Arrived Pheriche

Last night we arrived in Pheriche, at about 14,200' and everyone is doing great! We had a clear view of both Everest, Lhotse & Ama Dablam as we hiked to Pangboche where we stopped to visit Lama Geshe, the Rinpoche (highest) lama of the Pangboche Monastery. Lama Geshe blessed us for safe travel up & down Everest, it was a nice ceremony. Afterwards we travelled up the valley to Shomari for lunch, then on to the village of Pheriche where will spent the night. We plan to do an acclimatization hike today then spend another night here before hiking up to Lobuche.

The day prior, we trekked from Khumjung to Debuche, where we spent the night. The trek from Khumjung took us down to the floor of the river valley and then back up to the Tengboche Monastery. We had light snow throughout the day which was nice and kept the temperature down. After having a snack at a café in Tengboche, we descended to our lodge for the night in Debuche, a valley covered by a rhododendron forest.

We have found that the new cell phone network in the Khumbu valley does allow for limited connectivity. At times we are able to make calls & connect to the internet, but it does not work in every village along the way, so we may be a few days without posting anything new regarding our trek to Everest base camp. Currently we do not have any cell phone access.

Photos:
1. The team in Debuche with mountains behind
2. Buddhist Stupa & Ama Dablam along the trail to Pangboche
3. First view of Everest & Lhotse
4. Gary Nelson being blessed by Lama Geshe