Namche is not cheap and in fact is considered the most expensive village in Nepal (2-3x prices of Kathmandu). We enjoyed oxygen rich air, the food (mainly at Sherpa Barista coffee & Nirvana), beers & pool at the world’s highest Irish pub (some good dancing of Jon & Audrey from Canada) and a 24/7 opened place called Cafe Danphe. Fun times and a welcome change from by now boring base camp life. Other options are limited. I got a hair cut and my first ever beard trim, visited the sherpa museum and the (unimpressing) monastery.
Much of our time we spent discussing our decision to pass on the small summit window and trying to source info on weather and the next possible window being essentially cut off from the usual expedition newsflow and with essentially no contact to base camp.
Its fair to say that we were all gutted. After HIMEX rope fixing efforts spectacularly imploded, The Ghurkas, I believe Madisson and also our team stepped up. Our concern was that this overstretches our teams ressources and that rope fixing and guide summits had now taking priority over client summits. I guess there remains a lot to discuss, but memories of our time here weren’t helped to say the least.
First summits: Both our guides and two sherpa’s made the top of Everest early the 16th. Steve sumitted Lhotse.
Waiting for the chopper: Today we were heading back to b/c with a chopper to get into position for our own summit push – hopefully sometime around the 23-25th May. Time is running out with summits historically happening between 17-23rd May. Maybe we have to hike back up …
Best of luck Ron, there’s a second summit window for sure.