Gokyo, Day 11,12,13: Back to Namche and the Reunion

April 9,10,11th, 2019

Gokyo (15,744 ft) to Namche (11,280 ft)

We woke up with absolutely clear day next day, Anuj and I got excited for Dharmesh and Arnav for their summit push atop Island Peak.

We started heading back down to Dhole. It was refreshing to see clear blue skies. The peaks of Gokyo Ri and Cho Oyu rose up high in the sky. We saw two helicopters landed at the Gokyo Lake bringing tourists to get glimpses. We noticed that they were not able to stay there for more than 10-15 minutes, possibly due to not being acclimated to the high altitudes.

We stopped at Macchermo for lunch. Our appetite was coming back, My lunges were totally happy with the fresh oxygen, I no longer felt sick'or tired’. Headache vanished and I was able to order and finish a large plate of aloo parathas.

I saw Babu got a call when I was eating and I saw him getting all excited. The call was from Chhuang Sherpa from the top of Island Peak with the great news that both Arnav and Dharmesh had successfully and safely summited Island Peak and now heading back down to the basecamp. This was the moment Anuj and I was waiting for. I just didn’t know how to react, tears started rolling down from my eyes to the cheeks. This was one of the happiest moments of my life.

We started heading down to Dhole, we had plenty of time to reach the destination, so we slowed down to soak it all in. These were the last two days we would be able to see the high snowy Himalayan Peaks, we didn’t want to rush down – at all. We spent the night dancing at the local Nepalese as well as Bollywood tunes at Dhole.

We spent the next day descending all the way back to Namche. We were going to stay there an extra day to wait for the Island Peak team. The Everest Base Camp Team was a day ahead of us and were on their way back to Lukla. Lots of rest, long shower, shampoo, shopping, pastries and Everest beer at a local cafe, wifi and pakoras for dinner – that pretty much summed up our last day at Namche.

We woke up late the next day, Ritu and Hema went with Babu for a local hike to the Sherpa Museum and to the Monastery. Anuj, Kalpu and I decided to stay back and wait for Arnav and Dharmesh at Namche. They made it to Namche at 10 am, while we were still eating our breakfast. That was the moment of joy, I will never be able to describe in words. We were not sure how fast time flew the rest of the day, listening to the endless stories of their first-ever climbing expedition, seeing the photos and thrilling videos just made my day!

They took showers and napped in the afternoon while Kalpu and I sneaked out for some more shopping, and we all went for ice cream in the evening when Ritu, jas and Hema returned- that was the tiniest scoop I have ever seen or eaten, it was literally a spoonful of ice cream we got, we thought it was a sample, the shop owner grinned and said it was a `Namche sized scoop’. It was small but it definitely hit the spot!