Lazarow World-Hike-About: 40.07 Nepal: Everest Base Camp Trail, a day of snowfalls in and around Dingboche.

On an acclimating day—we thought it meant rest—we go up and down to exercise our lungs. The rest of our bodies did not quite see it that way.

The snow began to fall on Dingboche.

While we were busy resting...er, we mean acclimating, the snow became serious. Obviously, it wasn't a snow rest day.

Not forgetting a primary reason for a visit although, in the end, not a critical one. Peaks Everest, Lhotse and Ama Dablam. Does it get any better?

You know life is far from boring when the thought of facing the challenging Mount Everest and its sister peaks might be matched with getting around in the city of Kathmandu, Nepal. Earlier we wrote about the hectic, helter-skelter of a place that reminds us of Cuzco, Peru, (but worse in a chaotic sense) and probably many cities in the neighboring country of India. We also made mention that we thought the city is basking in a state of chaos. However, it seems to work. The drivers are wild but so skilled, auto-drivers and bikers, rickshaws and of course, pedestrians who appear to think they are immune from striking automobile fenders. The strange thing is that after a day negotiating the roads, euphemism for paths, pot-holed surfaces, sandy trails, sidewalks that may in fact be roads and vice-versa, a person gets into the swing of things and rolls with the rhythm of it all. Is that possible? Day-one we were near-paralyzed, the following day we anticipated the moves and by the second evening it all seemed natural. A bit worrying. Had you asked, we would have said the life-span of someone on a motorcycle was such that an insurer would not provide life coverage. We believe man has a splendid ability to adapt to circumstances.

Often, there are 4 per bike.

We’ve met a number of local youngsters over the last few days and without exception, we’ve enjoyed conversing with them very much, particularly on those occasions when we are able to understand them. By the second day, we began to see more westerners who are probably visiting for similar reasons to ourselves. Some of the older people, yes, older than ourselves appear to be real characters when judging by the weather-beaten skin, hippie hairstyles and a look that almost inspires us to ask whether they were here to see Mr. Hillary return to ground-level. There are many young people from all over the world wandering the streets, each dressed differently but in the mode of a trekker, some with rings in their noses for reasons unknown to ourselves. When I pluck up the courage, I’ll have to ask the reason for such self-inflicted pain and suspected discomfort. In a short span, we’ve met Germans, Australians, the English, a delightful Irishman and Canadian, seen a number of Americans and Frenchmen, Russians, East Europeans and a host of Asians, mainly Indians, many in large tour groups with leaders holding up flags like the Pied Piper.

Sometimes I don't understand myself. In search of a job in a dangerous situation. Maybe, civic duty.

Sleeping on the job … so we'll have to walk.

The plan was to depart by plane, reputed to be the most dangerous flight in the world, to the town of Lukla, which would be the beginning point for the Everest Base Camp Trek. We call it by the full name but it appears that when you ‘have arrived’ you refer to it as EBC. Obviously, we have not arrived—truth be told, we haven’t even left yet. (By the way, soon after our return flight, we learned of a crash with 3 dead, two hours after we departed.) What a day. Now we know why Everest is so difficult. By the time you are ready to hike and climb it, you’re washed out from the effort and stress of reaching the starting point. For the record, we are only going to a little beyond base camp (18,400 feet plus some inches), weather permitting, planes flying, air pressure allowing, muscles working, traffic permitting and a host of other factors. You have to ask what’s with people who do this voluntary. Being rational people (for the purposes of this discussion), we ask the same question all the time. While Mr. Mallory replied he climbs mountains because they are there, we are trying to decide a better answer. We could expand upon his seemingly flippant reply but believe it to be a good summary of this seemingly odd behavior.

We left our apartment at 8am heading for the airport. We considered our schedule rather tight but Dipak thought it fine. He is our guide, a young man some 14 years younger than our son, Gavin. We are trying a guide for this trek and should we have the confidence, will go solo, if a couple can go solo, when we embark on our second trip (Mardi Himal). ‘It being a Sunday,’ Dipak said, ‘the roads won’t be too bad.’ Sunday happens to be a regular working day and so the chaos seemed pretty regular to us. The experience of the day was beyond anything we have, suffered may be the right word. In the end, we were at the airport for about 6 hours and because of weather issues at Lukla, were not able to fly. Dipak suggested we take a helicopter instead as they are able to land easier than formal planes on the sloping runway. Jenni was deeply disappointed as she was looking forward to a wild ride.

We listened to the rationale of paying a further $350 each to reach the destination and agreed. Because the operator saw the opportunity for a quick buck, changed the price to $500. We went into deep thinking mode, a sight to behold, considering all our options including undertaking a different hike. Suddenly, Annapurna came into play. Besides the hurdle caused by the weather, the authorities intended closing a runway for maintenance and so no flights would take-off for Lukla from the following day onwards for who knows how long. So our options included taking a bus on a five hour trip and head for another airport, fly into Lukla and begin. However, if Lukla developed weather issues, which it always does, one has to take a helicopter from there or return by bus back to Kathmandu. After the long day at the airport, one develops a sense that getting to the trailhead is not that easy, maybe not even possible.

Lo and behold, the next day, the weather cleared, the authorities opened the runway and we flew into Lukla, a most exciting flight. It was easy, why all the fuss?

On our return from higher up, the village was covered. (We're in 'luck'. We see our hotel.)

The next morning, Jen leads the 'pack' out of 'Dodge'.

Peak of Kala Patthar (opposite Mt. Everest), our highest position on foot on the planet, at anywhere between 18,300 and 18,500 feet, depending on who you ask. Over the period in Nepal, our total accumulated vertical elevation gain came in at a little over 25,000 feet, a bit under 5 miles.