Himalaya day #13 - Pheriche to Thyangboche monastery

For the first time in bloody ages I slept well thanks to the lower altitude of roughly 4,200m as well as today’s late start of 7.30am. I also enjoyed getting off the Everest highway and altogether much less traffic.

Overnight it snowed yet again as we meandered further down stopping to take photos at the view point with Kantega (the jagged and cloudy peak), Terikang (‘airsplit’) on the far left hand side and the towering Temaserku on the right hand side. 

The valley was awash with juniper with the monastery just about visible in the far distance, our destination for the night.

You cannot help but have sheer admiration for the Nepalese porters. In theory they need a licensee to carry more than 60kg but it’s not entirely clear to me how it is policed. Some of the loads these guys are carrying is absolutely ridiculous. It got me thinking that their lung capacity must be on a par to that of the Kenyans. Apparently all the best runners get snapped up by the Nepalese military which at that stage they can kiss good bye to any athletics career.  It would though be a fascinating project to target some of the best young talent and get them into some sort of proper running program.

Passing the usual number of stupas and then crossing to the other side of the valley by one of the suspension bridges we continued to climb through the Rhododendrum forest. It was very much Lord of the Rings’esque. 

Then as we got closer to the monastery the mist descended on us reaching the tea house next door to the Khumbu’s largest monastery. This is the place where all the expedition teams make a pilgrimage to in order seek the relevant blessings to climb.

Believe it or not some of the monks were playing football as we arrived. I got talking to one of them who explained to me that why are granted anywhere from 1 to 2 hours of physical exercise per day. They love football and some were actually pretty good playing against some of our porters.

Just before the monastery service the sun came out and burnt away the cloud cover to reveal all the 7,000m+ surrounding mountains. Mystical!

* Have now ditched the Diamox. No further need from hereonin.

day 13 video: https://youtu.be/gZZJAGOpqik