Day 26: Lobuche to Pangboche

Bleary eyed, and chronically short on altitude hindered sleep, it was time for another day. After the events of yesterday, we planned a later start but still my throat remained shredded from the incessant coughing and spluttering caused by the parched alpine air. And nor had it been just me struggling with the altitude, Thomas wavering between lightheadedness and headaches in his lack of sleep. As per yesterday's post, we had a decision to make: Gokyo and glory, off to more challenging trekking and dreamy views, or descents and sensibility, down to care for our own ailments.

We decided on the latter. Given the agonising speed at which we'd conquered Kala Patthar the previous day (and without our bags for that matter), we decided we'd best not push our luck, and regrettably descended back the way we came. Rather than riding the ridge back to Dingboche though, we deviated from the path, taking a lower route through a wide river valley to Pheriche. This was a gorgeous section: easy, quiet and vast. At Pheriche, we then found a cracking café-bakery to stop for some lunch. Thomas enjoyed rich chocolate cake while spotting yaks roaming high on the mountainside, while I finally got my fill of burger I'd been craving for a while now (and boy it was good.) The rest of the day, we retraced our steps in the blustery conditions and found ourselves having descended over 1,000 m to Pangboche, which will hopefully aid in our acclimatisation.Read more