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Tired Trekkers Step Lively at 12,500 Feet
Thyangboche - Monday, May 8, 2000

DISPATCHES

Berg

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Hi Mountain Zone, this Monday morning dispatch is coming to you from Thyangboche — we've returned to Thyangboche. The group is sitting up there having lunch in some sort of plastic lawn chairs, out in front of a little lodge just a few yards away from the Thyangboche monastery. Our walk today has been great for two reasons: one, we have tired trekkers here, they'll all tell you that when they get home, but we have re-oxygenated trekkers. There's a bounce to the step and a sort of calmness to people's physical well-being right now that we're back down at 12,500 feet at Thyangboche.

The dust on the trail was settled today due to that snow we've had over the last few days. But in fact, it's sunny and dry today, and we're enjoying a beautiful walk. We've been quiet on the trail today, just kind of taking in the familiar sights, dreaming about the luxuries of Namche and, of course, soon after that, the real luxuries of Kathmandu.

We still share, as we can, with one another, stories, little pieces of natural history. Bob's still a great source for birds and other wildlife we see out here. Our pilots, these two boys from Texas, David Hanson and Mark Ritter, have been great sources of information about the atmosphere. Everyone always starts asking me, they get their altimeters out and they ask me about air pressure, and the pilots have been a good source from a different arena on information about that. It was these guys, Mark and David, that were asked when we got to Dugla, at about 15,100 feet, a few days ago, if we were in the troposphere yet.

I don't know if we got to the troposphere or not on this trip, but we were high enough that this group knows what altitude is all about. And you can ask them when they get home what they think about the commitment, the effort, the risk and the suffering, sometimes, that the climbers are going through who are going to try to go 8800 meters, to the summit of Everest, this time. The trip to Everest Base Camp will definitely help you appreciate that, folks. And there's 14 trekkers walking out of here with me today that can tell you all about that.

We're going to savor the rest of our time in the Khumbu; we've got friends, you know about Cherub Zombu and his wife Lhakpa Doma down at the Panorama Lodge in Namche and, of course from Peter Potterfield and I, you know about old room 303 and the window view and perhaps I'll be able to get the Mini M out the window and send some more photos, or at least another story or two from Namche. We'll take a rest day tomorrow, visit old friends before we bid farewell to the Khumbu and walk downvalley to Lukla, where our flight to Kathmandu will be happening, we hope, just as soon as the 11th of May.

— Wally Berg, Alpine Ascents Guide and MountainZone.com Correspondent

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