First Everest sighting today!!
- Starting location: Namche Bazar, 3,440m (11,286 feet)
- Max elevation: 3,860m (12,726 feet)
- Min elevation: 3,318m (10,884 feet)
- Ending location: Tengboche, 3,860m (12,726 feet)
- Total gain: 846m (2,775 feet)
- Distance traveled: 7.57 miles in 4:40 active time, 6:14 total time
- Average pace: 36’59” per mile
- Slowest mile: 45’01”
Rain and clouds moved in yesterday evening, and I heard it raining every time I woke up through the night, but happily the clouds had parted slightly by the time the sun rose. We were able to finally get a peek at some of the peaks that tower above Namche, which are a bit mind-blowing when you realize the tall mountains you’re hiking and sleeping in are nothing compared to the mountains behind them.
As we came around a corner, about an hour into our hike, Surya stopped suddenly. “Look! There! Everest!”
“Oooooh!” We said, stunned by the gorgeous, snow-covered mountain in the distance.
“No, not that one,” Surya said. “There. Poking out of the cloud, to the side.”
“Ohhhhh,” we all amended, switching our attention to the much less impressive, tiny tooth of mountain barely visible in the shifting cloud.
And then we proceeded to take a billion picture, because – SQUEEEEEE! – Everest!!
The big, beautiful mountain in the foreground was Lhotse, Everest’s nearby 8,000+-meter buddy, and she was in very fine form that moment.
The timing of our sighting was good, because within half an hour, the clouds had closed back in and there were no more mega-mountains to behold.
The more humble (but also very impressive) Thamserku (6,608m/21,674 feet) kept us company for the majority of the day’s hike, sporting a very fashionable fade from tree-line to brush-line to… I dunno… lichen-line? to naked, snow-covered rock.
We pulled into Tengboche exactly on schedule and just as prayer time at the monastery was beginning. We dropped our bags at the hotel and headed over to observe.
All my experience with monks (though literary, rather than practical) is with the Catholic sort. The self-denying, quiet, contemplative kind.
These are not that kind. These Buddhist monks pray in a temple bedecked with riotous carvings painted screaming colors. The air is full of pungent incense. The 40-odd monks present were beating drums and chanting mantras (one of them wearing a microphone) at extreme volume and even more extreme speed.
Many of the trekkers who came to observe the prayers folded themselves into pretty cross-legged positions of meditation. I don’t have the knowledge to find anything about this circumstance meditative. My nerves jangled and I had a hard time sitting still.
I did enjoy watching the monks. A cell phone peaked out from under the knee of the one nearest us. Several wore down parkas under their crimson robes. I caught two yawning enormously. The mini-monk who went around with tea toward the end of the meditation had a case of the giggles.
By the time we left the temple, the clouds had closed in around us. A drizzle began just as we got back to the hotel, mostly ruining Dustin’s plans to go out and take awesome photos, but he’s hardier than I am, so he got a few in before he got too wet and cold.
Thither & Yon 