Peaks and Passes in the Solu - Khumbu (Everest) Region Mandy Talbot - November 2009

The Solu-Khumbu region is described in guide-books as the 'Jewel in the Crown' of The Nepalese Himalayas. It is a tremendously stunning area of towering 8000 meter plus snow covered peaks including Cho Oyu, Everest, Lhotse, Lhotse Shar and Makalu plus lots of peaks well over 7000 meters spanning the length of the Tibetan boarder as well as many giant glacier systems... It's the heartland for mountain climbing adventures and home to the Sherpa people, of Tibetan origin, many of whom are very prosperous today as a result of the mountaineering expeditions and large numbers of tourists that the area attracts. The great thing about a trip to the Everest area is that you are able to get high up amongst the towering mountains and then stay high up by crossing over high passes into neighbouring high altitude valleys. To have a real understanding of your surroundings and to help with your aclimitisation it's best to approach the high mountains along the old expedition trail through the lush, Himalayan foothills that Edmund Hilary and other early mountaineers used to take them into the heart of the mountains. The best time to visit the Himalayas in the Eastern Half of Nepal is post monsoon in October November and early December -when the air is crystal clear and the skies are deep blue and before it gets too cold, however the earlier part of the season sees many other tourists.

I headed to the Himalayas in mid November just as tourist numbers were thinning out due to the colder weather. Though the cold is not really a problem if you have enough warm gear. I planned a route that was going to take me 3 ½ weeks and take me on some quieter trails away from the crowds. Again I went on my own with a guide so I could have a bit of flexibiltiy in my itinerary if needed as I discovered that I'm not a great aclimitiser and I had also had a dose of cold or flu (swine flu?) before trekking and was suffering from the funky mix of air that we breath in Kathmandu. So the route - We flew into Phaplu a town half way along the old expedition trail from Jiri and crossed over several mountain ridges and into deep valleys reaching a low point of 1500 m before joining the trail up to Namche Baazar. From Namche we headed east to Thame and up the Bhote valley on the trade route to Tibet that was only opened up to tourists in 2002. I then trekked East over the Renjo Pass into the Gokyo Valley, known for its bright turquoise lakes, and over the Cho La Pass into the main valley taking people to Everest Base camp. I then went up a valley to the East to Chukkung and to climb Island Peak a PD grade Peak just short of 6200m and then finally a leisurely amble back to Lukla to catch my plane home. My gear - I carried a 10kg to 12kg 50 litre pack with all my warm clothes and bits and my guide carried my hot water bottle and mega sleeping bag - a 5 season Nepali made down bag that kept me snug- it just wasn't small and light weight. I needed something to keep me warm camping at Island Peak Base camp at 5100 meters at the end of nov / early dec. The rest of the evenings were spent in pleasant tea houses along the route.

Day 1 - Day 7 Phaplu to Namche - the approach the Everest

So I went to meet my guide Kaji Sherpa at Kathmandu Domestic Departure Airport for a morning flight to Phaplu. Kaji had just got back from guiding on Pumori (a steep and difficult 7000 m plus mountain next to Everest) and so was more than qualified to get me over the passes and up Island Peak. Like most of my experiences of Nepal domestic flights we never left on time and it was after lunch time before we set off. It was an interesting flight on a little 20 seater propeller plane more suited to cargo than people. We skirted around steep hillsides dotted with the occasional cluster of white washed houses before swinging north to the Number Himalayas heading straight for a steep rock wall - we then swung round 180 degrees and landed on the small dirt strip that is Phaplu airport at 2500m. It was too late to start trekking on the first day so we stayed at the Number Lodge with about 20 red robed monks who were in town to go shopping. Phaplu is not on the tourist trail and there are only a couple of flights a week unlike Lukla where there are tens of flights a day.

The next morning Kaji and I set off early over the hills through autumnal forests and past Sherpa homes which were painted white and had colourful blue shutters. We joined the old expedition route coming from Jiri at Ringmo just in time for lunch. Tom from the west country (UK) joined us for the morning - he'd been volunteering in a monestry teaching English and was keen for some company. I had a nice veggie spring roll for lunch. One of the lovely thing about trekking through the foothills is the availability of fresh and tasty local vegetables and an abundance of cheap oranges carried up from the low hills. After lunch we headed up through the forest over the Traksinda La at 3070 meters one of the many mounatin ridges on the approach to Everest. We then decended down into terraces of Millet to the pretty village of Nunthala at 2250 metres where we spent the 2nd night and stayed with a hand full of trekkers going my way at the Shangri La guest house which was surrounded by marigolds and other bright flowers.. The old expedition route is a delightful trail through real villages, forests and farmland and gives you an insight in to Nepali life - it is a lot more relaxed than the trail higher up and sees relatively few tourists.

On our third day we decended down to cross the Bhote river at about 1500 meters, this was the lowest point on the trek. The bridge crossing the river had photos of 'Martyrs' displayed on its far side who were local young men and teenagers who had been Maoist combatants. They had lost their lives in a struggle that I wonder if they had even understood or had had much choice in participating in, which is a sad waste of life. A local re-iterated stories that I had heard about Maoists coming and demanding food and shelter in villages in the region, eating all the food supplies and taking anything they fancied from local homes. Whilst the Maoists are the so called 'people's army' and were supposed to be fighting for the people of Nepal - they certainly didn't show them much respect and consideration and at times were sometimes physically violent to them.

After crossing the river we climbed up to the pretty Rai village of Jubing where we had lunch. On the trail through the village there were beautiful purple bell flowers growing high above along with Red Ponsetia lining the trail side, there were village chickens clucking around, goats grazing and porters and cows carrying loads to destinations several days away. We stopped for a noodle soup lunch and watched the world go by before pushing onto Bupsa for the Night. The next day Kaji and I climbed up through the farmland and into forest - stopping to buy oranges on the way from porters headed for Namche and stopping for bolied potatoes. Hill folk like to eat boiled potatoes dipped in salt and chilli sauce and local fresh potatoes taste really good. While I was waiting for the potatoes to cook I got my binoculars out and watched birds - which I'd only seen in the Everest region and watched the far off mountains coming in and out the clouds. The locals also enjoyed having a look through my binoculars too - but mostly at other villages and their neighbours! Further along the trail in the forest we met Jill an adventurous 71 year old lady from New Zealand who was trekking alone from Jiri to Everest Base Camp and carrying her own pack and she joined us for the day. After lunch in Puiyan we climbed up over another hill through Forest and dropped down to Surkhe by the river for the night. We visited one of Kaji's frineds in the village for Mashed potatoes and over flowing quantities of Millet seed local brew!

The following day after our morning tea stop our trail joined the main trail from Lukla to Namche and traffic quadrupled. Not just tourists though there were quite a few of those but also Dhzo (lowland cow cross yak) Yak trains, mules, porters supplying businesses along the trail, locals going about their daily business and school children, it was a real mix of people. The trail here hugged theriver and ran through a shallow forested river gorge and there were many river side restaurants and prayers wheels and Bhuddist Stupas and Mani Stones along the way. It was a jumble of colour. We spent the night just inside the national park at Jorsale and spent the night round the fire chatting to our friendly Sherpa host and his wife. The next day was a climb up to Namche through pine forest.. We came up out of the forest and arrived in Namche 3400 m late morning - I was surprised at how big and developed Namche was with many lodges and Thamel style shops selling trekking gear and handicrafts and of course cafes with lots of bakery items apple pies, cappacinos and hot chocolate. I met up with my friends from NZ Karen and Mark that I'd met en route in one of these cafes and we all also ended up at the Jamling lodge high on the hill next to the monestry over looking the town. The lodge had comfortable rooms, a hot shower and a very varied and delicious range of food and a well stocked bar (though not good on your way up!) Namche was a very civilised spot and came as a surprise after the small villages we'd stayed at on the way and the savvy Sherpas here also had many ways of getting your money off you including a 10% charge to get cash from your bank account! Namche was our home for the next couple of nights so that we could aclimitise before moving higher up the mountain and during this time I explored the Tibetan market selling the latest Chinese imports: trainers, down jackets, track suits etc brought in by Yak from Tibet. I also visited a couple of Sherpa museums and did some last minute shopping before heading higher into the mountains, I didn't do anything more exciting as the weather had closed in while we were here and it was rumoured to be snowing higher up.

Day 8 - Day 14 Namche to Gokyo via the Renjo La Pass

On our last morning in Namche we awoke to glorious sunshine, blue skies and warm weather ready for the next leg of our journey. We had heard the night before that the snow at our next destination Thame at 3800m had been knee deep the day before but by the time we reached there this had mostly gone. The route up the Bhote valley was great as it took you through tradditional Sherpa villages through pine forests and rugged mountains and away from the tourist scene. We passed many simple Sherpa homes with stone walls protecting their potato crops, it reminded me a bit of Yorkshire - though perhaps how it would have been 100 years ago!, and Bhuddist Chortons. There were snowy mountain views all around and the only other traffic was the odd tourist and Dhzo yaks heading down to to Namche. At Thamo, halfway a long our day's journey, we stopped at the local government primary school where a small group of children aged 4 - 8 were learning the days of the week in English with an exceptional teacher from Biratnager (the hot plains of Nepal) who had elected to live in the Himalayas. Before reaching Thame our destination for the night we climbed past cliffs with brightly coloured sacred paintings. Thame is a sunny spot with towering mountains behind and amazing views of far away mountains in front, it is a mix of old tradditional Sherpa homes and modern lodges divided up by stone walls. We checked into the Sunshine lodge and i spent the rest of the day soaking up the sun before the late afternoon clouds rolled up the valley and I moved into the dining room with its yak dung stove to stay snug in the evening. We stayed 2 nights in Thame to aclimitise and the next day Kaji and I headed up a valley to the west past the monestary in the direction of the Rolwaling Himal for an aclimitisation walk. We walked up a steep valley past grazing yaks and with snow coverd 6000 m peaks towering above us and gaining more amazing views as we got higher, including a great view of Ama Dablam. The tea shop a few hours up the valley was snow bound and closed so we just ate our snacks and admired the view before returning to Thame via the monestry which is built high up in the hills over the village.

The next day we left Thame the last year round permanent Sherpa settlement and headed further up the valley to Lungden at 4400m. We were now well above the tree line in alpine meadows and Juniper scrub surrounded by rocky peaks, the yaks here were big fluffy high altitude yaks There are lots of Black Choughs flying around with bright red bills and legs and flocks of snow pigeons. There were a few small camps of grubby looking Tibetans resting on their way to Namche living in simple canvas tents with small pot belly stoves inside - I've no idea how they manage to keep warm at night. Many of their yaks were lying down probably exhausted after the crossing of the Nangpa La the 5700 m pass from Tibet. We passed through a few villages that are dependent on potatoes and yaks. Yaks provide milk, flease for waeving, poos for fuel and also act as transport.. and occasionally the odd steak. On the way up to Lungden we stopped in a small village for morning tea. This is the area that Rheinhold Mesner cites in his book 'My Quest for the Yeti' as being the home of the Yeti. I asked the Sherpa teashop lady if she'd seen the Yeti and she replied that she hadn't seen a yeti but that she had seen their footprints in the snow and that they were just like big human footprints - which is the same as what Mesner states in his book. Yetis have been likened to both bears and apes and there are stories of Yetis from all around the Himalayas (and there are similar stories about a 'Big Foot' in North America). There have been many expeditions to search for the Yeti with declared sightings of footprints and possibly even the yeti itself as well as Sherpa stories of recent Yeti attacks on villagers and yaks in the Gokyo region in the 1990s. So it seems that the Himalayas are home to these elusive creatures and they are not just myths! Unfortunately - or perhaps fortunately we didn't see any Yetis- but maybe some saw us!

Lungden is a cluster of two or three lodges in a remote spot and when we were there it seemed that only our lodge was open. On the first night we shared the lodge with a few people who'd come over the pass from Gokyo including a group of French people from the Alps who'd climbed up Mera Peak and Ama Dabalam amongst other things on the way and whose lifestyle I was somewhat envious of! The late afternoon clouds didn't come up the valley as far as Lungden and we could see the bright stars twinkling in the clear night sky. We spent a second day in Lungden to aclimitise and wandered in the direction of the Nangpa La the pass to Tibet for a few hours. The valley was rugged and this high up there was snow underfoot. Large eagles soared overhead and were nesting in the cliffs above. A caravan of about 20 loaded Yaks passed us after coming over the pass from Tibet - the only other traffic in this remote spot. We climbed up on to a small hillock which was the terminal morraine of the glacier and looked ahead to the Tibetan boarder. We could see Cho Oyu to the right and a more rocky sky line to the left - but where exactly was the pass? We saw somebody approaching, they were moving quickly so it had to be a local - we could ask him. The young man was dressed in jeans and anorack and had a day pack. He was a Tibetan Refugee and had gone to Darhamasala in India home to the exiled Dalai Lama 5 years ago and was now returning home because he wanted to see his parents. He had never been back to Tibet nor over the pass before and had limited warm clothing or equipment - though my map did show a few other small settlements on the way to the pass where he might have been able to take shelter. The far side of the pass is guarded by Chinese boarder control who would probably throw him in jail if they captured him. However the young man was planning to dodge them. How awful to have such an ordeal to try and get home to see loved ones! We relieved him of the free Tibet literature in his back pack and wished him well on his way and returned to Lungden for a snug night round the stove and a hot meal - I was not so sure what our Tibetan friend's evening had in store.

We saw lots of plump Tibetan snow c*** on our way back to the lodge, which are sacred and protected birds so the locals don't eat them.

The next day we headed up over the Renjo pass at just below 5400 meters joined by Jimmy from Yorkshire who was travelling round the area on his own. We all set off at 7 am and my water bottles froze in the early morning chill and started our climb up to the pass. We passed more big fat clucking snow c*** , beautiful pink finches and fluffy woolly grazing yaks. We sat by lakes on the way up breathing in the fragrant Sun pati plant and looking at eidlweiss and brain mosses. Above the final lake there was a fair amount of snow on the trail and route finding was certainly made more efficient by having a guide! Overall the trail was well made and had been recently upgraded to accommodate Yak trains. On the top of the pass there was a Yakfic Jam!!! Lots of Yaks blocking the trail trying to bring over the trekking gear of an American group. We wove in and out the big fluffy beasties to the top of the pass to be greeted with the best view of Everest and one of the most stunning in the Everest region looking down over Gokyo, its turquoise lakes, The Nguzumpo Glacier the biggest in the region and jagged teeth like mountains including Cho Lhotse. We had photo shoots and a picnic on top and then decended down to Gokyo at 4800 m reaching there mid afternoon. We stayed in one of the lodges at Gokyo over looking the lake and enjoyed the warm sunny dining room. I was really tired after the long day and getting used to the new altitude and had a great night's sleep!

It would be a crime not to spend an extra day or so at Gokyo exploring further as it's so stunning - so after breakfast the next day we headed off up to the 5th lake and Scoundrel's view point of Everest at 5100 meters a three hour hike taking in more views of Cho Oyu and the endless giant glaciers. We were walking through snow and the sun was beating down - it was really very hot up there! The final morning before heading over to Dragnag the staging post for our next pass the Cho La we - Jimmy, Kaji and I climbed up Gokyo Ri (Ri -meaning small hill) - again around 5400m for yet more stunning views of the Gokyo valley. We were joined on top by Pikas - the small mouse rabbit type animals that live up at high altitudes. After lunch the three of us then took the short walk to Dragnag over the Ngzumpo Glacier a large beast of rocks and ice and in more recent years ponds of meltwater - we saw an avalanche tumbling down Cho Oyu and had to make a speedy exit up off the glacier to avoid the falling rocks. Our hut in Dragnag 4750 m was in a sunny spot and I took advantage of our early finish to wash out some of my smelly socks and wash me!

Day 15 - Day 17 - The Cho La and Chukkung

We started at 7 am up over the pass - a gentle climb up to a flatish area surrounded by jagged peaks and then a final push up over the pass. The route to the pass follows the obvious line of least resistance but is a pretty steep and rocky climb - where you occasionally need free hands and guide books recommend crampons and a rope for icy conditions. I found the gradient quite hard work and I puffed and panted quite a lot despite being fairly well aclimitised. A few porters had died on the pass recently in a rockfalls reminding us of the dangers of being up in the mountains. We reached the top of the pass at around 5400 m by 10 am - we got away with this with the late arrival due to the freezing conditions. On top again we were greeted by more stunning views over jagged peaks including Lobuche West. The decent was round a yawning crevasse and down a snow field for the first few hundred metres drop in altitude and then down slabby rocks to more even ground and down through Yak pastures to Dzongala around 4800 m for lunch. After lunch we decended down into the main trekking valley and stayed in a merry lodge at Dulgha for the night where the lodge owner played a Sherpa style guitar. The next day we had a leisurely amble down the main Khumbu valley to Dingboche and then headed east up the side valley to Chukkung the staging post for climbs up Island Peak.

Day 18 - 20 - Island Peak

We said good-bye to Jimmy who'd been travelling with us since the Renjo pass and Kaji and I headed off into the Chukkung Glacier below Ama Dabalam to find a piece of 50 degree angled ice to climb up. Not having climbed for a while I wanted a bit of practice on something of a similar steepness to Island Peak and to practice a bit of abseiling again before heading off up the mountain. But this was easier said than done! Ice that looked to be near by involved many ups and downs over rocky icy terrain - but eventually we reached a spot with about 15 m of ice to play at going up and down for a bit. It was solid blue ice and it was lots of fun! That evening Kaji found the climbing gear and camping equipment we needed for the next couple of days stored away in wooden shacks in Chukkung and we met our cook a super young Rai man who was keen to try out his full culinary repertoire catering for me! The next day we headed off a few hours further up the valley to Island Peak Base Camp loading our equipment on a yak heading in our direction. Base camp at 5100 m is beyond a beautiful yak pasture at the side of a large glacial lake. There were few other people there with is being the end of November - most people climb Island Peak earlier in the season as it is thought to be getting a bit chilly by end of November. I was grateful that it was quiet. Although it is a scenic spot it isn't well managed as a camp site nor cared for by groups using the site with some rubbish being left behind -including a lot of it old food which supports the tens of snow c*** roaming around. The toilet area was in a terrible state. Why do people always miss the hole? We set up camp ate loads noodle soup, Tibeten bread, pizzas, drank hot chocolate and tang and sat in the sun. A group of three Germans turned up to do the peak too. Unfortunately at bed time I had a headache from the altitude, I also decided that I needed a rest day - I hadn't really had one all trip and I felt like just eating lots and sitting in the sun so I chose to delay the push for the summit for a day.

I had a lie in the next morning, a big breakfast and a lovely amble on my own along the glacier past Barunstse to the base of Lhotse arriving back at camp in time for lunch. The Germans were already back from the summit of Island Peak and one of the party was suffering dreadfully from altitude sickness - he was clutching his head, staggering and could hardly stand up. The party helped their sick member back down to Chukkung, dropping in altitude is the best cure for altitude sickness. That afternoon my fellow companions for the next day's climb arrived. A solo female traveler from Japan and two guys from Utah, USA Hobbs and Ben. There was also a group of a dozen Norwegiens - which meant that their Sherpa's had gone up early in the morning to fix the ropes that everybody would be using for the summit. Again I jumped in my sleeping bag before dark and ate my dinner from there to keep warm - I had room service to my tent! I had a reasonable night's sleep and then at 3 am it was time to get up, have hot drinks and breakfast and climb off up the mountain in the dark. We left by 4 am. I had all my clothes on ready to go polartec thermals, thick fleese pants and my down jacket, along with hat, thick mittens - (great to keep your hands warm but useless for trying to do anything with climbing gear like sorting out your ascendor). We climbed up grassy slopes, rocky scree and then scrambled up rocks. It had been clear and starry but now there was a raging wind blowing and clouds flying across the sky. I pulled on my gortex jacket and windproof trousers too as it was bitingly cold. At about 5800 metres Kaji and I met the glacier and put on our plastic boots, crampons and roped up. We had already passed the Norwegian group and the Japanese girl. We started up the glacier in the dark and as we climbed the sky in the east lit up pale blue and peach and it soon became light. We passed a few crevasses and I clipped on to a dodgy looking fixed rope to climb up a steep section. We then plodded up an easy angled snow field to the steep part of the climb. The steep part was 150 metres 50 degree climb (graded alpine PD) on a fixed rope. We were the first pair on to the mountain Kaji and I and we had the place to ourselves. It was really quite magic!

I clipped onto the fixed rope with my ascendor and made my way up the mountain. There were big icy bucket sized foot holds at first and then as we got higher the angle of the slope got steeper and we were climbing up on the toes of our crampons. We then arrived on an airy summit ridge, with big drops either side, to be greeted by a howling wind, though as my guide had been up Everest it was probably no more than a stiff breeze for him! We wandered along the narrow ridge, clipped onto a safety rope with Lhotse towering above us on our left. Down on the snow field we could see what looked like a line of tiny little ants marching along, it was the group of Norwegians. We climbed up a final steep bit on the ridge and then there we were on the summit at 6189 metres at 7.30 am!!! The views were amazing, while we were dwarfed by Lhotse towering nearly 2000 metres above us on one side we had amazing views over Baruntse, Ama Dabalam and others and appeared to be looking down on a vast swathe of snowy mountains of a similar height. It really did feel like being on top of the world. We took some photos, not too many though due to very cold hands and admired the views and then we were joined by the Japanese girl and her guide and had some more photo shoots and then after about 15 minutes on top headed down. The American guys were now on their way up too. We had a clear run back down along the ridge to the point of our decent where we had to attach ourselves with our figure of eight desenders to abseil down on a 2nd rope as the Norwegians were now starting to climb the steep part of the mountain on the main rope. Overall it was a very pleasant and interesting climb made that bit more exciting by the strong wind and abseiling on a rope that looked like a washing line! The sun was now high up in the sky and it felt lovely and warm on our return trip across the snow field. I felt very relaxed and jubilant now my big goal was achieved. At the end of the glacier we stopped to change boots and have a picnic with the Japanese girl and Ben and Hobbs and their guides who had now caught us up. Mars bar, boiled eggs, Tibeten bread and even apples! We then continued with our decent. This gave us a really good view over the Chukung Glacier and the huge lake that is forming at the end of the Glacier itself.

In recent years global warming has been causing a lot of glaciers to melt. In some cases they retreat but in others, as with the Chukkung Glacier, a lake within the glacier is formed and this grows each year and is held back by the remaining glacier and moraine. There have been quite a few incidents now in the Himalyas of these lakes bursting and sending tidal wave floods down valleys wiping out vegetation and forests and in some cases communities. These are known as Glacial Out Bursts or GOBs. The Chukkung Glacier is being closely monitored these day and scientists predict it is expected to burst in around the next 10 years (unless there are some clever engineering projects and funding to mitigate this?!) The plan at the moment is to evacuate people when they predict it will burst. If the Chukkung Glacier Bursts then it will wipe out many communities in the main Khumbu valley - which is the route that tourists and mountaineering expeditions use to take them to Everest Base camp.

Our cook had lunch ready for us when we got back to base camp. After lunch it was time to pack up camp and head back down to Chukkung. We stayed in a simple lodge for the night run by a guy who used to be a mountain guide, he seemed to have climbed up most Nepali 8000m mountains and he now ran and lodge and hired out yaks to transport goods for climbing groups for a living. It was nice to sit around a stove again at night rather than just diving into my sleeping bag. High up the main fuel for stoves are dried yak poos. On the way back to Chukkung from base camp we had seen ladies picking up yak poos from alpine meadows and putting them on their backs in dhokos - the tough bamboo baskets that locals use for porterage. Unfortunately taking too many yak poos from the land also takes away the vital nutrients that they provide to fertalise the soil leaving it impoverished and dusty and in an area with many tourists to cater for this tends to be the case.

Day 21 - 24 - Route down to Lukla via the Sherpa Villages

The next day after a super breakfast in the sunshine looking at the stunning Nupste-Lhotse wall we said good bye to our cook and headed down to Dingboche and then towards Pangboche at just below 4000 meters, where I was looking forwards to a nice hot shower and clothes wash. This shower was heated by gas that is brought up the mountain and is one of the more environmentally friendly energy forms in the mountains as it does not deplete immediate natural resources. It was a sociable stay as I had also run into Jimmy and Hobbs en route and we all stayed at the same lodge. After reaching Pangboche I spent the afternoon lazing in the sun eating pancakes and looking up at the stunning views of Ama Dabalm now towering over us to the north.

The next day we headed further back down the mountain, back into the Rhodedendrum and Pine tree zone and made our way to Tengboche Monestry home to many monks from families in the area. Families will often send one of their sons to the monestary to study and serve there. We wound down the trail further now into deep pine forest down to the river and the village of Phungi Thanga at just 3200 metres. We had lunch here and then headed back up the hill to the large Sherpa villages of Khumjung and Kunde. These villages lie in the mountains above Namche, are off the main trekking trail and are more traditional Sherpa villages than Namche. They have benefitted from the money that tourism has brought to the area and support from the Edmund Hilary Foundation. In the villages there is a large secondary school and a decent health centre, they have running water (ok they do have to get it by bucket) 24 hour electricity and even street lighting! Now that certainly beats the services available in Kathmandu! They have also rebuilt a lot of their traditional homes into more solid versions. Rather than streets of tourists it's mostly locals going about their business with pack yaks. The day we arrived lots of Sherpa women in their stripy aprons were wondering round town together and going off to the monestary, possibly slightly tipsy, to celebrate the full moon! The next morning I had a look around the villages, chatted to locals and visited the monestry on the hill where I had tea and a chat with a couple of monks. Kaji had stayed down in town and was a having a drink with some of his friends. I also visited the local school funded by the Edmund Hilary Foundation and bought a picture. The locals students and teachers were selling their art work to raise school funds which was a good idea. Villages throughout the Solo Khumbu region have benefitted from Edmund Hiliary's efforts. Kaji who is from further down the trail told me that he had gone to a school provided by the Edmund Hilary trust and Jangba my porter who I used for my Manaslu trip was having his university fees paid for by the same. After lunch we headed to Namche via the government yak farm - where I was chased by a baby nak (female yak) which I took seriously as she already had little horns! We also passed a large delegation of politicians who were getting ready for their meeting on climate change in Namche prior to the Environmental Summit at Copenhagen. In Namche I met up with Ellen another VSO volunteer who was also trekking in the area in one of Namche's many fine cafes for cappacino and apple pie. I also said good-bye to Kaji my guide as he wanted to spend the next few days partying with his mates. I had another comfortable night at the Jamling lodge chatting to just a small handful of tourists who were staying there - it was now early December and the place was starting to get a bit quiet. For my final day trekking I organised a porter and headed down the valley back through the forest to Jorsale where we stopped for hot chocolate with the friendly family I'd stayed with on the way up. Then onto Phakding for lunch and late afternoon we reached Lukla at 2500m. We had passed mostly local traffic en-route people carrying all sorts up the mountain, pipes, oranges, gas bottles, the lot! The hotel Jamling had already booked my lodge and confirmed my flight so we wondered through town passed lots of snazzy coffee shops and restaurants to our last port of call. I had a cup of tea with my porter and we said our good byes. It had been a really fantastic trip of 23 days walking in foothills and mountains, over high passes and up Island Peak. I'd seen some fascinating sites on my way and met some great people. And now I was feeling pretty dam tired - but in a hugely satisfied way! I made some new friends in the lodge to chat to for the evening and celebrated the end of my trek with a good meal and some red wine!

Flights from Lukla back to KTM started at about 6 am so that they can move everybody out before the afternoon clouds roll in. My flight was quite late at around 9 am, but I arrived a bit earlier and watched all the small 20 seater aeroplanes taking off down the steep runway before flying off over the edge of a cliff. Finally it was my turn to fly home and we had a fascinating flight skimming over hilly ridges and zooming down valleys with little villages clinging to their sides, taking us back towards Kathmandu, and then I jumped into a taxi and went back through the chaos and traffic, beeping and bedlum that I got so used to in Nepal to get back to my sunny home in Sanepa.