Day 6: Tengboche Monastery

Start: Kyangjuma

End: Pangboche

Finishing altitude: 3930m

After a long restful sleep, I was woken up with the usual good morning call from Hom and cup of tea. The mornings were growing colder as we climbed higher through the Khumbu valley. A layer of ice gripped the walls of my tent tightly. Often emerging from your sleeping bag in the morning is the most daunting task you’ll face for the whole day on a long-distance hike, but here the difficulty is elevated as I feel the icy sub-zero temperatures on my face. It drops close to minus 20 degrees at night and only warms up mid-morning when the sun climbs above the peaks. I summoned all my motivation to climb out of my cosy warm haven and poke my face out of the tent. I enjoy the stillness of the mornings and my efforts taken to emerge were immediately rewarded with stunning views of this pristine icy-clad landscape. Everyone huddled around the fire wearing thick ski gloves and clutching cups of tea. Dan and Lee, who live in Australia, laughed as they compared the temperatures back home to here and Aadam made the typical British comment of “at least it’s not raining”.

After breakfast we stepped foot onto today’s route. Initially the route descended gradually through rhododendrons and pine forest, leading to another suspension bridge over the Dudh Kosi river. The inevitable uphill that follows any downhill began as we climbed high through the forested ridges, I enjoyed being in the trees and knew to make the most of them as soon they would no longer accompany us as the paths climbed higher. After an hour or so of uphill climbing we arrived at Tengboche monastery, marked with a colourful traditional gateway. This is considered to be the spiritual heart of the Khumbu Valley and the monastery was re-built with the help of Sir Edmund Hillary after being decimated by a fire in 1989. I was quickly learning that not only was Sir Edmund Hillary the first man to summit Everest along with Tenzing Norgay, but he devoted the rest of his life to improving the amenities for the people who populate Khumbu valley. From schools, to medical clinics to monasteries, he had been instrumental in establishing these essential facilities.  His efforts did not go unnoticed as he highly is revered in these communities with his photo found in teahouses, small businesses using his name and as we climbed up the steps to the gateway we saw the Hillary memorial viewpoint. The Hillary memorial chorten was lined with prayer flags and perfectly situated in front of the backdrop of 8000m peaks. Before visiting the monastery, Bikash pointed towards the mountains up ahead with a wide smile and a glint in his eye. He looked over to over me, acknowledging that I was already grinning widely with my view fixated up ahead. “What mountain is that Amy?”, Bikash said gesturing enthusiastically towards a distant snow capped peak. I replied excitedly, “Everest!” Finally, after all these days we had our first view of Everest sandwiched between the equally impressive Lhotse and Nuptse. The rest of our group gathered and watched the clouds race over the summit, aggressively brushing the snow off the high ridges.

The Buddhist Monastery was beautifully painted inside and we took our shoes off to take a look around. Young monks wore traditional red, orange robes with Western branded down jackets and Nike trainers and they smiled as we passed. Following our visit, we left the Monastery and continued downhill to Deboche for lunch before making our final push to our camp in Pangboche. The afternoon walk was relaxed and we were resting at camp in no time. Hom and Sunam served us garlic soup which Bikash referred to as “Diamox soup”, due to the properties of garlic helping to ward off altitude sickness, just like the medicinal drug Diamox. I chatted with Dan as we ate and Aadam who would usually join in sat quietly looking rather spaced out, he also barely touched his dinner which was out of character. Bikash being ever attentive noticed instantly and sat next to Aadam, quietly exploring his symptoms. He felt dizzy, had a headache and loss of appetite, all symptoms that indicate the detrimental effects of being this high above sea level. Bikash suggested he commenced a course of Diamox, which can help the body adjust to this altitude. None of us were yet to take Diamox, despite having it readily available in our first aid kits. To take Diamox is a difficult dilemma that anyone undertaking an adventure at high altitude faces. I had heard many conflicting views from taking it a couple of days before starting the trek, only taking when higher and feeling the effects of altitude to not taking it at all. I’d opted for the method of acclimatising naturally by taking it slow, increasing fluid and electrolyte intake and eating a high carbohydrate diet. I would use Diamox as an extra level of support in addition to natural acclimitisation methods if I succumbed to the effects of altitude, as the side effects of Diamox are similar to the symptoms of acute mountain sickness, making it difficult for a guide to assess the cause of your symptoms. Bikash encouraged us all to take this approach from the beginning and this was seconded by a friend with experience at altitude I’d spoken to prior to my trip. We all knew we were progressing higher each day and seeing Aadam with these symptoms made us all feel a little more cautious for what the next days had in store. Despite this, we’d had another successful day so we maintained high spirits and went to bed early to allow our bodies to rest before we would progress beyond the tree line tomorrow.