Day 5: Namche to Deboche.
We did the Everest Lodge-to-Lodge hike in the spring of 2025. (Well, technically, we were on the Everest Private Journey, but the itinerary is basically the same) Wilderness Travel did a great job of organizing it!
A good time was had by all!
May 2: Namche Bazaar–Deboche
It was time to move on up the trail!
Up before dawn, we packed our duffels, minus our clean laundry. We were prepared to make do if we had to. It’s surprising how few clothes one really needs.
Breakfast was at 6:30. The kitchen was still dark, the chefs working by lamplight. After breakfast, a staffer handed us our laundry, neatly folded and stacked in a basket. I have no idea how they got it all dry, but we were now good to go.
Today’s walk started out “Nepali flat,” gently undulating along the hillside above Namche. These trails are very wide because they’re effectively highways.
We stopped for tea in Kyangjunma at the Ama Dablam Lodge & Restaurant, owned by Bala’s friend Tashi.
We had lunch in Phunki Thanga at the Zambala Lodge & Restaurant, which sits on the riverbank right next to the suspension bridge that leads to the start of the climb to Deboche. When he guides, Bala has to navigate the difficult politics of choosing restaurants to patronize. As we’d walked past one place earlier, the proprietor beseeched him to bring us there for lunch, but he said he’d already promised our custom to this place.
After lunch, we crossed the river and began the climb up to Tengboche. We climbed. And climbed. Slow and steady. We took a candy break after an hour of climbing, and then climbed some more. The clouds rolled in.
It was completely cloudy and late afternoon by the time we reached the crest where Tengboche is situated.
Most tourists stay in Tengboche, but we proceeded about half an hour further down the trail to Deboche, where Wilderness Travel had booked us into Rivendell Lodge. (A new Mountain Lodge has just opened in Deboche, and future trips might use it. We had no complaints about Rivendell, though.)
Rivendell is a pretty big lodge that’s more of a “trekkers’ lodge” than the Mountain Lodges. The rooms were more basic, and there were a lot more guests hanging out in the heated dining room. But Rivendell had a feature we’d been missing in our more luxurious accommodations in Namche: electricity!
The lights in our room turned on! The outlets could charge our phones! We could even take showers that were approaching hot!
It feels VERY good to shower after not washing hair for three days. It was especially nice to wash out the “dry shampoo” I’d applied in a fit of optimism two days earlier. I know some people swear by the stuff, but to me it felt like applying powder to oil to create an unfortunate slurry that did nothing to make my hair cleaner. Fortunately, everyone on the trail wears buffs and hats. Probably to cover their awful hair.
Dinner was more basic than in the mountain lodges. We ordered off the menu instead of having a multi-course meal pre-set. Bala ordered dahl bhat, lentils with rice. He ate with his hands, Nepali style.
Bala said Mila Dai, our porter, was staying with friends in a house in town. Porters don’t stay in the same hotels as guests. It sounds like the make do with whatever hospitality is available, and everyone helps everyone out.
After dinner, Bala checked our oxygen saturation. Chris was at 90% and I was at 87%. This apparently was good. Bala pronounced us good to go and out of danger of any altitude complications.
Which didn’t mean we weren’t still feeling the thin air. I’d stopped waking up gasping for breath, but my heart was still maintaining a steady clip at all hours and I felt like I was breathing faster than usual. Maybe that’s just what happens.