16 Apr 2014 – Namche to Lukla

Overnight low in room 24F. Beginning altitude 3330 metres (10900 ft). Ending altitude 2860 metres (9400 ft).

Last trekking day, but it would be a long one. We would cover the distance between Namche and Lukla – the town in which we had arrived to begin the trek more than two weeks earlier. We had taken two days to cover the distance on the way up; we would be hiking the same distance in one day today.

The terrain was a far cry from the barren, almost lunar, landscape of the higher altitudes. The trail was forested – often lushly so – and a turquoise stream was usually not far off.

The trail crossed the stream a number of times, in fact. However, the trail usually stayed a fair distance up the mountainsides, so when we crossed, it was typically over a bridge such as this. Every time I set foot on one, I had to resist the urge to break into song.  “The son of man goes forth to war, a kingly crown to gain…”

There were seven or so of these to cross

They look, perhaps, a bit more intimidating than they really are. We crossed them with porters coming the other way. We also crossed them with yaks coming the other way. I even tried looking down while I crossed – that was a problem only because you couldn’t see where you were going very well, and if you had to grab hold of the cable on the side you might end up with a blob of grease on your hand. (This happened to me once. I assume that what ended up on my hand was grease…)

There was only one thing that I really feared when crossing the bridges, where it tended to be a bit blustery.

This hat had been to EBC and back.
No way I was going to lose it.

One thing that caught my notice on the way out of Namche was that the trail was much more crowded than higher up. Not only with trekkers and yaks, but especially with porters. These porters’ loads were piled high not with the colorful North Face duffels of treks and expeditions, but with consumables. I can tell you, it’s an odd thing to see a man going up the trail hauling upon his back sixty kilos of Pringles and beer.

Then it dawned on me that all the stuff that was available in Namche, the Land Of Plenty, still had to get there the same way as to any place further up the trail. That way is sometimes by yak but far more often by human porter. I then began thinking about how lucrative the run from Lukla to Namche must be, if you were a porter. There would be a steady demand for transportation services… I also then wondered if there was a kingpin who controlled to whom it was the porter work was handed out to. Or, perhaps, competing interests… In my mind I started composing an email to Sid Meier.

Don’t be surprised if you see Porter Tycoon released for PC and console in time for Christmas.

Meanwhile, the number of buildings alongside the trail began to increase consistently, with the path winding through little villages and their ‘suburbs’ quite frequently.

When going through any significant grouping of buildings at all, there would unfailingly be a likewise significant collection of Om stones, stupas and chortens.

The trail undulated, as ever in Nepal, though toward the end there was actually a significant amount of uphill to be accomplished. I noticed an interesting thing about the day’s hike, corroborated by the others on the trek. Previously, I had struggled with air. When I needed to stop, it was to catch my breath, but once that happened, I felt strong as an ox. (This was illusory, of course – the moment one began serious exertion, the lack of oxygen would make itself felt.) Today, however, during the uphill stretches, I was keeping a conservative pace but was not breathing hard at all. I was simply tired. Specific leg- and back-tired, yes, but also whole-body tired. Tired from two weeks of nearly daily serious exercise at altitude. Arriving in Lukla would be a pleasantness of sizeable proportion.

Heh. And when we finally did arrive, in the early evening, all manner of relaxation and gustatory reward awaited us…

Julia and I agreed that we simply must try a YakDonald’s burger. Sadly, we were disappointed, as the establishment was inexplicably closed. So instead, we headed to Everest Coffee Company and ordered an Everest Burger to share, with fried potatoes.

It was absolutely delicious. The bun looked oversized when we got it, but upon inspection we found it was a double burger, so we could simply spread the meat out a bit. It was juicy, cheesy, and dripping with condimental goo. It was a fitting end to the day’s trek.

Everest Burger is legit

Tomorrow, we would be helicoptering back to Kathmandu.