Day 9 – Gorak Shep to summit Kala Patthar and back to Dingboche

As Mingma had promised at last night’s dinner it was a long day.

Our day started with a 4.00 am wake call so we could climb Mt. Kala Patthar in time for sunrise. Gorak Shep, altitude (5140m), is one of the highest in the world and not surprisingly a cold place to stay besides the Khumbu glacier. The hotel rooms were below freezing and when we left the hotel to set off for the climb the temperature was a frigid -16 degrees Celsius.

Mt Kala Patthar at 5540metres sits above Gorak Shep and provides an incredible panarama of the Everest Massif trek up. Sunrise is the best time to photograph this incredible scenery. Some of our intrepid Turtle Trekkers braved the cold and the steep slopes and climbed the mountain and an hour or two later. The Cayman Turtle Trekkers summited. Spectacular views and photo opportunities were are reward.

If that was not enough exercise for one day, after breakfast we set off on the Long road home to Dingboche retraced our steps from the outbound which took us two days.

Arrived in Dingboche late having spent 45 mins in the clouds and arriving to a smoke filled village. Being above the tree line there is no wood to burn but fortunately there are many yaks who produce something ideal to burn as fuel. The scent does permeate the village early evening.