Everest - Checking out the Big guy

So we were up at Lobuche, in the Dudh Kosi valley, killing some time while waiting for the New Zealand summer to begin. It was cold, especially at night, and the yak dung smoke itched at the back of your throat like a furry carpet. The air itself, cold and stripped of moisture, tears at the furry carpet like a vacumn cleaner. The western food, carried in for days and prohibitively expensive, stares at us, daring us to splurge. The Nepalese food comes to us in ever decreasing volumes, just as we need the energy we are gradually bled dry. Bottled water is too expensive and the batteries for our UV filter don't work when it is this cold. Giant yaks shit in the streams constantly. Purged we dragged our butts up to Everest base camp, or at least the moraine wall above it, where there is some pretty mountain scenery.

Pumo-Ri with the viewpoint of Kala Pattar below

Looking up valley to some mountains

First glimpse of Everest for the day

One person forgot the camoflague tent rules for base camp.

This is Lhotse in the centre - Everest is obscured by the peak on left - Khumbu icefall!

The scenery really got cranking though when we headed up Kala Pattar like everyone does now. Many go up for sun-rise, but we had heard this was cold and over-rated. We were pleased to be there in the middle of the afternoon. Sam was like a model, posing with any mountain (read celebrity) he could wrap his arm around. Penny wasn't much better. The whole thing really was a big relaxed mountain love-fest.

And yeah aside from those ugly mugs there was actually a nice view. To go with my collage fetish, here is the beginning of my panorama obsession. Not sure what it looks like full size as it has been heavily reduced for the web....but what a massif!