Everest Base Camp 2008 - Day 11
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Starting
point : Tyangboche (Altitude: 3865m/12680ft. Start Time: 8:30 am)
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This day was the earlier Phunki Tenga experience in reverse. Huge descent followed by a significant ascent on both sides of the river crossing. We remembered the looks of the returning folk last week as they climbed up from Phunki Tenga towards Namche. We did not struggle too much and managed it without stretching too much.
A herd of yak with colorful baggage passed by.
We took the detour at Sanasa to Khumjung, which turned out to be an upscale community with a lot of expensive homes and the nicely appointed Hillary school. The nearby village of Khunde has a full fledged hospital. The area surrounding Khumjung was a feast of colors on the mountain sides.
There was a strange occurrence where it started snowing on the mountain in front of us, but it stayed relatively warm and clear where we were. We passed the impressive looking school complex. We can see the snowing activity on the mountain in the background in the picture below. The school complex is in front of the town. The gateway to the town is at the foot of the stairs at left with the red roof.
From Khumjung, we climbed over a ridge that connected us via some breathtaking scenery to the Everest View Hotel trail at Shyangboche airstrip. The airstrip did not look like it was expecting any flights this afternoon. A herd of yak were peacefully relaxing on the side of the runway. Our guide identifed the animals as Tibetan yaks. We were wondering what distinguishing features they had. It turned out that they had prayer flags tied to their necks and hence the inference.
We descended on the steep trail down to Namche Bazaar. We had climbed this trail on Day 3 during our acclimatization trek. The views of the Dudh Kosi valley with the Namche Bazaar museum (see picture below) were stunning.
Looking down at the
Namche Bazaar museum
Back at Namche Inn for a third night. We had spent 2 nights there on our way uphill.
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