Posted by Per on March 30, 2001 at 08:51:56:
In Reply to: Re: Gokyo trek in April/May posted by Helen on March 30, 2001 at 06:02:03:
Pic Namche. Most of the large houses are hotels with nice rooms and good food.
: Hi Per -
: The intention is to take a taxi to Jiri on the 11th, begin trekking on the 12th taking 8 days (inc. rests) to reach Namche, then 1 day off, then 3 days up to Gokyo, then 3 days in Gokyo....
: ..that takes us to around the 27th. We need to be back in Kathmandu by 2/3rd latest. What do you think of this - am I taking it too easy? I don't want to be rushing so much, so thought a flight out would be the best option. But if it's easily achieveable to walk in and out from Jiri in that time it would be preferable.
Hi again Helen
You are walking in really slow. We spent six days going in, including the taxi ride from Kathmandu, started of right away from Jiri and slept the first night in Sivalaya. Another two days to Junbesi, and then three days to Namche. We had rather heavy loads more than 25 kg each, as we carried tent and food to go camping on altitude, and some days when we felt broken of the carrying we hired people to carry for us for a day as we liked to get in fast. That is quite easy to do. Just tell your landlord when you stop for the night that you may need some one the next day, and there will always be some poor sod who is willing to carry for a day. Makes you feel guilty. It helps if you pay a fair wage and make sure the guy get the same foods, teas, omelettes , soft drinks and whatever you have, at your expense. Two good rules of thumb: set the price for a certain destination (not per day) if you want to move on fast, never let anyone carry your money and other valuables.
If you are tea house trekking, which is a really nice option, as you can walk at ease not feeling like a beast of burden, you can probably cut a day, locals do it in three days I hear, but it canīt be much fun. Unless you are going to cross Cho La or something like that I would bet on tea house trekking. There are excellent friendly little hotels all the way.
Generally speaking I think you would to well to get out of Kathmandu and to Namche as fast as possible and spend time there. It is a friendly town and it is good for acclimatisation. There are some nice walks to neighbouring villages, etc. Then you will have extra time left, and some margins, if you feel like it you can hang around Kathmandu after the trek. You will enjoy it a lot more then than before the trek.
Per