| everest base camp journal: namche bazaar |
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Never stand between a yak and a 1,000 sheer drop-off
From Phakding you hike up 3,000 vertical feet to the village of Namche Bazaar. That's the highest elevation gain in one day on the entire trek. At many places along the steep switchbacks the narrow trail drops away 1,000 vertical feet or more. On the way to Namche you officially enter the boundaries of Sagarmatha National Park. We presented out trekking permits to the park officials and continued on towards Namche.
 A Trekking Permit is a whole lot cheaper than a $70,000 Climber's Permit (yeah that's about what it costs to climb Mt. Everest, give or take $10,000).
Namche is Khumbu's largest village, has everything a trekker might need, including a dental clinic. There is a bank, a telephone, a post office as well as many shops selling left-over expedition supplies. Believe it or not I was able to buy a real North Face Denali jacket at one of the stores in Namche. Every Saturday the village hosts a large market where there are sides of buffalo meat, sacks of grain, and bamboo baskets filled with vegetables and tangerines lining the terraces at the edge of town. Tibetans are permitted to travel across the border and participate in the market each week. We stayed two nights in Namche (elevation 11,300 feet) for better acclimitization.
 Namche, with the nearby peak of Kwangde at 20,298 feet in the background, and our yellow tents next to the tea house in the front left foreground. next |
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