It seems the weather has made a permanent change for the worst. The skies are cloudy most of the time and only offer rare glimpses of the towering mountains that surround us. We were all looking forward to last night’s super moon, but unless you were wandering to the loo at 2am when the skies were miraculously clear, you missed it.
The good news is that we continue to head mostly downhill and our lungs are thankful for that!
Day: 17
Date: Friday, 18 October 2024.
From: Dingboche (4,330m) To: Kyangjuma (3,550m)
Daily Km: 16.6km Walking Time: 6h12m
Progress: 113.7km
Ascent: 521m Descent: 1,123m
Weather: Cold, cloudy and a complete whiteout. All or a mixture on repeat all day.
Terrain: Serious ascents and descents on wide, rocky paths.
Stayed At: World Expeditions Camp
General Comments:
- Now that we are leaving the higher altitudes there are more villages, more people and the track is generally in better condition i.e. a formed track with steps, stairs and solid edging in places, rather than simply cleared dirt. It is also much wider which makes it easier for all the passing yak and mule trains, and the hardworking porters. Apparently, the tracks are all maintained by people in the local communities as any government funds seem to disappear before any work is done on the ground. When chatting to local people, it was not uncommon for them to shake their heads and comment on how corrupt their government is.
- The presence of more villages and more permanent residents means that there are also more prayer flags, temples and stupas. I keep reminding myself to walk on the lefthand side of these structures as a sign of respect. At Thyangboche there is a very large and colourful monastery complex with massive rows of prayer wheels. It is open to the public, but the weather was closing in yet again and we decided to push on to Kyangjuma.
- Similar to yesterday, the track is increasingly busy with hikers heading uphill towards Everest Base Camp.
- There were so many people doing it hard today, as they puffed up the steep ascents. It was easy for me to have a smile on my face as I descended and I tried to give everyone a word of encouragement as we passed by. No doubt we looked equally exhausted when we were outward and upward bound a few weeks ago.
- From the look of desperation and exhaustion on some faces, I am guessing that some of these folks will be helicopter customers in a day or two.
- A new activity for today was participating in World Expeditions’ 10 Pieces programme. The programme is a “a litter collection initiative aimed at encouraging travellers worldwide to make a positive environmental impact by leaving trails cleaner than they found them. The program focuses on litter “hotspots” along mountain trails and is currently available on treks in Nepal, India, Bhutan, Peru, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan as well as on Mount Meru and Mount Kilimanjaro summit treks. Travellers are provided with a litter collection bag to gather waste along the trails. At the end of each day, the collected litter is responsibly disposed of by the crew”. Source.
- When we collected our kit back in Kathmandu, it included our very own bright yellow reusable bag. I thought it would a good thing to participate in this programme – to give something back to this beautiful region I have enjoyed for the past couple of weeks. What I wasn’t expecting was to have filled my bag within a couple of hours! Very sad.
- The amount of rubbish on the track is just terrible and I suspect a fair portion of it is from locals (cigarette packets, tobacco pouches etc) and the rest is from tourists.
- Beer cans, soft drink bottles, lolly wrappers and bloody ramen noodle packets with seasoning sachets. Just everywhere.
- It really worries me that people could be so disrespectful of another country. They have come all this way to Nepal to walk the spectacular trail to Everest Base Camp and yet, they don’t respect the landscape they are walking through.
- My litter picking was a bit selective though and I refused to pick up people’s tissues and toilet paper, of which there was a limitless supply. Instead, I focussed on the plastics.
- Lolly wrappers were discarded everywhere and some idiots shoved noodle packets deep in the rock walls and then jammed soft drink bottles in afterwards. What were they thinking? Even stupas and prayer walls were not immune from this disrespect.
- How can you carry something all the way when it is full/heavy and then not carry the container/wrapper back out when it is empty? The ultimate in laziness.
- Despite the rubbish and the fact that I emptied my bag twice today (into proper garbage bins), it was beautiful walking. When the clouds lifted we would get sweeping views down the deep valley and along the raging river we followed most of the day, or views up to adjacent snow-capped mountains.
- The many small villages we wandered through added a lot of interest to the trail and we were sheltered by patches of birch forest. Not that we needed the trees to protect us from the sun, but they were very good at hiding a few very steep ascents that were lying in wait to remind us that we were definitely still in the Himalayas.
Highlights & Tips:
- The BIG highlight of the day was reuniting with my PiC (Partner in Crime) at Kyangjuma! She has been making her way slowly down from Thangnak and her misadventure on the way to Cho La Pass was now well behind her. She was looking as bright as a button and back to good health.
- Yay! The Band is back together again!
#travelinspo #EverestBaseCampCircuit #multidayhikes #adventurebeforedementia #longdistancewalks #Nepal #teahouses #WorldExpeditions #epicadventures #greatoutdoors #crosscountry #exploreonfoot #exoticdestinations #hikingadventures #yaks #Sagarmatha #remotevillages #mistymoutains #Kyangjuma #mountainclimbing #EverestHighway #Dingboche #tentlife #monasteries
Life...one big adventure 
You would think that people doing this trek would be more aware of the environment. Or are they just wanting to tick a box so they can brag about it to their friends. I get so furious about litter droppers. I once got out of my car at a traffic light when the guy in front emptied his ashtray out of the window. Unfortunately the lights changed before I could berate him.
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🙂 – Go you, Jude! Hopefully karma will get that guy! Yes, it beggars belief that people can be so lazy and disrespectful.
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Plastics are the absolute worst invention, especially in 3rd world countries where garbage collection is lacking. Good for you and the group to do this. Maggie
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Agreed – that stuff never breaks down. If everyone picked up 10 pieces, what a difference it would make! Thanks for reading and your support, Maggie. All your comments seem to go into my Spam for some reason despite me marking them as NOT spam every single time. Maybe you just want to be different?? 😉
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Hmmmm, I’m a person 😊 I’ll ask the happiness engineers if I have a setting wrong.
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Even this one ended up in the bin! You definitely don’t belong in the bin, Maggie! 🙂
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Ever since I started following your trek I wondered what the rubbish situation was like as I’ve read so much about it. It sounds grim but at least some people are taking the initiative to tackle the problem and I’m glad you did your bit Mel.
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Overall it was pretty good, except for the main Everest Highway. I think they have made a concerted effort to address the problem as the National Park has its own litter collection programme and I did see a few hikers carrying their bags. A concerted education campaign for everyone to raise more awareness would be useful I think. Have a good weekend, Malc
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Thanks Mel, you too. Education is vital for so many issues in today’s world.
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Agreed.
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It must have great to be going downhill into thicker air! A little bittersweet though because one of your great adventures was drawing to a close. Really too bad about all that trash. 👿
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Yes, I was torn between wanting to get back, have a long shower, sleep in a real bed vs keep walking in such a magical country. Oh well, all good things must come to an end and I was very lucky to experience what I did.
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I’m shocked by your description of the rubbish, how rude and disrespectful of visitors to leave rubbish dumped like that!! The trail still looks beautiful, and so good your PiC was back to full health 🙂
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Yes, my PiC was just about jumping out of her skin with good health and excitement to be back with the group. It was lovely to be all walking together again.
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That’s a good initiative and I don’t blame you for not picking up tissues, it’s hard enough staying healthy in that environment without inviting bugs! The only place I have never seen litter was the Milford Track, not a single scrap of litter in four days which I thought was amazing and a testimony to the DOC and the people that walk it.
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and funny you should mention that, Jim. Guess where I am strolling in February? 😉
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Well I never! For me the Milford Track truly was a magical experience. Obviously it’s quite literally on the other side of the world (for me) so I’m sure that added to the whole sense of adventure but having to get a boat to and from it and walking through pristine rainforest in what is as pure and unadulterated environment as I am ever going to walk in was a real pleasure and I enjoyed every step. I’ve now got track envy! 😂
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Please send my fine weather karma! 😉
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I’m sad to hear that the Nepalese government is corrupt. On the other hand, I love the 10 Pieces program, although I hate that there is a need for it and hearing your description of the trash situation is really disheartening. Some people are just entitled jerks. I have a friend who’s climbing Mount Kilimanjaro next month. I’m going to tell her about the program. (By the way, for a second I freaked out there: Why was the ramen packet bloody?!? Then I remembered the other meaning for bloody, which of course I hear all the time in this house. 😂) So glad you’re finally back with your climbing partner!
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Sorry, we bloody Aussies and bloody Poms say ‘bloody’ a lot! 🙂
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The litter is just very disappointing (but sadly not surprising). I always try to pick up what I can when I’m out in nature but, like you, I draw the line at toilet paper… and also anything that’s mysteriously wet.
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Same, same. I often return from a walk with a pocketful of rubbish. Muesli bar wrappers are the main culprit in Aus.
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It’s great that you did your bit in litter picking but how dreadful that it’s needed to that extent! As you rightly say, if you’ve carried a full bottle of drink up that path, how much easier would it e to carry it empty?!
I’m glad you found your friend in good health when you met up again 🙂
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Hmmm, some people are up for big adventures, but they only have little brains! 🙂
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Good on you for participating in the litter clean up. It’s an indictment on people that they drop rubbish in the first place. I don’t remember this being a problem in the Annapurna’s but based on your photos there seem to be more hikers where you were in these two days. Weather wise you did really well to this point. We had rain five of the first six days back in 2013 which was quite discouraging. Cheers, Mark
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Thanks Mark. Agree with all your comments. Way more people with way less respect for this amazing country. I guess not everyone travels with their brain switched on! 🙂
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