Day 5. Today we’re moving up the valley to Phortse. Once again, it’s not a particularly hard day. That’s the rule around here… going up the days are short. Tonight we’ll be sleeping a mere 1200’ higher than Namche, although admittedly to get there we have to hike up 2700’, and down 1500’… trails around here tend to go up and down a lot.
The first mile or two out of Namche is utterly spectacular, and has the rare attribute of being mostly level and not too rocky.
It is, however, very crowded. This is not wilderness. That’s why I call it the main drag to EBC.
You might wonder why my pack is so big… after all, I have a porter. Conceivably I could be carrying only water and a rain jacket. Well, this isn’t that kind of vacation. I’m intentionally keeping 25 – 30 pounds on my back. This strategy worked well for me on Ama Dablam. Hopefully it works again. Galzn has told me that most people that he has guided have carried lighter packs than me.
About 2 miles past Namche, my route finally diverges from the main path to EBC. The red line is the main path. We’re going up the green line. Where the green line disappears over the ridge (at a hamlet called Mong-La), the trail drops down 1500’ and then climbs back up 800’ to Phortse.
My iPad is running out of juice, so I’m going to stop for now. Overall, it was an uneventful day. 5 leisurely hours to cover 6 miles with 2700’ of ascent. We had to stop a lot… the view was just too good and you definitely don’t want to stumble off the trail around here. After the first two miles we left the main road, and I must admit it felt great to get away from the crowds. Our path isn’t empty, but at least you can get far enough away from other people to pee. Up until this point, that just hasn’t been a possibility… yes, it really is that crazy. I honestly thought that springtime would be less crowded than autumn, after all, there’s this horrible acrid smelling haze…the air in October/November is much cleaner, but maybe the word isn’t out yet. Or maybe it actually is more crowded in the autumn, after all, it’s been 8 years since I was last here. Hmmmm…
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