Ever\nsince our unforgettable trek in Nepal in 2009, Pete has been itching\nto return, but other events have prevented it. This year he was\ndetermined to make it happen. Kathy decided after Peru earlier this\nyear that she had done her last trek, so Pete signed up to a group\ntrek organised by World Expeditions. Kathy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brother Stephan, plus\na friend of his and the friend\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s son, also came along, and they\njoined twelve others, from Australia, South Africa, Canada, the UK\nand Hong Kong. Ages ranged from 24 to 68 and experience levels\nranged from very little to having summited Kilimanjaro!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\ngroup chose the Gokyo Lakes\/Renjo La Trek in the Khumbu (Everest)\nregion of Nepal, rather than the more popular route to Everest Base\nCamp. They wanted to see the most magnificent mountains in the\nworld, but not share the experience with hundreds of others, and also\nwanted to get a feel for what traditional life in Nepal is (or was)\nlike. There are no roads here, so the journey began with a 14-seater\nflight into Lukla, generally regarded as the world\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most dangerous\nairstrip! They put their faith in the pilots, and were not\ndisappointed. The landing, on a steeply upward sloping strip with a\nstone wall at the end, was particularly exciting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\ntwo week trek took them along the conventional Base Camp route to\nNamche Bazaar, but soon after that they branched out to the north and\nfollowed the Dudh Kosi River, leaving most of the other trekkers to\ncontinue up a different river. The views of Ama Dablam from here\nwere an unforgettable highlight. They ascended over several days to\nGokyo, at 4790 meters, where they stayed two nights in a lodge with\nfrozen plumbing but fortunately a warm dining room, thanks to pot\nbelly stoves burning yak dung. The next day was the longest, the\neight-hour-plus trudge over the Renjo La (Pass) at 5360 metres (a new\naltitude record for Pete). The reward was a stunning view back down\nto Gokyo and its Lake, with the 36 kilometre Ngozumba Glacier behind,\nand, towering above, a line of Himalayan giants, including Everest,\nLhotse and Makalu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Descending\nfrom the Pass, they were in a landscape from another time, with rough\nstone huts and yak corrals the only sign of habitation, and very few\nother trekkers. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
World\nExpeditions provided a great team of guides, cooks and porters and\neveryone enjoyed the permanent camps with roomy tents, comfortable\nmattresses, western toilets and heated dining rooms. The lodges used\nin some locations also provided good accommodation, with colourfully\ndecorated and toasty warm common rooms for relaxing, dining and\nchatting. All of the party of 16 completed the trek, in some cases\ndespite health setbacks, but without the need to turn back or be\nevacuated, which was a better record than other groups they\nencountered. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ever since our unforgettable trek in Nepal in 2009, Pete has been itching to return, but other events have prevented it. This year he was determined to make it happen. Kathy decided after Peru earlier this year that she had done her last trek, so Pete signed up to a group trek organised by World […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.ellerman.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.ellerman.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.ellerman.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.ellerman.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.ellerman.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/family.ellerman.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":296,"href":"https:\/\/family.ellerman.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293\/revisions\/296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.ellerman.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.ellerman.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.ellerman.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}