Day 19 Phortse to Pangboche

	Phortse	Pangboche
Latitude	27° 50.72N	27° 51.23N
Longitude	86° 45.06E	86° 47.59E
Altitude	3,831 metres	3,937 metres

Ascent	94 metres
Time (excluding rests)	2 hours
Distance	3.5 kilometres

The Nuptse Lhotse Ridge

Worst pun award - Everest peeks out over the Nuptse - Lhotse ridge...

The path to Pangboche

Musk deer raiding the potato fields - maybe the locals should stop eating potatoes and start eating deer...

Pangboche has plenty of fields for the musk deer to raid

Tengboche is visible on the other side of the valley

Ama Dablam

Thanserku

Kantega

     Today is a gentle trek to Pangboche, a village with great views and good food.

The magnificent view from Pangboche

     Ascend out of the village up the broad stony yak path. Pass the Namaste Lodge on the eastern edge of the village fields. Pass the school and the Himalayan Lodge. Phorche is a great place if you wish to experience a real Himalayan village, albeit from the luxury of a decent lodge.

     Reach the crest of the ridge above the village, [27° 30.73N 86° 45.43E 3,938 metres] (35 minutes) from where there are great views across the valley to the Tengboche monastery and the impressive peak of Ama Dablam.

Tengboche Monastery on the far side of the valley

     The path contours along the side of the valley from here. After about an hour, Pangboche is visible in the distance below. The path zigzags upwards a little at this point. Eventually the path reaches its highest point and then it's all downhill to Pangboche.

     A little further on, pass some small limestone caves, the first sedimentary rocks, proof that millions of years ago the Himalayan peaks formed part of the seabed of the ancient Tethys Sea.

Mount Everest can be seen behind the Nuptse Lhotse ridge

     Arrive in the magnificent village of Pangboche (2 hours) - where there are many excellent lodges:

• Highland Sherpa Resort
• Sunflower Lodge
• Tara Guest House
• Paradise Lodge
• Norbu Lodge
• Namaste Lodge
• Himalaya Lodge
• Dele Kinjing Lodge
• Everest View Lodge
• Shree Devan Lodge
• Ama Dablam Lodge

...and probably many more.

     The lodges are of a far higher standard than many you will have seen before and have good menus, rather like those in Namche. Some of the lodges have impressive viewing galleries that satisfy trekkers' interest in viewing the surrounding mountains. From here you can see:

• Nuptse 7,879 metres
• Everest 8,848 metres
• Lhotse 8,501 metres
• Ama Dablam 6,856 metres
• Thamserku 6,688 metres
• Kusum Kanguru 6,369 metres
• Kwangde 6,187 metres
• Numbur 6,959 metres

     Pangboche's gompa is the oldest in the region and was founded by the legendary Lama Sanga Dorje.

© Ian Johnson 2003