Pumori Climbing Expedition Dispatch

October 12, 2009 – Feeling Great in Namche Bazaar! — Part 1

This is Leila proudly reporting from Namche. Today we had an early start after a good breakfast and a good night sleep. After breakfast we packed up and hit the trails excited about finally going to Namche.

Namche (also known as Namche Bazaar) is located at 3450m/11,319ft. The Bazaar hosts a weekly Saturday market which started in 1965. Before rural people met at the Bazaar to sell their vegetables, spices etc., the trading and selling was done right out of their homes.

Namche is a thriving village, where you can literally buy everything you need, even gear to climb Everest. From original gear brought all the way from North America and Europe to knock offs, anything that has to do with trekking and climbing, you can find here.

For some old time trekkers, they miss the small town feeling of Namche. There are benefits to this mountain village; with all of the opportunities brought to Namche it is not uncommon to find a lodge with private bathrooms and even a hot tub. The drinking water now comes from a clean source and still a Sherpa village, owned and operated by Sherpas. It does have a mountain village feel where the locals wear down jackets and most own a cell phone, keeping them in touch with Kathmandu and some nearby villages.

After leaving Phakding this morning, we all met at the park entrance where our permits were checked. We then headed to our lunch stop in Jorsale, where we took a short break and got ready to face the afternoon challenge, the Namche Hill.

After lunch, Charlie, Mike, Aenea and I decided to head out ahead of the rest of the team. The film crew wanted to get footage of Jamie and the climbers crossing the high bridge just at the beginning of the Namche hill.

We made it in excellent time and decided instead of going directly to our lodge, we would make a quick stop in “downtown”. We paid a visit to one of the many bakeries to have a quick pie and a coke then check our emails and head up to our lodge.

We made it just in time for our teatime and met the rest of the team. We settled into our comfortable rooms at the Panorama lodge, located at the top of Namche. Here we have the luxuries of private bathrooms with hot showers. We took advantage of these amenities and then got ready for dinner. We all are looking forward to tomorrow as we will stay in Namche an extra day in order to rest and allow our bodies to acclimatize.

Weather permitting, tomorrow morning we would hike a little bit above our lodge and have our first views of Everest!