This was an easy walking day, so we started late at 8:40am after a leisurely breakfast. The hike was beautiful under the towering peaks of Awi (black rock) and the snowy face of the North face of Cho-La Tse.
After crossing a primitive bridge over the outlet of the Lobutse Glacier, the views opened up to the triangle of Ama Dablan (6856m). As we were down, the views of Cho-La Tse got better and better. We also saw the route up Lobunche that our assistant guide, Raj, took about a month ago. At the bottom of the route was a Russian camp, which was used for acclimatization and rest for their massive 2009 Everest expedition.
Eventually, the trail changes to a more Northerly direction and we got a nice view of Pumari (7165) and Nuptse (7861). Everest is just behind these peaks, invisible from the trail. After just 30 minutes, we arrived at Lobuche. The lodge there was much better than the one the previous night, but still simple. A luxury there was a bucket with warm water and a mirror that allow us to clean our faces.
While we were having lunch (fried potatoes with vegetables), another Intrepid group arrived. This group is made of 9 people, a combination of Australians, Irish, and English, that are heading to Everest Base Camp. Our group and them stayed together for the next two days, but for some reason, we didn't interact much with them.
Even though the morning was beautiful, warm and clear, by 1pm clouds started to roll in and it started to snow. Mountain weather is variable, so by 2pm, it started to clear up. We headed up the moraine between the Khumbu glacier and Lobuche, but the weather started to turn snowy and foggy so we didn't get good views. We returned in less than an hour to the lodge and warmed up.
After an hour or so, I was bored and the weather seem to have improved again, so I decided to go back to the moraine. This time I got lucky and I got rewarded by views of Pumori, the Khumbu glacier, the Khumbu ice fall, and, at the distance, Everest Base Camp. I also caught a view of the futuristic pyramid of the K2 Italian Research Center (named at the brief time when K2 was believe to be the highest peak and renamed to Everest/K2 when Everest regained its highest mountain status).
After enjoying the amazing view for a few minutes, I turned around at 4:30pm and descended with two hikers from Paris. After a dinner of fried rice with veggies, I headed to bed to rest for the long day tomorrow.
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