Day 7: Deboche

Hiking time: 4-5 hours

We’ll continue on and climb to the village of Tangboche (12,683 ft./3,865 m), the cultural and religious center of the Khumbu. At the monastery we’ll attend Buddhist ceremonies and rituals performed by local monks. Vistas from Tangboche are spectacular. The jagged peaks of Thamserku and Kangtega stand to our south, as Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse and Ama Dablam are visible to the north. The Monastery at Tangboche is one of the most well-known in the world, as the Rinpoche is revered throughout the Buddhist community, and has authored a number of books and essays. In the past our groups have had an audience with the Rinpoche and received his blessing.

Views from this locale (one of the finest on earth), include Kwangde (20,293 ft./6,185 m), Tawachee (21,457 ft./6,540 m), Nuptse (25,843 ft./7,876 m), Lhotse (27,883 ft./8498 m), Everest (29,029 ft./8,848 m), Ama Dablam (22,487 ft./6,854 m), Kantega (22,235 ft./6,777 m), Thamserku (21,674 ft./6,606 m).

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Update from the Team:

Today was a day! Very much the beginning of the “this is getting real” as we approach getting above tree line. Our ascent out of Namche was met with sunny skies and the perfect temperature. And of course, stunning views! We’ve gotten good “peeks” at the snow capped 20,000 ft peaks around us but the clouds continue to keep us from seeing them in their full glory. We’re remaining confident that a full on blue bird day is being stored up for us in fully glory! 

The day was a bit of a tease in that we lost the initial ascent made trekking out of Namche back down below the elevation of Namche for lunch along the river. Filling our stomachs with more dal bhat (a Nepali local dish) and lemon ginger honey tea (we’ve had more mugs of this stuff than we can count now!) we knew after lunch included the final elevation gain of the day, leading us to the Tengboche Monastery. Our timing allowed us to witness prayer time of the Buddhist monks and today happened to be a special celebration. This monastery is sought after in particular because it is the largest in the region and at the highest elevation, 12,687 ft. We’ve enjoyed sharing observations and thoughts while being so immersed in different religions living harmoniously (mainly Hinduism and Buddhism) that’s so different than what we’re used to back in the United States and how much to culture of the area we are trekking through is so immersed in the trip. It seems like there is a very clear uniform human shaped hole to be filled with some degree of prayer, solitude, stewardship of the natural world and pilgrimage. 

After our visit at the monastery we had about a 20 minutes left to Deboche. Today’s total was around 7 miles of trekking and a nearly 2,300 feet ascent. The bodies are starting to talk to us but the whole crew is healthy and not showing signs of altitude sickness! Reb & Branston finally got on the board with wins in the nightly Uno games to try and catch up with Joe’s winning reign and now we’re off to sleep with rain sounds outside and an anticipation to keep climbing closer to Base Camp!