Flaps Down, Spikes On

Day 8: Dingbouche (Acclimatization Day) – 4,900m/ 16,000 feet
Today is spent as another acclimatization day at this critical elevation. Just above the town, while on our acclimatization hike, we will have stunning views of three 8,000/ 26,200 ft peaks: Makalu, Cho Oyu and Lhotse. Our goal today is to ascend to 4,900m/ 16,000 ft for some of the most beautiful views on the trip. This is one of Ian’s favorite days of the trip! After enjoying the views and spending some time at this new elevation, we will descend back to Dingbouche for lunch. The afternoon will be free to enjoy the village of Dingbouche and relax before some more challenging days ahead. The trek today will be approximately 4 hours round trip and you will gain 550m/ 1,804 ft of elevation.

Last night I slept really well – and when I looked out of the window to check the view – was met with the glorious sight of fresh snow!   About an inch or so.  I know we are at 15,000ft – but for some reason, I wasn’t expecting it to snow!  But take some spectacular scenery, sprinkle it with a fresh dusting of snow like powdered sugar, and get ready to be blown away!  It was simply divine.

The plan for today was an acclimatization hike where we’d hit our highest elevation so far, 16,000ft.  From this point onwards, I’m in new territory, my previous personal best being 15,500ft while hiking over the Salkantay glacial pass in Peru.  I’m happy to report that my guts have returned completely to normal and, so far, I’ve managed to avoid picking up a cold, despite the throngs of people we are now coming into contact with.  All in all, I’m feeling pretty good!  DJ took our stats this morning at breakfast and my blood oxygen saturation levels are still holding steady at around 90%.  Well done, lungs, red blood cells and hemaglobin!  You little guys have my gratitude!  I did, however, managed to get sunburnt on just my right ear yesterday and a bit on my right hand.  I completely forgot to put sunscreen on my ears (rookie move) and clearly didn’t put enough on my hands, so today I made sure to slather on the sunscreen before going down for breakfast.  I also remembered that my Fitpacking hat has flaps, so I deployed those – and so covered my ears.  Job done.  I also broke out the yoga pants with the fleecy lining and packed my YakTrak microspikes – these go on the bottom of your hiking boots and give you more traction to cope with icy/snowy conditions.  So I was ready for the day’s hike – heading out of town, upwards (of course) to a scenic lookout point, high up on a ridge.

The town of Dingboche is a mandatory stop on the EBC trail for acclimatization purposes.  As such, there are more tea houses and lodge here to accommodate everyone – about 15 here, vs only 7 in the next village we’ll be staying at, Lobuche.  There are also a proliferation of coffee shops and bakeries too – as well as a handful of grocery/hiking supply shops looking to sell you North Face knock-offs and “Mike” sneakers!  I’m writing this from the very nice coffee shop that is right next to our hotel – today, its an apple pie and cappucino as my post-hike treat!  You can also charge your phone for free, provided you spend over 500 rupees – so I’m taking advantage of that to put a bit of juice in my phone.  However, I think the electrons (or whatever it is that charges phones) are being hand delivered individually to my phone and it is very sloooooooooooow to charge.  It is currently at 53% and will reach full charge in a staggeringly fast 3hrs 15mins.

Anyway, back to our hike. It was going to be a relatively short outing, leaving after breakfast around 8am, and back in time for lunch.  I definitely needed the microspikes as it was a bit slippy underfoot – and with the hordes of people out doing exactly the same as we were, the snow would likely get compacted into ice after a couple of hours.  There were a LOT of people out – including a large pack of Australians who I think were seeing snow for the first time, given how childlike their reactions to it were. After almost being pelted several times with snowballs they were throwing at each other, Shannon gave them a piece of her mind.  They reacted pretty much how you’d expect juvenile assholes to react – but they did wait for us to pass by before resuming their snowy shenanigans.  We passed by another group of Aussies which included one guy who used the F word as a noun, verb, adjective and adverb.  I was kinda upset – a nicely timed F bomb here and there can be quite impactful or amusing.  Using it literally every other word is just too much of a good thing.  Plus it had been expressly mentioned in our pre-trip briefing document to refrain from coarse language in front of our guides and porters as it is considered disrespectful and deeply offensive.  I guess that guy didn’t get the fucking memo.

We took the hike nice and steady and slow, stopping regularly to rest and take photos.  For the most part, it wasn’t too steep so it was fairly easy to keep the heart and breathing rates at reasonable levels.  We reached our end point (a big flat rock outcropping called Ian Taylor Rock) after about 2hrs and at 16,000ft.  The views were just incredible – and with the sun shining, it was warm and very pleasant.  We spent about 15mins hanging out, taking pictures and videos and enjoying the view, before heading back down the mountain and back to our tea house.  It was a lot quicker and easier coming down!

We got back just before midday, so had lunch at 12.15pm (potato and cheese momos for me today!).  The rest of the afternoon was free, so I went for a bit of a wander to explore Dingboche and to see if the ATM worked (it didn’t) and ended up back here, in this lovely coffee shop.  I might go and have a nap in a bit – mainly cos I’m pretty much caught up on my blog and there’s not much else to do!  I feel a bit tired – but i think that’s because my face is a bit sunburned too now – this despite the factor 30 suncream.  I might have to cadge some Factor 50 off DJ tomorrow otherwise I will start to turn into a wizened old lady of the mountains – and that’s not the look I’m going for!

By the way, I have been wondering what the difference is between hiking and trekking, as I tend to use the terms interchangeably in these blogs.  In case you’ve also been pondering this, I asked Google and according to Nepal Hiking Adventure (who I guess should know), this is their explanation:  Hiking is a short, often single-day walk on established trails, while trekking is a multi-day, challenging journey through remote, rugged terrain.  Hiking requires minimal gear and planning, whereas trekking demands extensive preparation, endurance, and often involves camping or staying in teahouses. Both involve walking in nature, but differ significantly in intensity and duration.  

OK, then – makes sense.  But what about backpacking?  Backpacking: Defines the mode of travel where you carry all your survival gear (tent, food, sleeping bag) in a backpack, often for overnight, remote trips. It can be combined with trekking (multi-day) or hiking. 

So now you know.

Tomorrow, we leave Dingboche and continue our ascent towards EBC – its crazy to think that in only 3 days we will be sleeping at Everest Base Camp, at the foot of the mighty Mt Everest!!  I couldn’t be happier with how I’m feeling at the moment – but I’m not going to get cocky.  There are still a few thousand feet of up to go!   Stay hydrated, go slow and remember to take my Diamox!!