Day 3 — Acclimatization at Namche Bazar

Before we started our trek, I had described our day in Namche Bazar to our kids as a rest day.  That was probably not the best description.  

We got up for breakfast at 7:30 am.  We ordered the night before so breakfast was ready when we arrived in the common room.  Breakfast is pretty basic — eggs, hash browns, pancakes, oatmeal etc.  The highlight is almost always the mint tea or hot chocolate.  

After a quick meal, we set out on an acclimatization hike to the ridge above Namche Bazar.  The mornings are usually clear in the mountains this time of year and today was no exception.  We first part of the hike was not too difficult — we went up to a viewpoint that gave us 270 degree vista of the peaks in the area.  The weather was perfect with only wispy clouds near some of the peaks.  We had views of Everest, Lhotse (4th tallest mountain in world), Nuptse, Ama Dablam and many others. 

Ama Dablam

Rocks from Everest and Dead Sea

At the viewpoint there was also a statute of a Sherpa, a monument with a rock from Everest and a rock from the Dead Sea, and a little museum about the area.  

After spending a few minutes here, we started up a nearby hill on our way to Everest View Hotel which is purportedly the highest hotel in the world.  This part of the hike was not nearly as easy and I was repeatedly asked why I had described today as a rest day.  It was very steep at start, basically just stairs, and then near the top the terrain opened up and we just went pretty much straight up.  Both Cannon and Grace were definitely feeling the altitude so we went slowly with lots of breaks.  It definitely made us appreciate the extra days that we are taking to acclimatize on the trek.  

When we reached the top we found the infrequently used Namche Bazar airport (I would not want to land here) and a ridge line trail over to the Everest View Hotel.  As Cannon pointed out, we would not want to stay here and have to hike up from Namche Bazar (later we discovered that most guests came in by helicopter).  When we finally reached the hotel we had a break for drinks, soup and French fries on a outdoor patio with insane views including incredible vistas of Ama Dablam which reminded us all of Zermatt.

After about an hour we descended down the dusty trail back to Namche Bazar where we had lunch and then watched a documentary on the Sherpas and the events of 2015.

All in all, the hike ended up being 5.5 miles and 440 m of elevation.  At the top we were higher that where we will sleep tomorrow night in Tengboche.