Phortse-Pengboche-Pheriche

Saturday and Sunday, April 1st and 2nd

The next two days of trekking bring us further up the Khumbu Valley.  We're making steady progress as we move closer to Everest Base Camp.  After living at the 11,000-12,000 ft elevation range, we're now moving up to 14,000 ft in two days.  Slow steady progress every day keeps us all healthy and feeling good.  Kriss and I are doing great!

Pengboche is the home of the oldest monastery in Nepal.  Once we get settled into town and had some lunch, we head up to pay our respects to Lama Geshe.  This Buddhist Lama is well into his 80's and the story we were told is he accompanied the Dalai Lama when he fled Tibet to Bhutan decades ago.  It's traditional with IMG to visit Lama Geshe before heading further up the valley to climb.  

Each person brings an offering and a Kata (silk scarf) to present to the Lama after which he receives the offering, places the kata over the person's head and ties a colored string around their neck all while giving a blessing for good health and safety.  Once everyone has received their blessing, we drink tea and share some prayers as a group.  It's a very moving experience and an extremely important part of our trek for the Sherpa people. 

All along the trail, we encounter pack yaks and most of them are heading back down the valley to pick up another load.  Before we see these beasts of burden, we can hear the gentle sound of their bells as they approach.  As with the horses and mules down valley, these animals are big and have the right of way.  They also have horns that would put an end to anyone's trip if they were on the receiving end.  Here's a great shot of a yak train with Ama Dablam in the background.

During our trek up the valley from Pengboche to Pheriche, we approached, walked beside and passed the entire massif of Ama Dablam.  It's really an amazingly beautiful mountain and would be an honor to climb it successfully.  In many places along the trail we would pass Buddhist prayer tablets and stupas or other monuments.  Out of respect, we follow the tradition of passing these places on the left.  

The last stretch into Pheriche brought us up high over a pass then we descended to the river and into town.  It wasn't a real big day but the consecutive days are work and we continue to ascend to higher elevations.  Pheriche is at about 14,000 ft and we can feel it.  This is the first time we get a view of Lobuche Peak which is the high mountain directly above our heads in the photo below.  We will be climbing this mountain in a week after days of acclimatization at Lobuche and Everest base camps.  It's big for sure but climbable, and we find out that two teams have already been up there this season. 

Namaste