Dispatch 01: Warm Day in Namche Bazaar

Hello GreatOutdoors.Com, I'm sitting in the warm and comfortable dining hall of the Khumbu Lodge in Namche. Quite comfortable here with the big glass windows looking out on colorful roofing and prayer flags of Namche, sitting at around 11,300 ft above sea level. My little group of trekkers and climbers landed in Lukla yesterday morning before 8 AM in perfect, calm and clear conditions. We began hiking through the fields and villages of the lower Khumbu Valley with Passang (from Khumjung) our Sherpa guide from Great Escapes Trekking. We had a pleasant outdoor lunch in Phak Ding, but kept on walking in the afternoon to reach Monjo, at the entrance to the Sagarmatha National Park. There we passed an easy afternoon and evening at a trekking house before setting out again today for Namche. We are about a week behind the main International Mountain Guides group and will cathc up to them at basecamp.

I'm working with one climber, Larry Jones from Snowmass, Colorado and three friends of his who are trekking in with us (Kate, Mike and Andrea) Mike and Larry have both been in the Khumbu before (as have I) but this is all new stuff for Kate and Andrea, which helps to keep it new for us as well. None of us had great difficulty with the dreaded Namche Hill that gained us roughly 2000 vertical feet during the course of the morning. It was another spectacularly clear and sunny day and we enjoyed looking out for our first views of Everest mid-way up the hill. She is far away, but the plume of cloud and snow jetting out into the sky from her summit was clearly visible and managed to bring a slight shiver of recognition and remembrance to me. As we walked on up the hill, I thought back to walking down the same trail with an inch of new snow on it back in October with Jimmy Chin and was amazed that a new season had come around already. lots of Dzokials out on the trail with big loads and plenty of porters with their packs piled high with goods for Namche's Saturday morning market (tomorrow) We have enjoyed excellent views of Kwangde, Khusum Kang Kharu, Thamserku and a bunch of other extremly big and steep mountains during our walk. We've seen plenty of other trekkers and climbers, mostly bound for Everest... it is that time of year, afterall.