Mt Whitney Zone Forums Trip Reports Nepal Nov 2014

Nepal 2000 was mountaineering. Nepal 2014 was trekking. Here is a taste of what beautiful fall dry season is like in the Himalaya. Not all days shown

First week is busy trail with extra days to allow acclimatize. You fly to Lukla at 9,000 ft. Need to stage your way up
slowly. Our ultimate sleeping height would be 17,000 ft. Yes, we took Diamox, not that it did much good this time.
Unpredictable, was slow for 3 days, huff and puff. GI later was worse.

This picture is between Namche and Tengboche where the scenes begin to open up with beautiful Ama Dablam on right. Everest peaking
over Nuptse and Lhotse in background.



Dingoche 14,00 ft with 20,000 Imjatse/Island Peak straight ahead and just to right. Climbed it and 2 others like it in 2000.
Doesn't look like a 20,000 footer. A molehill compared to Lhotse next to it.



Yep, got to 15,000 ft Chukhung, hoping to do Kongma La route, but E.coli set me back with vomiting and diarrhea for 48 hrs.
Drugs no help.



Pheriche 14,000 ft. We could not go over the top, so to speak, over from the right- the Kongma La 18,000 ft, because I got
GI sick. After I got well, we took the tourist route up the Khumbu valley toward Everest.



After a night in Lobuche, this shows approaching Gorak Shep. (site of 1952 Swiss basecamp for Everest). The Lho La is seen
as the smooth saddle with the mountain Changtse (North Peak) behind it. Mallory stood there is 1921 and looked over from
Tibet into forbidden Nepal.



Dropped our packs and walked up Kalapattar. This looks down on Gorak Shep.


Everest as seen from 18,400 ft Kalapattar. No artist or architect could improve this scene. We did not bother to go to
Everest base camp located on the curve of the Khumbu glacier below. Why bother? We had the view. Basecamp just has a sign,
no view.



Five layers on. Remi on right, Harvey on left in blue. We sat for 1.5 hrs watching evening fall, and alpenglow arrive after sunset.


Alpenglow sears an image in your brain. We sat until pitch black, not wanting to leave. Interesting hike down with
bum headlamp. Good thing i had spare one.


Back down the way we came in a bit


Dzongla. See the tiny green teahouse in the middle? Coldest night. Snickers bar froze solid in the room. No heat anywhere,
any night except yak dung fire for 2 hrs in dining room)



Beginning of our favorite day Cho La. Just Microspikes, and they were optional but appreciated.


Still on east side of Cho La. Simply beautiful trekking route


More on the way to Cho La


Top of Cho La, just shy of 18,000. looking west. wanna go?


Nasty west side of Cho La


Time to celebrate. Recognize the pose?


Cross Nzogompa glacier. I left out that pic. Cannot do them all. Teahouses are at Gokyo. Cho Oyu 8,000 meter #6 in background


Looking back down on Gokyo as we ascended Gokyo Ri. Again, we dropped packs, went up to be there by 4pm for the evening show.


From Gokyo Ri. Everest darker rock with yellow band at top. Just to right is Nuptse and Lhotse #4. Paler rock peak in
background right is Makalu #5





Sit and watch the alpenglow again. 5 layers


Alpenglow on Everest. Dry season, not much snow. Yellow band is limestone--formerly on the seabed off Africa,
tectonic plate of India has moved and pushing into Asia, still lifting the Himalaya.


Last picture, next day time to leave Gokyo. We beat ourselves up going down from this beautiful lake at Gohyo.
Within 24 hrs we had been at the top of Gokyo Ri nearly 18,000, down as low as 11,000, back up to 13,000, down
to 11,000, several other ups and downs, and about 20 miles. Next day all the way to Lukla, hoping to catch an
early flight. No such luck. Bored there for 3 nights. Here it is 3 months later and maybe I am back to normal.
Knee paid the price. We lost 30 lbs between the two of us. A good time was had by all. Harvey

Harvey, those are outstanding, stunning and beautiful pictures! It must have been quite a memorable trip.

Would it be any help to carry a water filter and treat all your own water and wash your own food?

I am curious about the knees. They're artificial, right? ...so what is there to get sore?

By the way, people can click on the pictures to see a full-screen version.

Great TR, Harvey, and absolutely mind-blowing pix! Looks like you had a lot of clear skies to work with, and more than your share of great memories to bring back along with the photos. The illusion is incredible of Everest seeming so close you could almost reach out and touch it.

Glad to hear the knees are recuperated and you've gained the weight back. The altitude, terrain and, apparently, local food/water took their toll, but I'm sure it was worth it. Thanks for sharing. I bet the Appalachians looked minuscule when you returned.

Amazing. Great photos. Thanks for sharing. Motivation to accomplish this bucket list trip somehow someday.

Thanks. I had always thought about going back, and 14 yrs later had this chance.

Teahouses are $1-2 a night, food about $20 /day ,recharge my reader or solar wifi charges $5/day. Trekking permit $40. the main cost is just getting there.

I used all treated water ( chlorine dioxide) or purchased shrink wrapped bottled water ($0.25 to $3 /liter), but in cold climate maybe only used 1 bottle per day. We drank a ton of hot tea or hot chocolate. My friend used a filter. We do not think water was the problem. the only meal I was suspicious of was a lukewarm one, probably reheated leftover by the appearance. And I got sick 18 hrs later. All other meals were piping hot.

Steve, the titanium and polytheylene inside is hard, and the soft parts around it don't like it, as my surgeon says. I also have a reaction to one of those components with persistent swelling ever since surgeon. Have had to have more fluid drawn off ever since surgery than I did before. Not a stellar result. Only one knee so far. I can use it, with difficulties. Of course, I do abuse it far more than the average TKR patient.

atmospheric pressure at our high point above 18,000 was just 48% of normal.
Repeat 48%

I think you voided your TKR warranty, Harvey. The lawyers never figured on you when they wrote the fine print for a fake knee.

Don't most people hire a guide service or go with a travel group and the price is a lot higher? Your quote makes me think this can be quite affordable after airfare, but it would require a lot of research for a first timer.

Did you try the O2?

no O2 used. We both did well, huff and puff and go slow.

yes. most use guide service. I would have, had not been there before. We did meet several solo first timers, including independent women.

Great photos Harvey, thanks for sharing!

Stunning photons! Thanks for sharing. Looks like you had a fantastic trip.

I was in Nepal with my husband a couple years ago in March/April. Our aim was to do what you did, but clockwise. We walked in to Namche Bazaar (6 days or so of hard walking), rather than fly in to Lukla. Each time we went over a pass, it was super cloudy, so we missed most of the good views on the way up. At Gokyo it was full on snow everywhere, no beautiful reflections on the lake. Gokyo Ri was a walk up on snow, and we did have great weather that day, and great views. At that point dh was tired of being cold all the time and of the general conditions, so instead of doing the loop, we headed back on the other side of the valley. We trekked for 16 days instead of the planned 21. That was enough for us. I guess our attention span for trekking was shorter than I had thought it would be. Perhaps flying into Lukla would have been a better choice for us.

Dh got sick on the way up, I got sick on the way down (boy does that wipe you out completely), and I got sick once again on our return flight home. Unfortunately I had antibiotics with me in my hand luggage, but it was giardia, and the anti-fungals were in our checked luggage. Very unpleasant, not just for me, but for everyone around me! We used iodine for our water, but it's most likely that the GI problems came from the food. One day we saw a woman in a field collecting yak dung with bare hands, and the next time we saw her was when she was serving our lunch about an hour later.

Sorry you had to spend 3 nights in Lukla, that must have been tough. We were lucky to only spend 1 night, and got away on the last flight the following day. 20 minutes later, we covered what took 6 days on the way on!!