Day 7: Dingboche

Hiking time: 4 hours

After taking in the splendor of the high Himalayas, we’ll continue climbing to the village of Pheriche (13,907 ft./4248m), which is not far from Dingboche (a village en route to Island Peak). Pheriche has become famous for its high-altitude medical clinic. The clinic attracts world-renowned physicians who from time to time acquire data to analyze the effects of high altitude on human physiology. We’ll visit the clinic and learn more about the effects of high altitude on Himalayan climbers. We’ll also spend an additional day further acclimatizing and hiking.

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Today was a bluebird day. A spectacular trek from Deboche to Dingboche. It was a bit of a tough start because the night was so cold. It was bad enough having to get up all night to pee, but having to strip down to get dressed in the morning made for quite the challenge.  I thought the rest of the day was pretty much perfect, I was seeing perhaps the most beautiful scenery in the world with seven other great guys. 

Anyway, the eight of us left with our fantastic guides and porters (and the other guy) at about 8:30 in the morning. The mix on the trail of the cultural sites and the spectacular natural beauty made for some terrific photos, most of which are suitable for sharing with this blog. 

During the trek, we had lively discussions about oxygenation, Diamox dosages, gastrointestinal stability and stealth photography. 

There were a few glitches: Johnny losing his sunglasses (they were on his neck), Donny losing his cap (on his head), me catching a stray shoelace in the copper hook of my other boot and falling on my butt were the most memorable.

When we finally arrived at our hotel, we took hot showers (under 10 minutes each or risk carbon monoxide poisoning, we were told). We then had dinner and settled in for an even colder night (we had trekked from 12K feet to 14k). 

-David Eades