Lobuche - 4,950m [16,240 ft]
    
10 April 2005

Lobuche - 4,950m [16,240 ft]

Howdy world!
This morning we took our frozen laundry off the line in Chukung, packed up our duffle bags to give to our newly employed Yaks, and we were off and hiking towards Lobuche. The weather was sunny and we were relieved for that because our previous day of rest was cold with snow flurries.
The hike began downhill back towards Dingboche and then headed strenuously uphill to a place called the Sherpa memorial. This was truly a moviing place, standing among chorten after chorten (these are memorial structures built of stone and covered in prayer flags and katas) and represent Sherpas who have died. Iread one about a Sherpa who had summited Everest 10 times, spent 21 hours on the summit withhout oxygen, and died on his 11th summit attempt by falling into a crevass. I was moved to tears and humbled by the great mountaineering skills of the Sherpas.
Jim walked over and had a silent moment at the chorten of Kami Rita Sherpa who had worked wit h him years ago and fell to his death in front of him ten years ago.
After paying our respects, we hiked past Lobuche East and into the valley toward our destination at the Eco Lodge in Lobuche. The final view in was one of dreams--seeing Changtse and knowing that mountain is in Tibet was awe inspiring.
On a final humerous note, the Jedi Yak master took the first shower at the lodge, only to run out of water when he was covered in soap....we all heard him pleading for more water from the kitchen and enjoyed a good laugh at his expense. Tomorrow we hike to Base Camp to start a journey of another kind. Trixie