Previous Post: Lobuche to Gokyo via Cho La Days 11 – 14
The final days of the trek – we were now heading south with upcoming campsites or lodge accommodation in Lumde (also called Lungden), Namche (2 nights), Phakding, and Lukla before boarding an early morning flight back to Kathmandu.
Himalayan Maphouse map…hard copies available in Kathmandu
Day 15: Gokyo Over Renzo La to Lungden
“Homeward bound!” That thought was foremost in my mind as we left Gokyo. We’d been on the trek for two weeks – and before that, I had spent almost three weeks in the Annapurna region doing the circuit there.
Renjo La from Gokyo Lake Lodges
looking ahead at the porters approaching Renjo La from Gokyo
As we started our climb up to the east side of Renjo La, I turned around and got a clear view of Everest, Nuptse, and Lhotse in the distance. From Renjo La it is 25 kilometers in a straight line to Mt. Everest. I also got a different perspective of Gokyo Lake #3, the small collection of lodges, and the Glacier just below us.
approaching the Renjo la from Gokyo – final stretch – click on image to see pass location
Renjo La – the view from the east side
looking back at the yak caravan approaching Renjo La
We left the lodge at 8:oo a.m. and just after 11:00 we were up at the pass,; the ascent had for the most part been fairly gradual. The steep part would be coming up immediately after heading down the other side!
prayer flags at Renjo La – Everest and Lhotse in the background
Again- the weather gods smiled on us as we dealt with the last of the high passes. As the pix show, we had a perfect day to make the ascent to the pass from our Gokyo lodge. The views of Everest and the mountains and glaciers we had walked over to get to Renjo La did not stop being stupendous. (My Brit fellow-trekkers were big on the word “brilliant”; I used the perhaps more North American “wow” and “holy moly” to give inadequate sound to the feeling of looking back and seeing what the pix show.)
Renjo La – prayer flags
At the top of the pass, we met a couple of dogs. I named the brown one Bhikku and the black one Renjo. They would join our caravan for the rest of the day. They were in good physical shape and seemed well-fed; they were not shy and took the ear scratches I offered with no complaints. They did score some scraps at lunchtime on the other side of the pass- and the cooks also put out something for them after supper.
BTW- bhikku is a Pali term to describe a Buddhist monk, whose daily food requirements are met by villagers who put food in his bowl as he wanders down the roads of life. These dogs were providing us with an opportunity to gain easy merit (i.e. karma points) by giving them food. Definitely a win-win for all concerned!
mountain dog at the top of Renjo La
hardy Tibetan mountain dog lounging at Renjo La
Everest as a backdrop at Renjo La
mountain dog after Renjo La- I named him Bhikku!
Renjo – the dog – on the other side of Renjo la
Renjo close up by Renjo La
Renjo La – a satellite view from the west
coming down the west side of Renjo La
Angladumba Tsho on the west side below Renjo La
We stopped for lunch at the tent spot just above Relama Tsho.
Relama Tsho on the west side of Renjo La
Relama Tsho to Lumde (aka Lungden)
Bhikku’s buddy Renjo waiting for me as we leave our lunch spot above Relama Tsho
coming up – steep descent from the high plateau to Lungden
yak herder’s hut above Lungden and the Bhote Kosi
yaks grazing above Lumde on the plateau above the Bhote Kosi
yak corral entrance above the Bhote Kosi valley
the trail down to Lumde and the Bhote Kosi valley
Lungden yak pasture on the hills above Bhote Kosi valley with Tashi Lapcha beyond
Our day ended around 2:30 and we set up camp behind a lodge in Lungden (Lumde).
sateelite view of Lumde
Day 16- Lumde To Namche
Probably the easiest day of the entire trek – our walk down to Namche! We left around 8:00 and just south of the settlement crossed the Bhote Kosi on a simple bridge.
We would remain on the west side of the river until just south of Thame.
Lumde to Thame to Namche – going down the Bhote Kosi valley
looking back up the Bhote Kosi towards Lumde
In the satellite image below the trail is visible; we came at it from the bottom right and followed it right past the side trail up to the Kerok Gompa. The river bed was fairly dry and the Bhote Kosi a mere trickle of what it would be earlier in the year.
Kyarok Gompa and Settlement – and the trail passing right through
stone wall enclosures and huts in Kyarok in the Bhote Kosi valley
We passed by Kerok about 90 minutes after our start from Lungden. It is a small settlement most famous for its monastery, which was established around 1650 and is one of the oldest in the Khumbu region. The ten monks there belong to the oldest of Tibetan Buddhism’s four major sects, that of the Nyingma. This is the Buddhist sect that the Sherpas of the Khumbu belong to. [The Dalia Lama is the head of the Gelugpa branch.] [See here for a webpage on the various monasteries of the Khumbu region, including Kyarok Gompa.]
Kerok monastery billboard
We continued on down along the west bank of the river past more fields and stone houses.
Not far from Kerok we stopped to take a look at the roadside chorten. For the locals, the structure is heavily laden with symbolism, right up to the spire with its thirteen rings, the parasol above, and finally the semi-circular moon and the sun on top representing our life goal – enlightenment. As we had learned very early on in the trek, one always passes on the left side of a chorten or a row of prayer wheels.
chorten on the side of the trail above Thame
chorten symbolism – see here for the source of the image and a detailed explanation
the decorated front of the chorten on the side of the trail below Kerok
Not too soon afterward we stopped for some tea and drinks at this house. Some of the crew took advantage of the ground covering and the warm sun to relax a bit. Not too far away were yak poop patties either drying in the sun or already dried and stacked and ready for storage.
house on the road from Kerok to Thame
porters’ baskets and walking sticks at our brief rest stop
Back on the trail, we continued our downward descent and our approach to Thame. We had definitely lost some altitude over the past 24 hours when we were at Renjo La. The alpine had been replaced by scrubland and now more vegetation was starting to appear.
- Renjo La 5360m
- Lumde 4380
- Kerok 3940 ?
- Thame 3884m
We walked by a trekkers’ lodge under construction on the trail to Thame from Lungden. Given that quite a few buildings in the Bhote Kosi valley suffered extensive damage due to the 2015 Gorka earthquakes, in the years since I’ve occasionally wondered if this one managed to escape unscathed.
trekkers’ lodge under construction on the trail to Thame from Lungden
simple chorten to the north of Thame in the Bhote Kosi valley
Thame on the west bank of the Bhote Kosi
trail tumbles down towards Thame on the left (i.e.west) side of the river
the rock paintings north of Samde in the Bhote Kosi Valley
rock paintings – Samde Bhote Kosi
Green Tara:
painting of Green Tara on Rock Wall N of Samde – Bhote Kosi
Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava)…The Himalayan Buddha
painting of Guru Rinpoche, the Himalayan Buddha
A Renowned Siddhi?
I am guessing that the figure below is a revered – and, given the white hair, elder – siddhi from the Nyingma tradition.
- The hands and feet are awkwardly drawn, with the position of the leg implying a seated and not a lotus position.
- In his right hand is a short chain, perhaps symbolizing freeing oneself from the endless cycle of samsara;
- nestled in his left hand is a medicine bowl containing the Jewel of Buddhism, the cure for the human condition.
- His ample belly fat brings to mind a representation of the Hindu god Ganesha.
If you know the story behind this figure, please let me know in the comments below.
a siddhi figure (?) on a rock wall north of Samde in the Bhote Kosi valley
The rock paintings you see may not look like those I photographed in 2006. Here, for example, is the same rock face in the 1960s or 1980s – while Green Tara and Guru Rinpoche are there, the Siddhi figure, the kata scarves, and the text are not.
1970s/1980s
looking down the Bhote Kosi gorge from the bridge near Thame
our lunch stop on the trail south of Ramde in Thamo
small shrine in the corner of the room where we had lunch – Thamo/Bhote Kosi valley
Back To Namche
Namche from the end of the trail from Thame
Namche stupa- at the bottom right in the image before this one
Namche stupa up close
dusk at the Tibetan market in Namche
checking the email in Namche- a sign that the trek is over!
graffiti wall in Namche restaurant
Day 17: Rest Day In Namche
Tibetan market in Namche Bazaar
side street in Namche – our tent spot/lodge was a short walk up
Day 18: Namche To Phakding
Day 19: Phakding To Lukla
getting close to Lukla- the Pasang Lhamu Gate
As we entered Lukla the big topic was the weather and whether it would hold. We had heard the stories of trekkers stranded in Lukla for days because the planes could not land because of bad weather.
Day 20: Flight Back To Kathmandu
After a night at a Lukla lodge, we headed for the airstrip. To the very last day our luck had held- by noon we were back in Kathmandu, blown away by the transition from one superlative to another- from our fantastic walk through and over the best of the Khumbu back to the great valley we now landed in, with its cultural highlights like Bodhnath and Swayambhu and Bhaktapur…another post or two will explore the city that I think is the most amazing expression of human culture. More “wow” to come See the end of this post for more!
_______________________
If you’ve stumbled into this mess of words and pix and actually read all the way to this point, well – first of all, “Congratulations!” and secondly, you might want to check out the previous posts of the trek:
- The High Passes of Everest: Doing The World’s #1 Trek
- The High Passes of Everest: Lukla to Namche Days 1 – 3
- The High Passes of Everest: Namche To Chhukung – Days 4 – 7
- The High Passes of Everest: Chhukhung to Everest via Kongma La Days 8 – 10
- The High Passes of Everest: Lobuche to the Kokyo Lakes Via Cho La Days 11 – 14
_______________________
The Kathmandu Valley
Overview:
Temple and Street Shrines of Nepal’s Kathmandu Valley – “God Is Alive; Magic Is Afoot”
The Kathmandu Valley And Its UNESCO Cultural Heritage Sites
1. Kathmandu (Kantipur)
Kathmandu’s Durbar Square After the 2015 Quakes – Worth the $10. Ticket?
2. Boudhnath (Bodhnath)
The Boudhanath Stupa – The Heart Of Nepal’s Tibetan Community
3. Pashupatinath
Pashupatinath: Shiva’s Kathmandu Valley Temple
4. Swayambhunath
Swayambhunath: Buddha Eyes Over The Kathmandu Valley
5. Patan (Lalitpur)
The Kathmandu Valley’s Patan April 2018: Part 1 – Durbar Square
Ramblin' Boy 
There! I’ve been through the three last posts all the way round and back to your departure point! The feeling at having followed you on this awesome trip is (very) sobering! I can see that you aren’t a young man any more, and yet… my heartfelt congratulations!
Thanks for the magnificent pictures which will (hope you don’t mind) adorn my computer screens for months to come and make me dream: will I one day do this sort of trek? You mention $4000! Well…Who knows? I wonder if in Heaven they hop us on such trips?! No, I sure would want to do it before.
My only 2 experiences of altitude was in the Alps (Ecrins) and in Moroccan Atlas… And the one time we “trekked” in Himalaya (as you might have read on the Bollywood blog turned travelog for the occasion) was a fiasco! So we (my wife and I) want to go back… But will we get the glorious weather you had?
Anyway, thanks once again for this fantastic work which shows that the Internet is a great way to make people dream and share the best.
Yves, congrats for reading through the entire thing! Nice to hear that you liked some of the pix. It must be one of the easiest places on earth to get the occasional great shot.
Don’t let the $$$ deter you from taking on at least a part of my hike. I went deluxe and appreciated the service but you can do it much cheaper. My advice – find a trekking company in Kathmandu or even in Lukla. All you need is a porter. No need to tent the way we did – there are tea houses every 5 or 10 kilometers. Just have a good sleeping bag.
The most important thing is being in excellent physical shape so you know you can count on your body to do what you want it to! Some basic hiking skills are good too – as is having decent gear and equipment like trekking poles. A bit of planning and you and your wife can do the walk up to Gokyo Lakes.
I hope to return to Nepal and the mountains in 2016 – I will be 65 then. My wife and I were there when I was 45; I joined the Exodus group in the trek you read about in 2006. In 2016 I plan on hiring a porter and doing it by myself. I haven’t decided if it will be the Annapurnas or Sagarmatha.
I hope you make your dream come true – whatever it is. Make a checklist of things you need to do to make it happen – and then do them. Don’t wait until it is too late!
This really is a fantastic blog !! I am planning on doing a Gokyo Lake trip including at least one of the high passes in October this year. A question I need to ask is whether or not crampons are required at this time of the year? Once again thanks for your great blog.
Best regards
Robin
Robin, I brought my mountaineering boots to Nepal with me for my Everest trip. The tour leader convinced me that they were not really needed and I left them behind. He was right. I did the trek in a pair of mid-weight (2 lbs. 8 oz. for the pair) hiking boots with room for heavy socks.
Crampons are not really necessary for this. The trail is usually very well packed down. I did google “crampons for cho la crossing” and noticed that not everyone would agree with me! Read the first entry if you want an account with lots of drama. A number of companies have a lightweight crampon that would perhaps be easy to pack for an emergency situation. Since my Everest trek I have bought a pair of the Grivel Air Tech Light which weigh 1 lb. Most mountaineering crampons weigh twice that.
http://www.grivel.com/products/full_product_list/fpl_crampons.php
Here is what the current Exodus Trip Notes for the Everest trek I did says about optional items to bring along – “Crossing the Cho La involves approx 2hrs walking cross a glacier and sometimes the ascent and descent of all the passes can be slippery and icy if there has been snow. Many trekkers and porters cross all the passes in normal 3 season boots. However you may like to bring a pair of instep crampons, Yaktrax or Spikeys or similar to put on the sole of your boots in case of ice or snow.
(Your leader will carry an ice axe and rope for safety).”
Trekking poles effectively used would be a much better thing to bring along. They would increase stability, balance, and decrease the stress on your knees by transferring some to your upper body.
I do recall that the guides had ice axes and rope strung around their shoulders for the various high pass crossings but we never had cause to use them. Even in crossing the various glaciers crampons were not required.
G
It sounds like you will do Cho La from Kala Pattar and Lobuche passing Chola lake and then over to the Gokyo side and its lakes. At least, I hope you’re doing it from east to west! It is more difficult to do it from Gokyo to Lobuche. It is a stunning slice of the Himalayas. Enjoy the walk and may you have lots of sunny days!
Many thanks for your quick response and hepful suggestions – greatly appreciated.
Best regards
Robin
A riveting account of the three passes and EBC and Gokyo trek. Thoroughly enjoyed your experience and the photographs. I plan to do this at probably a little slower place and by staying at tea-houses, in Dec 2015. In Dec, I guess I would need a lot more protection from the wind and cold, and a strong pair of legs. not ruling out a strong back and shoulder 🙂 Having done the Annapurna circuit trek, Annapurna base camp, Langtang Gosaikunda trek, and the new Mardi Himal Trek, I can’t wait to get onto the Everest side.
I wish you the best for your trek in 2016.
Srini, your previous trekking experience bodes very well for a great walk up the Khumbu. The tea-house approach is an excellent one; you lose a bit of flexibility but it is more comfortable and probably cheaper too. I have yet to decide on whether to do the Annapurna Circuit or the Three Passes of Everest again next year. If I return to Sagarmatha it will be with the teahouse route in mind.
Beautiful blog true_north. The photos provide great prep regardless of the spoiler effect! My buddy and I are 57, fairly fit and will carry our own 32 lbs with full ultralight camp gear for -10 C in early October. We plan on taking as much as a month to explore the area comfortably. We may expand the trek if weather and health prevail. I’m still researching the post-earthquake conditions. I plan to pick up a guide in Namche and trek Lukla/Phortse/Gokyo/Cho La/Lobuche/Kala Patthar and back down the Everest Base Camp freeway, plus sidetrips. If your guide has a friend in Namche around Oct 7, we’d be happy to employ him for 2-3 weeks with. I’d be very interested to hear your 5 most memorable viewpoints or experiences in the region. Thank you for your wonderful contribution to trekking.
Nice to hear about your upcoming adventure. You guys have to be pretty keen to be carrying all your stuff yourself! Given the collapse of the trekking biz in Nepal I’d imagine there are a few porters available. Maybe hiring one and sharing with your partner would lighten your own load by 50% – and inject $15. -$20. a day into some Sherpa’s microeconomy!
Hiring a guide is a good idea – he will enrich your appreciation of the terrain and its history and serve as a facilitator for the many daily interactions that can occasionally grind you down. I still remember how positively our guide was greeted by fellow Sherpas and by monks and teahouse owners as we made our way around the Khumbu. I felt like he was showing me around his house and introducing me to members of his family.
I’ll admit I have lost touch with the main guide from that trip – but I’m sure if you were to show his picture some trekking-related local in a lodge/teahouse in Namche, someone would know his name. He was born there and as I mentioned his father was a part of the first summit of Everest. I’ll contact the Exodus team to see if it still deals with him and let you know in a few days. If not him, I just know that he is not the only excellent guide out there.
I did find that the high altitude took its toll on some of my fellow trekkers. The “Khumbu cough” set in after about two weeks and I had it too. Severe stomach upset sapped me for a couple of days as we trekked from Lobuche over Cho La to the Gokyo lakes. You can only hope that everyone else is as obsessed about hygiene as you are!
To lengthen the trip a bit do walk up the valley to Imja Khola to Chhukkung and maybe even Imja Tse base camp…but really, if you stay healthy there will be more enticing options availble than time to do them! October is traditionally the best month to be doing this so you guys should be good for weather.
Now that I insist on taking a two-pound dslr with multiple lenses, some weighing another pound, I remember fondly the 2006 six megapixel Sony H2 point and shoot that I used for all the pix in my Everest post. No matter what camera you bring along, the landscape seems to provide brilliant images.
Re: the five most memorable viewpoints? The Khumbu is an enchanted place – passes and mountain peaks are always special given the effort to get up there, but so is seeing the porter’s basket leaning up against a five hundred year old stone wall or prayer flags streaming down from a chorten on the path…
You’ve got a bit of a wait until that first day in Lukla. Enjoy it when it arrives – knowing that you are in great physical shape and well-prepared for the journey. Good luck. Please send me the link to your Everest blog when it all gets done – I do hope that the buildings in the region were spared. I’ll include your post link in my post as an update.
I was going to return to the Annapurnas this March but the on-going four-month fuel blockade at the Indian border and political crisis having to do with the new constitution made me decide to give Nepal a pass this year. That the political class would think that a new constitution was the #1 issue to be dealt with after the earthquakes of late April and early May is stunning. And – Given all their problems, it took Nepal’s politicians until Dec. 20 to appoint a head of the post-earthquake reconstruction agency acceptable to all political parties!
I felt bad telling the Pokhara guide (Prem Rai) I had been corresponding with that the trip was postponed until maybe next year. I am going to Tasmania for a bike tour instead – stable, safe, excellent infrastructure, and I can do it on my own.
First off, thanks a lot for the great blog. I used it as my main resource in the recent 3 passes trip. I wanted to add some post-quake information.
1. The tourist infrastructure in the Khumbu region seems almost unaffected by the quake. I saw a few teahouses with cracks in the Lukla – Namche section; beyond that all teahouses seemed ‘solid’. Many Stupas had been damaged – almost every Stupa in Khumjung village had big cracks.
2. This was my first trip to the region and I didn’t have a calibration for the crowd. The traffic seemed less than what I had expected. We were in Gorak Shep on Apr 15 and it was crowded. (http://www.standuponeverest.co.uk/ is the likely reason.) Other than that, the lodges were not at full occupancy even on the main EBC trail. On the Cho-la and Gokyo routes, entire lodges seemed empty.
3. I am not sure if this is caused by the quake – but the mobile connectivity wasn’t great. No ncell coverage beyond Tengboche except in few patches. You can always spot these patches by the number of Sherpas clustered there with phones in hand. The base camp had Ncell coverage. After that, I had to wait till Thame for coverage. Everestlink (wi-fi) coverage was good at all villages.
Thanks for the post-quake update. Your observations will be of use to someone who finds his/her way into my decade-old experience! I did recently see pix of the cracked chortens above Namche.
A return to the Kumbhu is still in my plans – to me it is the world’s #1 trekking route. Maybe this fall! By the way – did you do it on your own or did you join an organized group?
I plan on doing the three high passes this November. I did the Annapurna circut and part of the Everest area in 1994 and 1995. I am now 65 years old but hike almost every day. Im excited to go back and hope it will be the same life changing experience. I am using http://www.kamzang.com as my company of choice. Kim is more expensive than some but seems to be loved by her clients. Give her trips a look as she does many in Nepal and Bhutan. Kim and Lakpa live in Kathmandu and have been guiding for 15 years. Anyway, hope you make it back to Nepal. Ive been wanting to go back for years. Jane
The High Passes trek is, in my mind, the finest trek in the world. It’s got it all – high altitude, stunning mountainscape, the Sherpa Buddhist culture. ! I’m sure that Kamzang Journeys will provide you with everything Exodus Travels did – and, given the $800. price difference – more! If we were were 24 and just out of university we would of course be trying to do it all on our own for under $800!
A return to the Khumbu is definitely in the cards – I am also 65 so we still have some time! Re: your “life changing experience” – I can hear Lao Tzu saying to you – “The world can be known without leaving one’s home/ the further you go the less you know.” Of course, he himself in his later years headed exactly to where you are – the Himalayas! Enjoy the walk.
Thanks for the response. I used Exodus in 2004 for a Morrocco trip. It was a nightmare. So Im a little leery to use them again. Glad you had a good experience. I also have used KE Adventures for 4 trips. They were great.
Look into going to the Balkans. Wonderful place and no one there. Also Albania was perfect. Great hiking and no one. We were hoping to go biking in Cuba this spring but I broke my leg skiing so maybe next year. Being an American makes it a challenge but it looks like that will be changing soon. WE have hiked in Peru and it looks like we did the same routes almost. Even stayed at Olazas!!! WE also hiked in Bolivia. The hardest hike Ive ever done. 18 days.
Sri Lanka is on my list. Did you do this with Exodus? How was it?
Great blog. Keep it up.
Jane, you need to send me your blog site address – it sounds like I could find some ideas for upcoming trips! My wife and I did spend a summer in the Balkans – but that was in the mid-1980’s. Things have changed!
Re: Sri Lanka. The two weeks with Exodus on their walking tour of the highlands was excellent. I spent another ten days on my own visiting the Cultural Triangle and Colombo. I am thinking of returning with my bicycle and cycling the Tamil area from Jaffna down the east coast to Trinco.
Happy trails!
I don’t have a blog site. The Balkans trips were with ke adventure. Great trips. Check their website. Love your blogs. Sorry I m not that good at making a blog.
Blogging is not for everyone. My wife has a ton of great pix and is happy to share them on Facebook. I am not on Facebook. Every once in a while i get to see a slide show on her laptop! Re: KE. Have heard good things about them. Just used Mountain Kingdomms, another smaller English travel company for my Bolivia trek. As that Grateful Dead song says – “Keep on truckin’!”
Excellent and informative account. Great photos. Thanks!
I am considering a very similar trip late February 2017. The Gokyo lake extension looks great.
I really enjoyed the Annapurna Circuit trek with Exodus earlier this year and thought maybe to look at their services again. They certainly take all the stress out of arranging everything. However it felt at times a little too ‘packaged’ and felt herded.. especially at meal times. :). I guess it is a trade off.
From your account, it seems altogether very possible (and cheaper) to do the trip independently by employing a local guide or porter at Lukla. Maybe it is better to wait until Kathmandu and see how things go. For the purpose of booking flights in and out of Lukla what is the maximum time that you would allow for a similar trip to your own?
Paul
The High Passes Trek remains my single favourite. It’s got everything!
As you noticed in my account I did use Exodus for the trip. The staff was A+; the guide was a Sherpa from the Khumbu whom everyone seems to know and like; his sirdar was another very experienced Sherpa who had everything running very smoothly. It isn’t cheap but you do get the best staff and access to things that perhaps otherwise would not be possible. Also do note that the Exodus trip involved tents and camping and yaks to haul everything – and it all worked with military-like precision! And while we did not bump into any really nasty weather, you can see how that could change a pleasant walk in the mountains to a real challenge in a hurry. Nice to be with a team of locals who have dealt with this before and will be able to ensure everyone’s safety.
You could do the trip on your own with a guide and or porter – and you would probably do fine given your Annapurna experience. Eliminating the tenting and staying in teahouses would make it easy – and cheaper. You’d save some $ and if you are lucky you would have a guide who can add value to the experience by providing context to what you’re seeing.
Lukla seems to be a bit of a crap shoot. Our Exodus trip unfolded exactly as planned on both ends. Perhaps just luck. Perhaps having an entire plane booked for our exclusive use had something to do with that. I also think having the guide and sirdar at the airport, given their contacts and status, ensured that things got done. If you go the solo route, you certainly won’t be the only one. Google “Lukla Airport delays” and you come up with stuff like this trip advisor thread –
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g1203015-i20087-k5562800-How_often_do_flights_to_from_Lukla_get_cancelled-Lukla_Sagarmatha_Zone_Eastern_Region.html
Doesn’t sound so bad, eh! For something more scary, check out this Daily Mail article!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-2296381/Everest-danger-Why-planes-taking-tourists-Nepal-climb-mountain-crashing.html
I’m sure you’ll have a great walk no matter how you do it – solo with guide or as a part of an Exodus group. BTW of the two – Annapurna or the Khumbu High Passes – I think Annapurna lends itself more easily to independent trekkers.
I hope I haven’t completely muddied the waters for you!
Not at all. I trekked up to Nanche from Jiri, dumped my camping and cooking gear there, and walked up to Gokyo and the ‘fifth lake’ before crossing Renjo La. There were no great problems returning to Kathmandu via Lukla although some people suffered delays. Overall it was an excellent trip for very little outlay. Great weather in November too. It is certainly recommended although did note a fair amount of sickness (altitude problems and infections) in other travellers.
Nice to hear all went smoothly for you – great November weather, no Khumbu cough and stomach ailments, no waiting for a flight back to Kathmandu. And to think you did it all for a third of what I paid to be in an organized camping trek! What a fantastic place for a walk, eh!