Alessio’s Everest Base Camp Trek Dispatch
October 8, 2014 – We Made It!
Today’s episode of the Grizzled Mountain Man and his trusty sidekick Sweaty Mess will continue with the same safety moment from last dispatch, “Don’t fall”. The Grizzled Mountain Man seems to required constant reminder of this.
WE FINISHED!!!!!
We managed to slowly limp our way from Namche to Phakding which included proceeding down the Namche Hill, across the crazy suspension bridge (See pics) which provided great views down the valley. Prior to leaving Namche, our gracious hosts at the Panorama Lodge presented each of us with the traditional white scarves for good luck. See Pic.
Leaving Namche and receiving a kata by the lodge owner
The good luck kata
We were extremely tired when we arrived at Phakding as there was a ton of Nepali Flats before we got there.
After a restful night, we set out this morning for our final day on the way to Lukla. On the way, we were extremely vigilant to ensure we turned every prayer wheel. The turning of pray wheels is said to cleanse your soul. The Grizzled Mountain Man turned every prayer wheel we pasted, but I think his soul is just a lighter shade of gray…not quite cleansed yet (is there any hope it would ever be cleansed?)
The Avatar
Th Namche Hill Bridge
Goodbye Namche
The trail to Phakding
Bonnies turns every prayer wheel on the trail
After 4 hours on the trail today we happily proceeded through the entrance to Lukla. We were very excited to have completed our trek. The trails seem to be exponentially busier than when we had started with the trails all to ourselves.
We made it to Lukla. Mission accomplished!
However, stay tuned for our final dispatch tomorrow to include:
- Flight from Lukla is a new adventure all on to itself
- Transition of Grizzled Mountain Man back to the Pudgy Old Guy (hopefully)
- Transition of Sweaty Mess to something that can be around people (hopefully)
- Final trek stats
Till Tomorrow, Bonnie