EBC trek May 2009 a report

austinivor

Hi All,
Putting down a few points from my 2nd trip to EBC, this May.
Took the train, Kushinagar Exp from LTT Kurla, Mumbai got to Gorakhpur at 0735 and into a share-a-cab at the station premises at 0800. Rs 100 a seat, 2.5 hrs to the border at Sonauli. A cycle rickshaw takes you across the border to the bus stand for INR 30. a 5 day strike in the Terai had just finshed and the only route opened was by van to Pokhra, enroute Kathmandu, NC 1000 per seat for the 12 hr ride.
spent the next day hiring down jackets ( NC 30 a day ), stayed at Blue Horizon, opp the Himalayan Bank Building, Thamel/Jaytha, for INR 350 , a clean dbl room. NC 300 for the taxi to the airport, and a quiet 35 min flight to Lukla for INR 5250 return for Indians. met Larkhe Sherpa, owner of Buddha Lodge, at the airport exit gate, he got us a very good porter for NC600 a day all found. you get cheaper rates, but they tend to quit or handover to others enroute !!
I had done a complete day to day budgeting, but got a small shock after seing the lodge menu !! and changed another US100, as food costs hv really gone thru the roof in the last few years.
went to Bengkar for the night halt, as Phakding is a tourist trap. next day, the permit office at Monjo charges NC100 for Indians, and NC 1000 for non SAARC trekkies. The climb to Namche Bazar was as formidable as ever, and the woods were full of Russians !! Bengkar to NB is a 5 hr walk.
Thawa lodge in the centre of NB is clean, quiet, and Ganga the Manager, chef, is a real nice guy, n good cook. NC 100 for a dbl and NC200 for a gas fired hot shower. Did a day's acclimatizing and climbed past the airstrip at Syangboche and along the ridge abv EverestView Hotel, to the last point where Tengboche, Phortse and the 2 valleys were seen.
Skipped Tengb, and on to Dewoche the next day, 4.5 rs walk.
nother 4 hrs to Pheriche and spent 2 nights there, with a 2nd aclim. day, climbed high into the mountains abv Dingboche. stayed at Mount Kailash lodge run by an old lama at Nc50 for a clean room and NC100 for a bucket of HOT water that worked wonders. A 3hr 45min rocky climb to Lobuche thru Dugla, and the memorials to the Everest Dead. the down jkts were in full use and were lifesavers.
2.5hrs to the last halt at Gorakshep, where we left our gear at the lodge and after a small brk, on to EBC which was quite crowded with all AND a bakery !! the nights were surely 0 dgs. as the water bin in the toilet had a sheet of ice in the morn.
started a 0530 the next morn for the 2 hr panting climb to Kalo Pathar 18500ft, at -2 degs, freezing till the sun finally saved us, and the Everest range and Khmbu glacier all bright and shining. But really, the better time to view BIG E and gang is 1600 hrs with the evening light falling across the whole panorama, a BBC photography team concurred !! took just 40 mn to descend. we cancelled our plans for Gokio, so took it easy on the way back, going via Upper Pangboche, which I feel is really the lovliest, most peaceful place, on the whole trail.
A long traverse on the mountainside, sightings of large wild goats, and on to Phortse, only to have to go right down to the river ( a major pain in the Mountains ) and climb all the way up again, over 1000 ft to a night halt at Mongla.
the rest was a quiet walk back to NB , to Ganga and his Hashbrowns smothered in cheese !! then to the outskirts of Phakding in the rain, the only 2 days of wet weather we had, and finally to Lukla, where Larkhe, who KNOWS ALL, DOES ALL, got us preponed air tkts for a quiet return to KTM, where a taxi took NC350 to get us back to our hotel. our plans to stay in Ktm for 2 days were shelved as the prime minister n his gang had quit, and were not sure when the place would go into another BIG STRIKE mode. we had connections to make in Gorakhpur to Delhi, as we were meeting a Pune group and going off to Bedni Bugyal on the Roopkund trail. The bus from KTM was NC 350 a seat for the 8 hr jaunt to the border and the Sumo shared to GKP. Dbl rooms on threk were NC100 mostly, except for Lobuche/ Gshep were NC200
below is a list of food costs to shock you NC160 = INR100
all rates in Nc and vary in the off season.
tea 2eggs oats fryrice soup roti pasta dalbhat

Lukla 30 80 80 160 70 70 180 150
bengkar 40 70 80 150 70 60 200 170 NBazar 40 95 100 200 120 95 220 250 Dewoche 50 200 210 250 150 150 280 300 Pheriche 55 210 200 320 180 200 350 380 Lobuche 65 270 250 380 200 270 450 430 GShep 70 300 290 390 210 270 450 450 UP Pang 40 200 200 250 150 200 300 250 mongla 40 100 110 200 120 100 300 250

the statistics at the entry office at Monjo showed the nr of Trekkiesentering the national park as Oct/9460 nov/ abt1500 dec 600 mar/4500 apr/3600 june,july abt300 so Oct IS NOT the time to do this trek the best is to begin on abt 20th May. Hope this yarn helps some of you guys on the trail cheers

shahronakm

Thanks for your trek report & the costs.

Ronak.

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Santanu Das

Very effective report. Thanks a lot