Day 5: Highest hotel in the world

Start: Namche

End: Kyangjuma

Finishing altitude: 3550m

Today started with breakfast at the teahouse, luckily everyone’s headaches had passed over night and high sprits were restored. The morning’s hike began with a gentle incline to the Syangboche airstrip and we then progressed higher to reach the Everest View Hotel. The hotel stood proudly at 3900m above sea level, officially claiming the title of the highest hotel in the world. The hotel has it’s own private helipad, where wealthy people arrive in style on a helicopter from Kathmandu, dosed up on Diamox to prevent the inevitable altitude sickness that results from lack of acclimisation. We all decided to make the most of this stop and opted to sit on the terrace for a cup of tea while we patiently waited for the clouds to part. Dan and I ordered pots of ginger and lemon tea with honey and both fixated our view on the mountain vista ahead. A sense of calm washed over me as I stared at the pristine white snow on the mountains. The Himalayas is the 3rd largest deposit of ice and snow in the world, housing 15,000 glaciers throughout the range. I knew these facts long before arriving here, having read many books where this is the scene for adventure. But as I looked up at this colossal mountain range, it was clear that facts alone were inadequate at capturing the wonder of this place.  

Ama Dablam (6856m) was in clear view, arguably one of the most spectacular mountains in the Khumbu Valley, if not the world.  I’ve always been captivated by this mountain, a visually striking peak with it’s iconic pyramid shape and it’s jagged ridges capturing the snow. Being in it’s presence did not disappoint. As I sipped my tea, I asked Bikash to point out to me which the prefferred summit route on Ama Dablam was. His knowledge of the peaks along with the trekking and mountaineering routes was impeccable, his passion for these topics was infectious. We were incredibly close to the mountain, allowing him to show me in detail the location of each camp. Meanwhile, Everest and Lhotse were out of view, blanketed in thick white cloud. Bikash could tell that we would be waiting a while for the cloud to clear so ushered us on and we left the hotel.  

We continued towards Khumjung and before pushing to camp we visited the Sir Edmund Hillary’s famous “Schoolhouse in the clouds.” This school was the first in the entire Khumbu region, being built in 1961 with the help of the Sir Edmund Hillary and the Himalayan Trust. The school originally opened with only two classrooms but has since expanded to cater for over 350 students. The school was in great condition and the students smiled and waved from the courtyard as we passed through.  Following our visit to the school we descended to our camp at Kyangjuma, where we would sleep at a slightly lower altitude than that we gained on the hike. We asked Bikash how far it was to the campsite, he gave his usual reply of “5 minutes, just around the corner!”.  A little further down to the trail, Aadam pointed out that 5 minutes had long passed and we weren’t yet at camp. Bikash smiled cheekily and danced around, correcting his previous answer to “a few 5 minutes!” We didn’t mind though as the route was beautiful. Yaks grazed peacefully, a sand-coloured dog bounded along the trail with us and we spotted a Danphe Pheasant, the national bird of Nepal, an elegant exotic deep blue and purple bird that grazes high in the Khumbu valley. Helicopters flew below us in the valley, highlighting how much elevation we had gained in the recent days.  After arriving to camp and selecting our tents; Dan, Lee and I took a short trip into the village in search of snacks. We then passed the afternoon relaxing, chatting and napping before refueling at dinner. Sleep came easily and my body was grateful to rest as I anticipated progressing above 4000m in the next days.