April 8, 2016
Ben here with today’s update from the beautiful village of Namche Bazaar. This morning we woke up to a nearly cloudless sky with seemingly endless mountain views. After a leisurely breakfast we took advantage of the beautiful weather to hike 1,500 feet above Namche to the Everest View Hotel at 12,700 feet and to enjoy tea on the deck while taking in our first views of Mount Everest. Strong winds were apparent on the summit of the world’s highest mountain, but those should subside in the coming weeks. Ama Dablam, Nuptse, and Pumori also dominated our mountain view.

While there were no Yeti sightings, we did have the opportunity to view a yeti skull hidden away in the Khumjung Monastery on the way back to Namche. The skull is kept under lock and key deep inside the Monastery. Hopefully this will be our closest yeti encounter as the information from the monastery says that these creatures are almost 7 feet tall and “have a very bad temperament and will attack anyone who ventures close enough.”

After our return to the Moonlight Lodge in Namche we made, yet another, bakery tour through the village. And I believe everyone is in a satisfied food coma as I write this. Tomorrow we’ll get another early start and trek a few hours to the Tengboche Monastery to learn more about the mountain Buddhist culture. There are even rumors of chocolate cake at Tengboche that we will have to investigate. We’ll spend the night at Deboche—just a short walk downhill from the monastery.