Tiny post for a tiny day. Today we made the short trek from Dingboche to Chhukhung, a town that owns way more H’s than any single town deserves. We made our way from 14,400 feet up to 15,600 feet.
- Starting location: Dingboche, 4,323m (14,181 feet)
- Ending location: Chhukhung, 4,757m (15,603 feet)
- Elevation gain: 434m (1,422 feet)
- Average pace: 41’07” per mile
- Slowest mile: 45’45”
The traffic on the trail was much slower today than it has been recently, as we’ve diverged from the main trail that leads up to Everest Base Camp. The only fools going this way are either following our Three High Passes route, or attem a summit of Island Peak (6,108m/20,034 feet) – a side-quest we’d considered and quickly dismissed as too much danger/effort/elevation/cold/type2fun. (Mostly me. Dustin still thinks he might try it some day.)
In any case, it was a very pleasant stroll along a madly rushing glacial river. I spent the time taking pictures of wildflowers, pining after a butterfly who wouldn’t stay still for me, and mooning over magnificent Lhotse (8,414m/27,598 feet) – third tallest peak in the world – as she guided us toward our destination.
In fact, that’s basically all I did all day, even after arriving at the hotel. Tomorrow is our first really major hike, so getting rested up and practicing breathing the 15,000-foot air is really all that’s on the to-do list.
The guest house here is really nice, with smashing views of Tamboche and bright, sunny benches in the dining room. As a major bonus, there aren’t any stairs between the dining room and our bedroom. Stairs here are absolute terrors of uneven, unreasonable height. The bathrooms are also quite nice, with seats on every toilet and an actual bar of soap by the sink. (The bar for bathrooms has been significantly lowered over the last week. For example, in these nice bathrooms, the floor is still always wet, as you have to pour a pitcher of water dipped from a nearby bucket into the toilet in lieu of flushing.)
To bed early tonight. We begin at 5:30 tomorrow.
Thither & Yon 
I’m enjoying the heck out of these posts, and your adventure. It’s not something I have even the slightest inclination to do (even when I was your age!), but I appreciate being able to do it vicariously through you and Dustin.
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