We had an intense, intellectually stimulating day at the Himalayan Climate Initiative (HCI) headquarters in Baluwatar, a neat and functional 3-storey establishment in an orderly suburb near the embassy quarter.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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