Day 19 - Rest Day - Tyangboche

Today is a rest day in the Tyangboche area. There has been no more snow, though there is more cloud that we have seen on an average day.

I wander round the camp and come across 2 Tornado aircrew that I know, who are here on trek and getting ready to head out towards Gokyo and then over towards Everest as we had done. They have an ambitious schedule, but are much more experienced mountaineers and athletes that I am. One of them, John Scholtens, had lost his wife in an avalanche at base camp on a trekking peak several years previously. It is good to see old friends, and it is indeed a small world when you can run into people you know at such a location.

In the afternoon, we hear the sounds of an approaching helicopter that lands on a flat space to disgorge its passengers. It turns out to be a rescue helicopter that has brought some members of a French expedition to Lohtse who are suffering from frostbite and snow blindness. I believe it is felt that they will fully recuperate down in the thicker and warmer air at Tyangboche, and that they will not need to be evacuated all the way to Kathmandu for hospital treatment.

The snow slowly melts as the day progresses, and by the following morning, only a few patches are left.

Tyangboche Gompa

Tyangboche and Ama Dablam

Rescue helicopter landing at Tyangboche