Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Namche News

And for today's news from Namche, the village is pleased to welcome the 2009 NASA Everest Trek team. They hiked for around 6 hours to reach Namche Bazaar at 11,000 feet with a stop for lunch just inside the entrance to Sagarmatha National Park. The last mile was reportedly a 'killer' with the majority of the elevation gain from ~8,500 feet occurring in that short distance, but the team fared well and all are resting in a teahouse overlooking Namche Bazaar...some comfy in their tents. And now I'll turn it over to Larry for weather...

Well, Chuck, we're looking at much of the same we had yesterday. A lot of fog and low clouds in the Himalayas today, but there'll be an occasional break so the NASA team can catch a glimpse of some of the surrounding peaks. A little bit of mist may hang in the air, but no rain. As for the temperature...bundle up tonight as its a little bit chilly.

Thanks Larry, and now to Susan for traffic...

Chuck, its a mess on the trail to Namche. We've got a five yak pile up about three quarters of a mile out of Namche. There's also a slow moving donkey reported on one of the switchbacks, but we're still awaiting confirmation. The good news is the last suspension bridge prior to Namche is clear sailing. But none of this should really matter for the NASA team now that they're resting up to acclimate and day hike tomorrow.

Thanks Susan, and thanks folks for tuning in to this edition of Namche News.

-James

4 comments:

  1. I hope the weather holds up for y'all. Hope there isn’t too many GI issues... Cypro, Cypro, and more Cypro!

    Please pass my regards onto Steve Vanderark, John Mcbrine, and the rest of the crew.

    Good Trekkings!

    AA

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  2. I did the trek in from Jiri 25 yrs ago, and intend to do it again latter this year, can any one tell me if it safe now from moeists levying fees, on trekers

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  3. Hi Tony,
    Probably not - there is a thread on this subject at http://www.trekinfo.com/forums/

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  4. I had to post this in the forum column after returning from our trek since my boyfriend and I had the absolute best time trekking in the Everest region!

    His name is Sanjib Adhikari and his email is sanjib-adhikari@hotmail.com, he is licensed by the country of Nepal and has been a trekking guide for over 12 years.

    I found him through the posted forums when I was inquiring about trekking since my boyfriend and I only had 5 days to trek and really wanted to see mount Everest. He was able to customize a plan to get us as close as possible. We had a blast!!! I'd love to send you photo's of our trek and trust me there was a part when we were climbing the hill to get to Namche and I thought I was going to die!!!!! Sanjib was so patient and his knowledge of the mountain area and all of Nepal is commendable! We met up with a couple of other people trekking and had a blast hanging out in one of the places to stay and even the other people were asking Sanjib about routes to take and length of time it would take to get to base camp.

    He is a smart, honest and genuine person and guide! Even after the trek we met up in Thamel and hung out for 2 days seeing the sights around Kathmandu and Patan. Sanjib not only knows the Everest region but all around Nepal and I highly recommend him!!!!

    Please contact me if you need more info or would like to see pictures from Facebook-:

    Sanjib-adhaikri@hotmail.com

    My boyfriend and I also used this guide whilst we were out in Nepal - we were recommended by a friend who used him when she did Everest Base Camp. We decided to do the Annapurna Circuit plus base camp.

    We met with Sanjib in Kathmandu when we arrived in Nepal and we told him what we wanted to do and how much time we had etc. He told us about a few trips that were possible and we eventually came up with this one.

    It was the most amazing trip and wouldn't have been the same without him and Ram our porter (

    We spent 20 days trekking in November 2011 and Sanjib was able to answer all of our questions from the birds to the trees to the mountains and religion. It was a very cultural trek with so much history.

    Some people say that it is possible to do the trek without a guide, which may be true but you miss so much when you are on your own and we learnt such a lot from Sanjib which meant that we understood so much more of Nepal when we visited different areas.

    We paid all of our money to him up front, which we were dubious about at the start as we didn't know him but I wouldn't say that this was a problem at all.

    He made sure we were happy and safe and had full bellies at all times and made sure that we knew everything about altitude sickness which we didn't get in the end thanks to his slower pace higher up and aclimatisation walks. We also took Diamox, under his recommendation and we were both fine and only suffered a bit of tingling in our faces (a side effect of the drug)!

    I would recommend Sanjib to ANYONE that was thinking about going trekking in Nepal, I would love to go back and visit him and do another trek with him when I have the time! There are so many guides out there that claim to do everything that he does but I wouldn't choose anyone without a recommendation because you hear so many stories about dodgy guides and it would be so sad to lose your money and have a bad experience.

    Feel free to email me if you have any questions and enjoy your trek!

    Email to him-:sanjib-adhikari@hotmail.com

    www.nepalguideinfo.com
    www.nepaltreckingguide.jimdo.com
    www.hikehimalayas.com

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