D9 Dingboche-Louboche

  Day 9  7.10.22 Dingboche to Louboche  (13,840ft - 16,173ft)

The josh was Still On! We were getting closer to our destination, yet the journey seemed longer!

    We began our day retracing our path to the first stupa from where we had to take a different route. A no man's land until lunch break. We walked past open landscapes with gigantic, black and rocky

mountains on one side, and a beautiful river traversing through the mountains. From a tiny speck, a mountain kept growing in magnitude and I could never estimate its actual size. The black, the dark shrouded in mist, layered in mystery, reminded me of the Erebor and Mount Doom. Were we in Morodor? Did it have a secret door? Who was guiding us through? Was there a Gollum or Gandalf in disguise? Was there a Frodo amongst us? Did Peter Jackson visit here before creating the movie? My thoughts kept alternating between the movie and this magical mountain whose peak never seem to be visible for more than a few seconds. I was in awwwweeeee at Mt Cholatse which is also one of the major peaks in the Khumbhu Valley. We also got our first glimpse of the Cho La glacial lake. The bluish skies and the turquoise waters were undeniably a visual treat. A few trekkers were on the other side taking the Cho La pass route, much tougher than this.  

        With all these thoughts hovering, we kept clicking, munching, chatting and proceeding to the tougher section of the ascent. A steep ascent over huge boulders took us to the Dugla Waterfall bridge. A worn-out railway track and broken wooden planks, precariously fastened at both ends served as a bridge for all the creatures. Glad that it stood strong! Never know when it would get washed away. The one-way bridge was the only connectivity to Louboche via Thukla pass. A mandatory break after an arduous trek as our hunger bells and nature call overpowered us. Hot pipping Dhaal Bhat awaited us. Gobbled every morsel of it. It was time to be grateful for our lifestyle when every damn thing is available at a swipe and yet we crib. We saw sherpas and yaks carrying loads on these undulating terrains just to fill our plates.

Get,Set,Go! Time for the next leg of the day!

After Thukla, it was a very steep ascent for about one hour to the ridge where there is a Sherpa memorial in remembrance of those brave mountaineers who died during expeditions. We further travelled along the jumbled moraines and scattered rocks passing by the memorials of Rob Hall and Yasuko Namba and others who perished during the Mt. Everest disaster of 1996. The memorial chortens dot the skyline facing the mountains and overlooking the valley below. Time for photos! 

Another steady 2 hours walk towards Louboche was fairly easy. Had great views of huge mountains, and with all the fatigue setting in, everything seemed like Everest to me. No, no, not so soon, said our guide to our dismay. No signs of civilisation until we saw some dirty water flowing down. We could spot a few tents and felt relieved. In another half an hour, we reached our tea houses. Every part of our body craved rest. 

None of our fellow trekkers were ready for Dhaal Bhaat that night. So, Karthik and Ranjana pitched in to take over the kitchen and prepare dinner for our gang. Spicy potato roast, tamarind rice and tomato thokku rice felt like heaven. We never wanted to move away from the warmers as our rooms were too cold. Warmers were available only in the dining area in all the tea houses. The warm sleeping bags turned out to be suffocating after a few fours. Tossing right and left managed to sleep for a while.

Gonna be a big day tomorrow! Destination calls !

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