03 Octboer 2013 – Walking Towards Dingboche

Its ‘5 am’ and I’m up even before the alarm goes off. May be, I’m getting used to the fairly tough schedule we all have been following for the last 4 days…Aching muscles are rebelling by now; telling my mind to lie in bed for longer and not get out of the warm sleeping bag…But the thought of getting 1 day closer to our dream of reaching ‘Base Camp’ is too strong. Nine determined souls are rearing to head out towards our destination of the day which is Dengboche situated at an altitude of about 4400 m. Although the weather has been playing a spoilsport till now, denying us views of some of the most spectacular mountain ranges in the world, the good news is that the weather is predicted to get better from tomorrow. Anyways by 7.10am all of us started off walking in biting cold and rains. I must say today’s trek was one of my most uncomfortable walks till date. The combination of low temperatures and cold drizzle is something which deflates ur determination to reach your destination. But we carry on anyway.. No amount of rains or cold is going to stop us from reaching our dream! Today’s trail lasted for five and half hours excluding our lunch break. We walked right up to the river, passing 3 small villages along the way, namely Deboche, Pengboche and finally Shomare, where we made a quick stop for lunch. After crossing the river the climb became quiet steep. By now the drizzle had stopped. We strutted through the path occasionally looking up at the rescue helicopter making sorties from Everest Base Camp to Lukla. Finally our guide Chhiri tells us we have reached our tea house. All of us just slumped into the chairs had our hot beverages ,checked into our rooms, changed into our warm clothes n now as I’m writing this blog some are sitting in front of the bukhari reading some are intently listening to Sam as he is narrating interesting stories of Everest and mountaineering in general…All and all, a good day. Feeling good about the fact that I’m one day closer to reaching EBC