Vanprasthashram : Things to do when you are 70

Having done the trek, I will love me to write down my dos and don't for future trek.what? Am I planning another trip ? Obvious answer is YES I think it is easy to hooked on to these  vistas, the group spirit, the care of the Sherpas, warm tea and cold rooms of the lodges and the Dal Bhat.... The nature is unspoiled inspite of hundreds of trekkers and the absence of any vehicle makes this place unique and inviting. So here are short answers to obvious questions ( this is only my humble opinion) Will I recommend it? Yes , yes and yes What is essential for this kind of trek? Training, lots of it..hill training. A group that is high in EQ and is stronger as a whole than an individual. A compassionate and competent team of Sherpas who are your guardian angel s. A resident doctor in the team who is not afraid to make hard calls. A flexible, open and accepting mind that accepts " what is" at any given moment. And most of all lot...

Six o'clock in the morning, I heard that the chopper might be here at six thirty. I wasted no time n packing, there was no place to wash or brush, my call phone was completely discharged but I was ready to go....but it was " hurry up and wait" situation, as I have learned in last ten days is that nothing is 100 percent sure till it actually happens. The flight g rolled in and we waited outside in the freezing cold till the welcome sight of chopper was on the horizon. Once the chopper was there it was a matter of flying us to pheriche and then taking another chpper from pheriche to lukla and another one from lukla to Kathmandu. Again, three transfers and three mountain towns...anything could have gone wrong, the weather could have turned any second but we have been very lucky and good karma or all of your Good vibes,we are here in KTM. Celebration dinner was on order and we hung our decorated shoe along with many others in the famous rum ...

Khumbh glacier, base camp ,kala pathar aal in the plain view and are spactacular was the reward for the trek. We scrambled over the rocks and up the hills and down the hills, all of which was the gift of the glacier and it's melting away. There was glacier ice under the dirt and rocks but the so called trail was non existent. You know the general direction and you trust the guides and your insticts and put one foot in front of another. After reaching the top of one hard climb ,we could expect to see Gorek shep except to find another hill to climb. It went on all day till finally the welcome sight of few little structures and yaks resting around was seen. This was such a relief...the thing is you cannot let a single negative thought cross your mind because there is no other option except to go on. At 17640 feet, my legs were refusing to move and breathing was a job that needed to be done to survive.  All of us made it and all of us ...

Early morning start after standard breakfast of omlet, porridge and toast an lots of hot water ( lemon ginger, tea, masala tea and all other combinations) we set out for Lobuche. " Buche" means God in budhist tradition and this valley of the khumbh glariaer is believed to be the valley of Gods. Every year in July and August all residents leave the valley with the belief that the gods come down here for a month and bless the valley with good crops.  This area is above tree line so the only thing that grows is potatoes that are farmed by the residents and yo use beautiful terraces of the potato farms along the hill side. Landscape is harsh yet beautiful and mountains are imposing. After walking through the area you realize that there are many  eautiful and high mountain peaks, Everest happens to be just a little taller than others.  Amadumlum is known to be a harder technical climb tban w erest. The trail was very windy and cold( we were warned about it) . Because s...

Today was the much needed break. The guides wanted us to go up and down the mountain for the acclamatization, most of the group went but as usual I was going to just hang out and explore. Turns out Vinaya , Raj and pavan decided to stay behind only because they are sick. We walked up for an hour and came back. Hopefully both of them will be better soon. There is not much here except the lodges and things to support the lodges. There are local people doing daily things, it was nice to walk around and see the kids.  I noticed that the little dirt roads with water flowing on the side are remarkably clean and the courtyards of the houses look simple but clean.  There are many solar systems but no wind farms even though there is heavy wind in the evenings...may be it is a matter of time. We are told that the yak dung is used for fuel and human's waste is used as fertilizer,may be that's why there vegetables look so big :-) We hung out in the Sun room , it was almost lik...

Early morning start, weather has been perfect. Destination was dingboche , a small town in the valley of river imjatfso. The hike was a gradual up most of the way,we walked giving way to the yak trains, faster hikers, porter and local people carrying things. We did go down for a while till we had to cross a very big suspense bridge. Yaks we're crossing it too and it definitely added to the adventure. Lunch was at somare, a cute little town , theyade special roti sabji for us and it was delicious. After lunch the climb was up , hard up and suddenly the landscape changed to a no tree line, but very beautiful rocks and valley floor carved by the glacier kumbhu. It is a raw beauty and very strong . The rivers flowing from the glacier also were strong and rushing down the valley. We hiked along the river with the mountains arranged in colored stones in interesting patterns. At one point we went down to the river and then climbed all the way up, that is just the story of trekking in ...

Early morning breakfast and start. We saw our Porter's for the first time, there are seven of them and each one carries two people's duffle bag over the treturous trek. We apologise for the over load and said very sorry ( bukhi hai) . We are heading to dueche which is only 1200 ' higher than namche Bazar but the hard part was the trek went down to the river and then up to tepoche monestry and then down to debuche. We are here for just overnight and have early start tomorrow.the lodge is nice ,room is big for this remote place and there is no heat. Luxury is to have electric blanket and attached bathroom with flush Western style toilet....these are biggest luxuries in this remote area. We followed the mountain amadeboche most of the time. This is technically the toughest mountain to climb due to its shape. We went down to the river, had lunch in quient little town and off to the other side via a suspension bridge. After this was a constant climb all the way to debuche....