Pangboche to Dingboche

I woke up with a headache but a couple of paracetamol helped a lot. We had breakfast but I didn’t finish the very large Nepal pancake. We packed our gear and moved on.

The route to Dingboche was lovely. Wide in places, and the trees had disappeared now we were above 4000m. We followed the river, walking along the side of the valley in mostly wide paths. There were some uphill parts, accumulating in 400m elevation gain. Although these did feel tough due to the altitude, the journey was relatively short, and we reached Dingboche in 2 hours 40 minutes.

We stopped in at a lovely café called Café 4410 and I treated myself to an Everest burger with chips, and a mango smoothie, and a fresh orange juice. It was really nice to feel like we were back in some comfort. Dingboche is an absolutely lovely sherpa village, and the setting is stunning, sitting right underneath the towering beauty of Ama Dablam.

After our early lunch, we went to check in to our normal lodge, but they were full. The next lodge was not full, but they would not let me set up a star link due to lack of power. We moved on to a third lodge – full. And the fourth lodge had space – the Bright Star hotel. They agreed to let me use the Star link. They also had electric blankets and a bathroom with shower! This was real luxury.

I tested my saturated oxygen levels which were low. They were ranging between 76 and 82%. I took the option to rest up during the afternoon and found myself doing too much social media. Around 5pm I took the laptop to the communal area and we transferred photos and videos.

Dinner was served at 7pm. I did request no sauce on the chicken steak, but they put sauce on everything. It’s a very Nepali thing. Dessert was apple and pomegranate seeds. I had started to feel some discomfort in my tummy a couple of hours before food, and afterwards I got some terrible stomach cramps and had to rush to the toilet.

Stats
Altitude: 4352m
Distance: 6km
Elevation gain: 396m
Time: 2 hours 40 minutes
Weight: 69.40kg
Fat: 17.1%
Muscle: 78.7%
Visceral fat: 2.7
Resting heart rate: 66
Nerve health: 88
SpO2: 78%
Sleep last night: 7hrs 47