Today was a rest day for the team, with an acclimatisation walk up to the Everest View Hotel this morning. It was a beautiful day with blue skies and warm weather; the walk was an hour and a half up, again lots of steps, but chatting and the weather made it really quite lovely. We rounded a corner when we were almost there and suddenly had the most amazing panoramic view of Everest, Lhotse and Ama Dablam. Everest was only just visible for long enough to shoot a quick photo before it was obscured by clouds, and some of the group didn’t manage to round the corner in time, but I’ve attached a photo so that you can share the view too. The big mountain on the right with two peaks is Ama Dablam, translated as Mother of the Jewel Box, after a Buddhist jewel box carried by high priests which a massive ice block on the mountain is meant to resemble; next along to the left is Lhotse, the mountain we’re hoping to summit after Everest; lastly, almost obscured by cloud, is the massive pyramid that is the peak of Everest. Ama Dablam is a lot shorter than the other two, but looks huge in comparison at this distance!
The wind picked up when we started back down, and this afternoon has been quite cloudy. The majority of our group all made our way down to the famous Namche Bazaar bakery, relaxed and showered. Our parents taught Kelly and I a card game called Kanasta, and then I went out to search for the other two young British girls also climbing Everest this year. I eventually found Becky Bellworthy and Mollie Hughes in that same bakery and said hi (I’d met Becky and been in contact with Mollie prior to the trip), it was brilliant and I think we’ll have a lot of fun at Base Camp! Then ending up late for dinner we’re now once again ready for bed. Having a little bit of a cold and sore throat today it’ll be an early night for me. On up to Lakpa Rita’s home village tomorrow. Ttfn.