We were up at first light and soon after 6am made our way along the now silent main street to Lukla airport to catch the first flight out to Kathmandu. Continue reading
Monthly Archives: September 2013
Climb It for Climate – Sagarmatha Pollution Prevention Committee
With the trek successfully behind us, we had a free afternoon to do as we wished. Most of our group let their hair down in the Wave Bar, playing pool to music downloaded from their phones and rehearsing the trek rap song led by Hannah (Dahl Baht Power – 24 Hour). Continue reading
iPad subscription App crowd-funding
Today marks the public launch of the New Internationalist crowd-funding campaign – StartSomeGood.com/indy-media-app – for the design and distribution of our iPad and iPhone subscriptions App and we’d be super-appreciative of your help.
There are so many ways you can help:
- Go to StartSomeGood.com/indy-media-app and make a pledge using your PayPal account. Should I mention there are incentives?
- Continue reading
Climb It for Climate – Phakding to Lukla
I got up for an early morning walk and wash in the stream that ran down the hill above the village. I made my way up to a spot where I could bathe discretely, well below the intake point for the water pipes that feed water into the houses.
Climb It for Climate – Namche Bazaar to Phakding
Our big descending traverse to Phakding thankfully coincided with a cool sunny day. The path began on a gentle gradient through tall pine and oak forests, high above the river just visible through the trees as a white ribbon snaking along the bottom of the valley. We made way for several unloaded yak trains making their way downhill to pick up supplies from towns lower down.
Climb It for Climate – Pheriche to Namche Bazaar
After group discussion, we chose to push on an extra hour and a half all the way down to Namche Bazaar today, to make up the day lost in Kathmandu airport and ensure we could do all three of our volunteer days with the Himalayan Climate Initiative in Bhaktapur.
Climb It for Climate – Gorak Shep to Pheriche
The gods intervened in our plans as it snowed through the night. We woke to a black and white landscape and low cloud, so no hope of climbing to Kala Patthar. While a little sad not to rise at 4am to see the dawn break over Pumori, Nuptse, Lhotse and Everest, the day was richly rewarding in its own way.
Climb It for Climate – Lobuche to Everest Base Camp
Today’s trekking was the core of our climate journey.
We left Lobuche around 8am and made our way gradually uphill along a broad path to Gorakshep, a settlement perched on a small knoll on the glacial moraine.
Climb It for Climate – Dingboche to Lobuche
We left early, climbing back up the first part of yesterday’s ridge before veering left along the undulating valley floor carved out by the Khumbu Glacier, dotted with massive boulders dropped as it passed.
Climb It for Climate – Tyengboche Gompa to Dingboche
Several of us sat in to listen to the monks chanting morning prayers in the Gompa. The ridge above it is festooned with prayer flags and little stupas and clay ovens for burning the incense from the juniper bushes during festivals. There was a fantastic view back down the valley we’d climbed the day before and across to Khundre village on the far side.