Day 13 and 14: Descending to Lukla

Start: Kyangjuma

End: Lukla

Finishing altitude: 2860m

The mornings are growing warmer and the air thicker as we descend through the valley. Today marked our last day in the Sagarmatha national park, our plan was to descend to Monjo, with a brief exploration of Namche on route. After breakfast we began the descent to Namche, it was evident that we had more oxygen as we walked at double the pace of the previous days and were able to sustain conversations without gasping for breath. A group of energetic dogs bounded past us and Aadam joked they resembled us, as our pace seemed to be increasing by the second as our oxygen supply was replenished. My appetite still soared and I began to dream of all the foods I would eat when I arrived home. After a couple of hours we’d arrived in Namche, where we would spend time exploring. Namche is the beating heart of the Khumbu region, housing everything from teahouses, outdoor retailers, French bakeries and of course an Irish pub (officially the highest in the world). We wondered the narrow streets, browsing the shops and I bought a variety of snacks which I munched my way through as I explored (A kit-kat has never tasted so good!). There was a group of fresh-faced hikers at the beginning of their journey, looking energised and eager. Aadam gestured towards the group of hikers and joked, “I remember when we were that young and naive” and Dan added, “I feel so old and wise now”. Once we’d seen all that Namche had to offer, we continued the descent to Monjo.

After an hour or so we arrived at the Hillary bridge, suspended 125 metres above the raging Dudh Kosi river. After so much exposure to these bridges over the previous days, I finally felt comfortable to admire the view as I crossed, rather than fixate my gaze straight ahead. I even managed to look down to the river, where the glacial waters roared below, this gave me a real sense of how high this bridge was. The sun was warm and the view was a stark contrast to further up the valley; the rock and ice had made way for verdant ridges lined with thick pine forest. After a long descent of switch backs lined with steps followed by a slight incline, we’d arrived at the gates to the Sagarmatha national park, slightly shy of our campsite for the night. Leaving the park stimulated a mix of emotions. Happiness that I was back here safe, having achieved my goal but a little sad to be leaving this wonderful place. I studied an information sign while we waited for the others to catch up. It informed me that the park covers an expanse of 1148km2 with elevation ranging from 2300m to 8848m. The population of the region is 7161, spread across the various villages along the valley. The main mammals found in this region are an evasive mix including musk deer, snow leopards and red pandas. Once our group had all made it through the park gates, we retired to camp for a relaxed afternoon basking in the sun before our usual routine of dinner and an early night.

The next morning, I awoke early, eager to get started with the final day of the hike. I noticed as we descended my sleep quality was improving. At altitude, the decreased oxygen levels make dreaming through the night more common. A night’s sleep high above sea level seems to involve a continuous stream of vivid, disjointed and radically random dreams - that can be recalled with ease the following morning. At sea level dreams present us with blurry, vague symbolic images often providing reminders of previous events and featuring people who naturally float around in our psyche. But dreams at altitude invoke an entirely different cast of sub-conscious characters that appear vividly and are involved in convoluted storylines. This was a phenomenon that everyone in the group was experiencing and Bikash had previously warned us of at the start of the trip. Our final day would take us through the remainder of the valley, where we would stay at Lukla prior to the following morning’s flight back to Kathmandu. Lee asked Bikash if there was any uphill walking today or purely downhill, he replied, “No more uphill or downhill once we are in Lukla!”. Aadam translated this to, “Yes there is uphill!” and joked that Bikash would be a good politician, as his attempt to maintain our morale often resulted in him avoiding direct answers. The day passed quickly and the route was easy in comparison to the days we’d spent above 4000m. After a few hours, we arrived at Lukla, our final destination on the trek. As we entered the village Bikash turned around and cheerfully announced, “We’re done!” and accompanied this with a celebratory dance. We all cheered and headed towards the teahouse for a celebratory drink. I spent the afternoon looking around the shops in Lukla and reminiscing about the journey in the Irish bar with the rest of the group.

After dinner, we said our final farewells to our team of porters and guides, although Bikash would stay with us for the following day as he lives in Kathmandu. The rest of the guides and porters lived a couple of days walk away, either in the villages further down the valley or in Hom’s case, he would retrace his steps uphill, back to his home in Namche. I imagined at his pace; it would only take half a day for him to be home! We gave all the guides and porters the tip they deserved, Dan gave a little speech reflecting how grateful we all were for their company and assistance over the last 13 days. We each thanked the team individually; Lakba, Chandra, Sunam, Hom and Bikash. I was sad to leave them. They helped the trek run smoothly, provided us with high quality food, were consistently on hand for assistance or advice and their kind, fun personalities made them a joy to spend time with. Bikash concluded the evening by saying, “Even though we think the world is big, it is actually small and we might all meet again on another hike in the future”. Just as he finished, Hom and Sunam, who had previously scurried off, returned to the dining room with large smiles. They placed the third cake of the trip in front of me, this time the icing simply read, “See you again”. I gave them both a big hug before accepting my usual duty of cutting the cake. This was a fitting ending to the trek and I could only hope that the statement on the cake would come true.

We had an early start for our return flight to Kathmandu, so after tea and cake we all retired to bed for our last night’s sleep in the mountains. Although the main adventure was over, we still had a final day in Kathmandu to look forward to, which based on my time there prior to the hike, I had faith that it would deliver a fun time!