David von Oheimb's Photo Gallery: Trekking and montaineering in
the Everest area (Solukhumbu district), Nepal, 24 Oct - 21 Nov 2008

This page is under construction. More photos and text to be added ASAP. Feedback is most welcome.

An extended four-weeks trek through the most famous part of the Himalayas.

1. I took a bus from Kathmandu and departed from the 'classical' trailhead in Jiri (1870 m) and spent a week at the pleasantly lush green lower Solu area, staying at its very family-style lodges. I passed near Lukla (2810 m) and entered the higher Khumbu area at Namche Bazar (3440 m).
2. I proceeded eastwards past Dingboche to climb Chukhung Ri (5559 m) for acclimatization/training and then taking part in an organized climb on Imja Tse (aka Island Peak, 6189 m).
3. The third stage of my trek was centered around the marvelous Gokyo (4710 m) valley. In order to cut out more time for it, I compressed the usual visit of the southern Everest Base Camp (5364 m) and Kala Patthar (5640 m) to a day trip from Lobuche. I crossed Cho La (5370 m), climbed Gokyo Ri (5360 m) and Ngozumba Tse (aka Knobby View, 5472 m), and crossed Renjo La (5360 m). All of these offer great views of Everest and a couple of other 8000ers.
4. Finally, I went up to the border of Tibet at Nangpa La (Khumbu La, 5716m). This high pass is mainly used by Tibetan yak caravans carrying Chinese goods on a 10-day journey from Tingri to Namche. Since there are no lodges north of Arya (4330 m), camping gear and a second porter was needed for this remote section of the trek. On the way out I climbed a pre-summit (just over 5000 m) of Sundar Peak just west of Thame (3800 m) before returning to Namche (3440 m) and flying out from Lukla (2810 m).

See also a nice report of someome who did the core of the same Khumbu loop in opposite direction.
Before and after the trekking tour, I spent a couple of days in Kathmandu and its vicinity.

All my photos presented here are geo-tagged with the data mentioned below.

Asia overview map	Nepal overview map	Solukhumbu satellite map with trail marked	Day 1: Kathmandu-Jiri-Shivalaya-Deurali
Day 2: Deurali-Kinja-Sete	Day 3: Sete-Junbesi-Phurteng	Day 4: Phurteng-Taskindu La-Nunthala	Day 5: Nunthala-Kharikola-Khari La
Day 6: Khari La-Chheplung-Phakding	Day 7: Phakding-Namche Bazar	Day 8: Namche Bazar	Day 9: Namche-Tengboche-Dingboche
Day 10: Dingboche-Chukhung Ri	Day 11: Dingboche-Chukhung	Day 12: Chukhung (rock training)	Day 13: Chukhung (ice training)
Day 14: Chukhung-Island Peak BC	Day 15: Island Peak-Chukhung	Day 16: Chukhung-Dingboche-Lobuche	Day 17: Lobuche-Everest BC-Kala Patthar
Day 18: Lobuche-Cho La-Thagnak	Day 19: Thagnak-Gokyo-Gokyo Ri-Gokyo	Day 20: Gokyo-Knobby View-Gokyo	Day 21: Gokyo-Renjo La-Lungden
Day 22: Lungden-Sumna-Kangchung	Day 23: Kangchung-Nangpa La	Day 24: Kangchung-Arya	Day 25: Arya-Thame
Day 26: Thame-Sundar Peak-Thame	Day 27: Thame-Namche-Khumjung	Day 28: Namche-Phakding-Lukla	Day 29: Lukla-Kathmandu

A GPS recording of my route is available for download as GPX file or KML file for Google Earth.
It can be directly viewed on Google Terrain Maps (including waypoints) and on GPSies (including waypoints and statistics).

I collected the GPS data with a Holux m241 GPS logger. During days 2-6, the device did not properly store the track data or the data got corrupted thereafter, such that I had to manually reconstruct the trail data, which I did in a rather coarse fashion. For this reason, and also because of its high battery consumption and relatively inconvenient handling, I cannot really recommend this cheap (60 USD) device.