Day 5: Tengboche to Dingboche – Everest Base Camp + Video
Everest Base Camp (5,600m)
Khumbu Glacier, Nepal
April – May 2016
Warning – Long post ahead with lots of pictures!
Tengboche to Dingboche
Arrived in Tengboche (3,900m) around half past two in the afternoon after a roller coaster journey from Namche Bazaar. The first view of Tengboche was painted by Tengboche’s monastery, also known as Dawa Choling Gompa. This monastery is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery of the Sherpa community the largest gompa in the Khumbu region of Nepal.
This village is draped with a panoramic view of the Himalayan Mountains, including the well-known peaks of Tawache, Everest, Nuptse, Lhotse, Ama Dablam, and Thamserku.Had lunch, rested, dinner and prepared our tomorrow’s journey to Dingboche.
I couldn’t explore much of the area as I was totally exhausted and just wanted to settle down and try to get some food down to see if it helped. Regardless, the mere arrival at Tengboche was indeed a big relief as I could now, safely, slow down as much as I could and be at a more relaxed state.
The first view of Tengboche.
Photo by John Teh
Managed to snap a couple of photos while on the way to our designated lodging. Stumbled upon a significant prayer stone structure with a monk chanting some prayers. Following this we passed through Tengboche’s famous monastery, also known as Dawa Choling Gompa. We checked-in shortly after, dumped our bags and had our lunch. By far, this was one of the only photo I took of my food throughout my journey.
Multiple tributes made of prayer stones.
Photo by John Teh
Kah Wane went to explore the monastery further after lunch, while I rested in the room. The temperature dived quite swiftly as the sun set somewhere around half past eight in the evening. I recalled quite clearly that it was a pretty cold night. After the usual dinner, I retired early for another battle the next day.
Our lodging at Tengboche.
Photos by John Teh
Tengboche Monastery, also known as Dawa Choling Gompa, in the Tengboche village in Khumjung in the Khumbu region of eastern Nepal is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery of the Sherpa community. It was built in 1916 by Lama Gulu with strong links to its mother monastery known as the Rongbuk Monastery in Tibet. In 1934, it was destroyed by an earthquake and was subsequently rebuilt. In 1989, it was destroyed for a second time by a fire and then rebuilt with the help of volunteers and international assistance.
Tengboche monastery is amidst the Sagarmatha National Park, draped with a panoramic view of the Himalayan Mountains.
– Wikipedia
Tengboche Monastery – Dawa Choling Gompa.
Photos by John Teh
Woke up around 8 in the morning, did all the usual morning business, re-packed, had breakfast and went out to get some fresh air. Nabin stationed himself outside slightly earlier than us, waiting to start our next journey to Dingboche. We spent a short while to capture the moment of Tengboche’s wonderful view in the morning.
Nabin, waiting for all of us in style.
Photo by John Teh
The journey on our 5th day to Dingboche (4,410m) took us around 5 hours (10.5km), from half past nine in the morning to half past two in the afternoon. Started with a forest, passed through rivers, enjoyed the view and said hi to all the friendly locals and other trekkers alike.
The elevation gain throughout this journey to Dingboche was 500m, with a very consistent gradual increase througout the whole 10km track.
20-30 minutes into the trail.
Photos by John Teh
A stream of river accompanied us after a short distance, giving us a sharp chilly breeze which penetrated even my multi-layered attire. Taking into consideration the terrain and all of the available elements, it truly and really felt like we were closer to sea level, but we were in fact closer to 4,000 metres above it. If an opportunity presents itself in the future, I’d be very interested to dip myself into one of these rivers.
Trekking in the valley.
Photos by John Teh
Fewer words and more photos, I shall let the visuals to do the story-telling and guide you to our destination. Don’t forget that you can click on the image to view a larger version.
A Stupa and a religious archway.
Photos by John Teh
Ama Dablam (6,812m) getting more visible in the background.
Photos by John Teh
The valley started to broaden up and we started to traverse through a much bigger open-area. It felt like we were in a very big flat area with a mountain at each of the four corners, but the sight of our path ahead remained clear. A small bridge welcomed us over a small and seemingly tame river, but also looked like it could easily knock you down if you’re not careful.
I always believed that a Stupa always signifies that we’re nearing some sort of town or village, and true enough, a small Stupa that caught our attention a distance away warned us of our arrival to Dingboche.
A Stupa and Dingboche in a distance.
Photos by John Teh
Arrived at Dingboche around half past 2 in the afternoon, with lots of time to spare. We came across a lone trekker who just recently reached Dingboche at the same time as us only to find out that most of the places over here were fully booked. Got to know later in the evening that he got a place at a nearby lodge.
A simple area but with sophisticated technologies that I’ve never seen before. Using the energy from the sun, a satellite dish lookalike object was used as a water boiling apparatus. The idea behind it is pretty similar to a concentrated heat from a magnifying glass. Unfortunately this could only be used during the day.
Hiking shoes, socks, solar charging panels and power banks were laid out all over across a stony platform just right outside the hotel. Had our meals and rested for the day.
In the evening, as the sun set into the horizon, I caught a glimpse of the first snow touching down on Dingboche. Being someone who has never seen, felt and experienced snow before, this was the ultimate highlight of this trip, second only to our arrival at the Everest Base Camp. It was just simply amazing.
Safely arrived at Dingboche. Hotel Good Luck – our hotel for the day.
Photos by John Teh
To close off this chapter, a video version of day 5 can be found below for your viewing pleasure. It’s a mixture of still images and videos recorded throughout our journey from Tengboche to Dingboche. Stay tuned for the next post covering more of Dingboche and the ultimate acclimatization trip to Nangkartshang Peak (5,083m).
Day 5 Part 2 – Tengboche to Dingboche.
Everest Base Camp – Visit my Youtube Channel for more videos
This post / video is a part of a 21-part series, covering everything from:-
- Day 1 (Kathmandu to Lukla)
- Day 1 (Lukla to Phakding)
- Day 2 (Phakding to Namche Bazaar)
- Day 2 (Namche Bazaar)
- Day 3 (Syangboche Acclimatization)
- Day 3 (Back to Namche Bazaar, dropping by at Sagarmatha National Park)
- Day 4 (Namche Bazaar to Tengboche)
- Day 5 (Tengboche - Dinboche)
- Day 6 (Dingboche & Nangkartshang - Acclimatization)
- Day 6 (Getting down from Nangkartshang & Snow)
- Day 7 (Dingboche to Lobuche)
- Day 7 (A Heart-Wrenching Stop at Thukla Pass and Scott Fischer’s Memorial)
- Day 8 (Lobuche to Gorak Shep)
- Day 8 (Kalla Phatthar Acclimatization)
- Day 9 (Gorak Shep to Everest Base Camp)
- Day 9, 10 & 11 (Gorak Shep to Pheriche, Namche Bazaar and Phakding)
- Day 12 (Phakding to Lukla)
- Day 12 (Flying back to Kathmandu from Lukla Airport)
- Day 13 (Kathmandu - Swayambhunath Buddhist Temple)
- Day 14 (Kathmandu City Adventure)
- Journey to the Roof of the World: A Trekker's Final Post and Summary of the Epic Everest Base Camp Trek
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