Namche Bazaar (11,385ft) to Everest View Hotel (12,700ft) to Namche Bazaar (11,385ft)
#Miles4Missions Itinerary
Day1 (May 12th)–Bixby to Kansas City to Newark
Day2 (May 13th)–Newark to Dubai to Kathmandu
Day3 (May 14th)–Kathmandu
Day4 (May 15th)—Kathmandu to Lukla to Phakding
Day5 (May 16th)–Phakding to Namche Bazaar
Day6 (May 17th)–Namche Bazaar
Day7 (May 18th)–Namche Bazaar to Dole
Day8 (May 19th)–Dole to Machermo
Day9 (May 20th)–Machermo to Gokyo Ri to Gokyo
Day10 (May 21st)–Gokyo to Namche Bazaar
Day11 (May 22nd)—Namche Bazaar
Day12 (May 23rd)—Namche Bazaar
Day13 (May 24th)—Namche Bazaar to Tengboche
Day14 (May 25th)—Tengboche to Thukla
Day15 (May 26th)—Thukla to Gorekshep
Day16 (May 27th)—Gorekshep to Kala Patthar to Everest Base Camp
Day17 (May 28th)—Everest Base Camp
Day18 (May 29th)—***RACE DAY***Everest Base Camp to Namche Bazaar
Day19 (May 30th)—Namche Bazaar
Day20 (May 31st)—Namche Bazaar to Lukla
Day21 (June 1st)—Lukla to Kathmandu
Day22 (June 2nd)—Kathmandu to Dubai to Newark
Day23 (June 3rd)—Newark to Kansas City to Bixby
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
-Matthew 11:28
There are a great many things that are outside of your control on the mountain. I often tell people that there are really only four primary things that are within your control that give you the best chance to reach your goals on the mountain. They are 1) hydration, 2) nutrition, 3) pace, and 4) rest. If you have even one day where you get behind in one of these areas, you are going to suffer. If you fail on multiple days in one of these four areas, you probably lose your summit.
As difficult as it is for some of us to accept, we are creatures designed with an inherent need for rest. There is no such thing as someone maintaining long term success that doesn’t figure out the rest component of their lives. There are literally billions of dollars spent each year on various fitness/health/diet strategies; most of it could be eliminated with two simple things—drink more water and get more sleep. A majority of the people I know are living their day to day lives both perpetually dehydrated and under-rested. Someone can cope with this reality for decades almost unaware of how much it is affecting them—that is not the case on the mountain. The feedback for failing to maintain hydration or get enough sleep is immediate.
Consequently, we build in full rest days into our trekking itineraries. I have 4 full rest days scheduled in my 23 day trip. It’s honestly not easy to commit to including rest days when it means extending my time away from my family, but it just isn’t wise not to do it. All 4 of my rest days will be here in Namche Bazaar, which is a place of relative comfort and reasonable elevation.
Rest day doesn’t necessarily mean zero activity, just that the primary goal of the day is recovery. So, I got up and took a couple of mile hike up above Namche to the Everest View Hotel. It was an absolutely perfect day in the mountains; blue skies and mid 70’s temps. These days are pretty rare up here, even in prime season, but we enjoyed every minute of it.
The trail out of Namche is pretty steep and winds through beautiful rhododendrons and almost out of nowhere you turn a corner and you are confronted with the majestic Ama Dablam looming over the valley in front of you with Makalu in the distance behind it. I have trekked multiple times in the Himalayas and every time it is the angle you have to look up that shocks you. You expect the mountains to be on the horizon, but they are soaring into the clouds. Only a few more steps around the corner and Everest and Lhotse come into view.
I am rarely at a loss for words, but I was speechless. And it wasn’t just me. There were four of us making the hike up to the Everest View Hotel together and none of us could find the words. We just stood there stunned by the beauty of 3 of the world’s 5 tallest mountains against an azure sky. We finished our hike, enjoyed a snack up the hotel, where we had a helicopter almost land on our heads (I don’t have good enough internet to upload the video where I am, but it was wild), and began our hike back down to Namche.
If the day couldn’t get any better, our trip back to Namche was met with a gorgeous rainbow stretching out across the peaks. I climbed back up a bit to get a better vantage point and took a few more pics, including the one above. All in all, a near perfect rest day. Pretty tough day coming tomorrow as we climb up to the mountain village of Dole.
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