Days 3–4: Namche and Environs.
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!
Acclimitization day, and disappointing power-outage!
April 30–May 1: Namche Bazaar
We spent three nights in Namche Bazaar. It’s customary to spend two nights there to acclimatize, but Ian Taylor Trekking recommends three. It also seemed like we’d appreciate a little downtime. This was a good choice.
April 30: Around Namche
Bala had said we could sleep late today, but it was not to be. True to form, we were up around 5:00.
My nose was running. I NEVER get colds, not since I switched to a low-carb diet years ago. This was very annoying!
The power seemed to have gone out in the night. We assumed that the hotel had just turned off the electricity overnight (a common practice in mountain huts) and would turn it back on before breakfast.
No such luck. The turbines of the hydropower plant that supplied the whole region had gotten silted up. A hydro expert was traveling from Kathmandu to fix them. There was no telling when the electricity would be back–maybe tomorrow?
That morning, Bala took us up to the Everest viewpoint just above the mountain lodge. It’s only a five or ten-minute walk, but it’s uphill, and we were happy to take it slowly! My heart was racing (it raced all day), and the slightest exertion made me breathe faster.
We arrived to an excellent view of the valley leading toward Everest, with tantalizing glimpses of distant peaks that just might have been the main attraction. That lasted about 15 seconds. Then the clouds closed in, completely encasing Sagarmatha (Chomolungma/Everest), then Lhotse, then Nuptse. The closer Ama Dablam hung around for a minute or two before it, too, disappeared.
We just seen lammergeiers soaring around Samaria Gorge in western Crete, along with their bone-yard ossuaries. Lammergeiers are unique among birds in eating the bones of dead creatures–not the rotting flesh, the actual bones themselves. They drop big bones from great heights into particular areas. The bones get smashed small enough for the birds to swallow them, and their super-strong stomach acid does the rest. They do soar incredibly majestically.
After a quick visit to the Sherpa museum (very small–hardly a tourist attraction, but good for a few minutes), Bala led us along one of the high paths that encircles the bowl in which Namche is situated. We passed an old man walking the circuit with his prayer beads. Bala said he was over 80, and did this walk every day for an hour.
The monastery is situated at the far side of town. Bala had arranged for the lama to do a special chant to wish us good fortune on our trek; the lama had already done his usual morning chanting, so this was extra work for him. The lama greeted us with little candies. After he was done chanting, he gave us silk scarves (these are ubiquitous in Nepal) and red strings to wear around our necks. We wore these strings throughout the rest of the trek.
After church, we walked into town to get coffee at Sherpa Barista and Bakery, one of the well-known coffee shops in Namche. The walls are covered with photos of famous climbers and guides. The Khumbu region is famous for its apple pie so Chris and I shared a slice, which tbh was doughy and overly sweet. (Chris’ mother, now, she could make an excellent pie!)
Bala took us to a charity shop to buy a couple of presents for family. He assured us that this place sold the genuine article, YakYakYak hats made of real yak wool, all crafted by widows of Sherpas who died in climbing accidents. Most of the stuff in Namche is apparently junk made in China and transported up from Kathmandu.
On the way back to the lodge, Bala greeted a little boy he knew. This child lived in Phortse, several hours walk away. His father had died in a climbing accident, and Bala had taken on the financial responsibility of getting him through high school. The boy spent the week in a hostel in town along with other kids who lived to far to commute and walked home on weekends, sometimes by himself.
The electricity was still working in our bathroom, so we plugged in all our devices there. We assumed there was some backup generator providing juice to a few areas.
Chris and I were the only ones eating lunch at the Mountain Lodge today. Though we tried to keep it light, the servers brought us a dessert that we hadn’t ordered, banana bread pudding. I ate one bite, but too much sugar was making my heart race, and I REALLY didn’t want to come away from this multi-day mountain hike fatter than I started!
After a nap, the two of us walked into town by ourselves to buy decongestents and look around the town. My verdict was that Namche Bazaar itself presented some of the toughest terrain of the whole hike. It was all big, stone steps, many of them uneven, and enough climbing to make a visit to town a hiking stage in its own right.
The power was still out, and the stores were dark. None of the credit card readers worked. Chris paid cash for a Sherpa brand t-shirt, which basically wiped out our Nepali funds. And we couldn’t get more because the ATMs didn’t work…. The only thing that saved us over the next week was that we didn’t really need to pay for much, and everyone was happy to take American dollars.
NB: We showed up in Nepal with tips for guide and porter already allocated in their own envelopes, which we did NOT pillage at any point. This was a very smart plan, because it meant that we could tip the guys at the end no matter what.
Back at the lodge, we took our afternoon showers, optimistically imagining that the solar panels had had all day to soak up heat for the water. It was not to be. The water wasn’t exactly ice cold, but hot it was not, nor even tepid. I didn’t wash my hair.
The electricity in the bathroom was gone. It turned out that the “generator” servicing that outlet was solar-powered. Just like the shower.
Dinner that night was Nepali hot pot. We got in bed right afterward and were asleep around 8:15. It was a dark and silent night without power.
May 1: Everest View Hotel, Khunde, Khunjung
I woke up several times in the night gasping for breath.
Note to self: next time, actually pack the Afrin I’d meant to pack right before we left. Whatever decongestents we’d bought the previous day had no impact on nasal congestion, which turns out to be a problem in thin air.
We were both awake shortly after five, and the sun was out! Seizing our window, we threw on clothes and down jackets and raced out the lodge (well, walked very slowly and deliberately) up to the Everest View Point.
Today’s excursion was the popular acclimatization hike up to Everest View Hotel, followed by a tour of the Sherpa villages Khunde and Khunjung.
The trail up to the hotel is steep. It takes a couple of hours to get there at a very slow pace.
The Everest View Hotel was built by a Japanese businessman to provide accommodations for wealthy Japanese (and other) clients who wanted a place to stay near Everest that they could reach by helicopter from Kathmandu. The rooms are said to be uncomfortably chilly.
We had lunch in a guesthouse that was full of a group of Brits on their way to the Gokyo Lake area. Everyone was damp and chilly. Bala ordered us garlic ramen; garlic soup is said to be the best cure for altitude troubles.
This guesthouse has one toilet, a squatty potty on the ground floor shared by everyone sleeping and eating in the place. The light was out, making it even more of an adventure; phone flashlights provide lots of light, but you don’t want to drop them in that setting.
Bala’s wife and many other residents of Namche work in these towns. The kids go to high school up there. It’s completely normal for people to walk an hour or two each way as their daily commute.
There was zero possibility that the water had heated that day, so we didn’t bother with a shower at all. We were heading up the valley the next day, and Bala assured us that Deboche was on a different power line.
I tried out my dry shampoo, but accidentally spilled it all over Chris’ duffel. It looked like a scene from Annie Hall.
There was some consternation about our laundry, which we’d dropped off at the hotel two days earlier. The story, assembled from several staffers, was that our clothes were clean but still wet. True enough, the things I’d hand washed in our room took days to dry. But the staff assured us everything would be ready by our departure the next morning.
We had chili con carne again that night. It appears that the lodge alternates two dinner menus, which is generally enough because guests typically stay only two nights. Bala chose to dine at home that night, a rare opportunity to spend time with his wife.
The staff gave us hot water bottles that evening, which made the beds plenty warm. We fell asleep by 8:15, and each of us reported waking up only once in the night.