Nuptse from Lobuche, Everest trek. 1 May 1986
The peak of Nuptse (altitude 7,861m) appears to dominate the horizon when viewed from outside the Trekker’s Inn lodge at Lobuche, (altitude 4,940m). Nuptse is connected to and considered the western peak of the Lohtes-Nuptse massif and in turn the considerably higher Chomolungma – only 2km behind it.
Near Jiri, Nepal. 18 April 1986
Heading up the first ascent of 700m past Jiri on day one of the Everest trek I came across these locals.
Near Jiri, Nepal. 18 April 1986
2nd May 1986, Everest trek
Taken looking north from Lobuche, heading to Gorak Shep. The black rock is Kalar Patar – the highest point on the Everest trek. The classic shaped mountain behind it is Pumori – the summit is the border between Nepal & Tibet. To the right (east) is Everest, Nuptse & Lhotse.
Left Lobuche at 6.40am after a large breakfast. Fairly level walking but heavy breathing anyway. Heartbeat really pounding, could hear it in the back of my head. Going up a steep rise had to be taken at a snail’s pace. Then over a rocky moraine. Fine views of mountains all around – great weather.
Passed Gorak shep (a single teahouse) after 2 hours. Ascending Kala Pattar (black rock) – actually the end ridge of Pumori – I had to rest often. Saw Rick on a lower level of the ridge, followed others to the summit, only just making it, 5,540m, or 18,500ft.
Actually its now recorded at 5,643m. A local dog followed me to the top – you can see it in the picture at the lower left. I now have a (14 year old) Border Collie that I’ve named Tenzing.
Extremely windy and cold. However, a great view of Everest, a gigantic black rock, virtually no snow. The huge jagged Khumbu icefall reached down to bace camp where a joint Japanese/Korean expedition is in progress.
Charikot, Nepal. 17 April 1986
Not much sleep, up at 4.45 a.m. Walked [from the Earth House, Thamel, Kathmandu] to the bus station at 5.30. Put the pack up top and got a seat near the door next to an Aussie, Phil, whose been in Nepal 3 months already. Underway at 6. Crammed in, about 100 of us. Outside the city limits a lot of folks went up on to the roof.
Before very long we began to ascend, very slowly. A narrow circuitous route that mercilessly taxed my patience. Some impressive mountain scenery, very steep valleys that were terraced and cultivated. Hardly any land that hasn’t been used. Tree cover is sparse, a lot of trees have been planted but perhaps only in the last 15 years so they’re uniformly small.
We ate some biscuits and 2 mandarins only before lunch at Muldi about 1. My first dahl bhat, not bad, eaten by hand. And tea.
Stopped at Charikot where we had our trekking permits checked. [Getting a trekking permit back in the day was a tedious task. Had to take and leave your passport with the Central Immigration Office (the CIO) – way out of town; fill out a trekking form, provide 2 passport photos, and show a bank receipt that I had changed enough money – at the official rate, not black market – of $5 a day for the 4 week trek. When I got there the queue was right round the corner of the building and it took me 90 minutes to hand everything over].
A fine day but extremely hazy. Occasionally we’d spot a snow-capped peak [such as Gauri Shankar at Charikot] but generally unimpressive due to the conditions.
The last 2 hours on the bus up till 6pm when we finally arrived at Jiri [the start of the Everest trek] were relatively comfortable as a lot of folks had got off at their various villages, could stretch our legs.
Taken to the Sagarmatha Lodge, bed for 4 rupees [23 rupees to the dollar exchange rate]. A good meal of dahl bhat, walked through town. Wrote this up.