be the more fitting term. You need to be quick too. A warm bucket wash is the way to go! Our lodges have been clean and owners very welcoming.

A flash squat toilet and shower at the Sukara Lodge in Namche Baazar. Clean and functional. 

The day
Our day generally starts at around 5 or 6am depending on distance and altitude. We have our duffle bags packed for our porters before breakfast so they are at our next lodge by our arrival. Our porters range in age from 17 to 23. Akas, Pasang, Gyalbu and Aspal are strong, always happy and they move easily across this challenging country. They enjoy their games of cards with our team!

We climb around 300m a day so that we acclimatise well. Our day in Phortse and our Cho La Pass climb have helped get the team in great shape for Everest base Camp and Kala Pathar. Slowly, slowly, slowly is the sherpa mantra for the trekker!

Great advice on acclimmatisation in Pheriche

The food
There is lots in the blog already about the food. On the main EBC trail there is a wide variety of traditional Nepalise food such as sherpa stew, curries, potatoes, and dahl baht and Asian and Western foods like pizza, chips, fried rice and chow mein. Breakfast for our team usually involves porridge, omelets pancakes toast and tea. We all have our own favourite snacks from home with us to eat while trekking.

Elsa's Tibetin bread, then curried potatoes, naan bread, garlic soup, Liam's dahl baht and Bryn's fried vegetable momo 

Shimonok Sherpa Stew.

Our sherpa crew from Mountain Experience
Our adventure would not be possible without Childdum and his team from Mountain Experience. We are looked after like royalty.  Pemba Sherpa is our Sirdar and organises the lodges and meals and liaises with Kim on the plan for our day. Surya Rai and Jetha Rai are Pemba's assistants and set the pace for the group and help with our meals. They too love their cards and are very caring and supportive of all members of our team. Surya helped make Doug's birthday cake at Machhermo and Pemba presented colourful Kata scarves to both Liam and Doug on their birthdays.

When I come back with Julie we will certainly be making use of this extremely professional company.

Surya, Jethar and our sirdar Pemba near Everest Base camp