Page 60 - Coespu Magazine 2017-2
P. 60

Landed  without  incident,  I
                                                                                hiked  up  to  the  small
                                                                                Phakding  village  where  I
                                                                                spent  my  first  night  in  the
                                                                                Sagarmatha National Park.
                                                                                The day after, I walked up to
                                                                                Namche  Bazaar  (3,330  m),
                                                                                the  Sherpa  capital,  where  I
                                                                                also rested one more day for
                                                                                acclimatization. With a short
                                                                                hike  up  to  Khunjung  and
                                                                                Khunde  villages,  I  spent  the
                                                                                extra  day  drinking  coffee,
                                                                                eating  pies  and  doing  some
                                                                                last minute shopping.
            The following day, I hiked up to Tengboche, the Buddhist lighthouse of the region, where I visited
            the  famous  local  monastery  and  I  had  the  opportunity  to  attend  a  Buddhist  religious  ceremony,
            witnessing a group of Lamas chanting prayers.
            With the clouds clearing up the following day, my team saw the magnificent views of Himalayan
            giants like Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse, and Amadablam, heading up to Pheriche.
            With just a few days remaining for the ambitious goal of reaching Everest Base Camp, we further
            prepared ourselves by making an acclimatization hike up to 4,600 m. The next day, we started early
            and walked up to Lobuche, a small settlement below Lobuche peak (6,119 m). In the afternoon, I
            took      the
            opportunity
            to  visit  the
            Ev-K2-CNR
            Pyramid
            International
            Laboratory-
            Observatory,
            an      High
            Altitude
            Scientific
            Research
            Centre,
            located    at
            5,050  m,  at
            the  base  of
            the  Everest
            Nepali side.
            The  history
            of  this  High
            Altitude




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