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A repeat of the awesome "classic" Trek from Jiri to Namche Bazar, Nepal, in 10-days. The ultimate target was Gokyo-Lakes ... that eluded me! ... again!!
00 Introduction and Overview .....
Google Earth Image of our Trek Route .... from Jiri to Namche and beyond to EBC.
More Images in the footer of this page (below); showing the huge ups and downs of the route.
If you have Google Earth installed on your computer, you may download the Nepal-EBC KMZ file from my blog D/L page and see, hover and fly over these villages, places and trails!
Intro and an overview of the whole trip:
I have been planning a repeat of the Jiri-EBC trek for several years now, since I missed doing Gokyo-Ri and Lakes, in my Oct-2007 Jiri-EBC trek. My trekking friend Sadanand Kamath (SK) who was not much in favor of any Nepal Teahouse treks (due to huge trekking traffic in those routes), finally agreed to come just for the novelty of it. We planned it for Nov-Dec-2013 for clear skies and even booked the air-tickets; but cancelled it at the last minute, due 10-day Maoist strike, before Nepal Elections.
We rescheduled the Trek for April-May-2014, as a hugely ambitious 30-day trek in 3 Legs:
1) Jiri to Namche
2) Namche to Gokyo-Lakes
3) Gokyo to EBC-Kalapathar and back, via Lukla
This time my IIMC classmate Prabal K. Das (PKD), also wanted to join. I tried it to dissuade him from doing this long and arduous 30-day trek as his first trek ever! But once he liked the idea and his children (son and daughter) also gave a 'thumbs-up' he was not willing to back out. He said he will do a health check-up, and if that comes out OK he would like to come. He passed the full health check-up and his Doc said he could go! That was it. We became a 3-member Sr. Citizen trekking group! So PKD and I did a 4-week 'trek-prep' training, walking 6-7 Kms daily, in Yewoor Hills, SGNP, Manpada Gate.
We flew to Kathmandu on 13th April and stayed in Garuda Hotel, in Thamel. On 14th April we did some shopping and rentals for Sleeping Bags and Down Jackets and met up with Mr. Puru the head of Above the Himalayas Trekking Coy; for arranging our TIM Cards and 3 Porters to carry our bags.
We traveled to Jiri by a Bus on 15th April 2014 and from there started the trek on 16th April. Reached Namche Bazaar on 25th April. The Daily Halts places were were as follows:
15th Jiri
16th Shivalaya
17th Kinja
18th Sete
19th Lamjhura
20th Junebesi
21st Nunthala
22nd Khari-Khola
23rd Puiyan
24th Ghat
25th Namche Bazar
26th Rest Day at Namche
Day-wise details of the trip are in subpages (See Menu Left)
Pic shot on Trek Day-1 from Jiri to Shivalaya
Standing (L-R): PKD, SK, me Sitting: Rohit and Ramrai
(L-R): Rohit, PKD, SK, Ramrai and ShreeKrishna - the mood was high (PKD-SK shooting camera man pose!) obviously with just a few hours trek under the belt!
Panoramic view of snow peaks: Everest, Thamserku, Kwangde, Kusum-Kangru, MeraPeak, Makalu etc. seen from Phurtyang; between Junebesi and Nunthala
However on the rest day (26th Apr) In Namche Bazar I got a low-back pain (suddenly, while bending down in the hot-shower there). It didn't get better even after 2 days rest. So I could not go ahead to Gokyo. My two friends, SK and PKD, after waiting an extra day for me, continued the trek to EBC on 28th. I stayed back for more rest in the hope that I can catch up later somehwere on the Gokyo Leg. But no such luck. On 30th April, I took a Helicopter (under Insurance) ride back to Kathmandu with a refueling halt at Lukla.
I was planning to call this my "Retirement 10th Anniversary Trek" (I retired end-March 2004); but then decided not to award that label to an 'aborted' trek ... LoL!
The Heli flight was 5 mins Namche to Lukla and 58 mins from Lukla to Kathmandu. The flight route was almost same as our 10 days Trek route to Namche. So got a fast 1 hour aerial recap of the entire trek route!
To see 'Highlight' (80) Pics: Tour Highlights
To see ALL (500+) pictures of entire Trek (in day-wise Albums) see the Flickr Collections Link
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PS: I am adding 3 links of SK's pictures, captured with his special photography skills and mildly edited (for crop/brightness) for an awesome presentation:
1: Jiri-Namche Bazar-Khumjung (220 Pics)
2: Namche Bazar - Lobuche (92 Pics)
3: Lobuche-Phaplu (105 Pics)
SK's Blog Links (1 pending):
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End Game (PS: 20th May 2014): My two friends SK and PKD went up to Lobuche reaching on 2nd May; they got pretty good Himalayan snow peaks views, including Mt Everest, along the way. At Lobuche (4930M) my friend PKD faced some breathing issues and spent a sleepless night.
So they decided not go higher to Gorak-Shep, Kalapathar and EBC and instead return back from Lobuche. At Lukla, due to bad weather, several days' flights were back-logged; and so they decide to walk extra 2 days to Phaphlu (near Salleri) and take a 13-hour Jeep ride back to Kathmandu on 11th May. They flew back to Mumbai on 13th May.
Our Trek Route (Jiri to Namche Bazar) terrain images from Google Earth:
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