Trip Reports

Khumbu Climber - 7 Oct to 5 Nov '07

Written by Leader Mic Rofe, January 2008

Our Khumbu Climber Expedition received three weeks of perfect weather to help attain all our summits and high passes, even though we lost a few days at the beginning waiting to fly into Lukla.

Primed and ready to hit the mountains we headed to the airport early on the Monday for our flight to Lukla. Only to wait . . . and wait . . . and wait . . . and return to the hotel. Rain in Lukla. Again the following day to the airport. Rather than wait there we headed to Pashupatinath to be tourists, whilst regularly checking with our Summit Trekking representative, Kewal, at the airport. Late in the morning we returned to the airport for a little stationary waiting before returning to the hotel. I quipped at some point what great training for high altitude mountaineering this was – lots of sitting around – builds patience! The following day we decided to wait at the Summit Hotel. Though comfortable chairs and a nice cup of tea did not make our wait any less frustrating. Finally, on the Thursday, our fourth day of attempts, we made it onto a plane and the clouds opened up just wide enough to let us touch down in the mountains.

From here a series of short days took us up along the trekking superhighway of the Khumbu. Long afternoons and quiet evenings meant multiple books were consumed.

The one day it snowed we were warmly ensconced at the Mountain Paradise Lodge in Dingboche so the impact was purely aesthetic. From Dingboche we took to tents for a couple of nights making a base camp and then high camp near the Kongma La for our ascent of Pokalde.

Pokalde had a delightful summit. Very easy scrambling led to a tiny summit from which we could appreciate our position right in the heart of the Himalayas. We missed Mike and Andy from our summit shots and during the next two weeks. They had decided not to attempt this peak of 5,800m and the following day from Chukhung they departed the expedition early to head for home.

This left a small team: Lee from Scotland, Alfonso from Spain, me from Australia and our excellent Nepalese team; Chyote Sherpa our Sirdar, Furtemba Sherpa our Climbing Sherpa who fixed the ropes, Chombe Tamang our cook, as well as cook boy's, porters and yakman.

Meanwhile, after a rest day in Chukhung we moved straight to a High Camp on Island Peak. Being a small group gave us the distinct advantage of flexibility in where we could stay and the distances we could cover. We all worked together to set up our tents in a strong wind that had halted all summit attempts that day at the top of the headwall. By dinner the wind had died and stayed that way for us through the night and for our summit the following day. The peak's popularity and perfect conditions meant a crowded summit. Beyond the people there was also a crowd of Himalayan giants great company for Lee to tick his first 6,000m summit. We descended past Chukhung and all the way to Dingboche that afternoon so that we could enjoy a day of total rest.

Around to Lobuche Base Camp and the whole mountain to ourselves. Lee was flattened by the flu for Summit Day on Lobuche East. He impressed the rest of us over the next few days with his determination to get over the Cho La, summit Gokyo Ri and muster the energy to cross the Renjo La. From our High Camp we moved quickly up over rock slabs and then onto the snow. We had perfect conditions, maybe a little too warm, and took some great photographs. I assume Furtemba was taking pictures with his mobilephone, though mobile reception is becoming more widespread throughout the Khumbu.

We had easy crossings of the Cho La and Renjo La, needing nothing more than trekking poles and boots. Alfonso often led the way surging ahead with his boundless energy. He showed a preference for dessert three times a day and I suspect that this fuelled his tireless enthusiasm for all facets of the mountains; especially engaging with the locals and learning about their art, music and culture. Going through here was the scenic highlight of the trek: the beautiful lake at Gokyo and crossing the Renjo La gave us our best Everest view of the trip.

Our run back to Lukla and on to Kathmandu was swift with significant breaks only being taken at bakeries! Back in Kathmandu we reflected on how good the weather had been on trek after such a frustrating start stuck in Kathmandu, our wonderful local staff, and started to plan the next climb: Scotland, the Alps, South America or perhaps back to the Himalaya...

Mic Rofe, Expedition Leader« Previous report | Next report »

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