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The Approach March
part 5 | back to part 4

Tengboche
Four days and 3 nights—longer than planned—are spent at Tengboche because 2 of the days dawned with mist and never cleared. For a film crew, this means WAIT, as sunlight is a critical ingredient for any outdoor shooting. We drift in the clouds like ghosts through the nearby rhododendrons and piles of mani stones and use the time to film inside the Tengboche Monastery before moving on to the village of Dingboche, at 14,000 feet. Along the route, we gaze at Everest for the first time. It looks relatively small and unassuming behind the much closer Lhotse and Nuptse mountains. These three summits generate their own cloud systems as the moisture-laden wind forms "plumes" off the summits like banner flags. The mountains that enclose the Khumbu are disorientingly tall, such that it's easy to lose your balance on the steep trails. trekking

You top a rise only to descend again down to the river. At about 14,000 feet, firs and wind-stunted juniper cease to grow, giving way to rocks and lichens.

Dingboche
The approach is at a standstill. We spend 3 days in Dingboche waiting for news from Ed and Jamling (who have gone ahead) about the condition of the trail higher up. Snow has accumulated into deep drifts and access to Base Camp is impossible for yaks. doing wash

With 250 loads to haul, this means immobility until Ed can find extra porters to help carry loads on our final leg. While we wait, the days are taken up with filming, washing clothes, and hiking to higher altitudes to further the acclimatization process. The more time spent at high altitudes the better off we'll be for our push from 14,000 feet in Dingboche to 17,600 at Base Camp. [Visit our site again soon to find out the amazing things that happen to the human body at high altitude!]

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