Above 4000 Meters

From Dewoche where we spent last night we now have what looks on the map to be the longest day of the walk upwards towards base camp - not only are we climbing another several hundred meters, but we also covering over ten kilometres.

The scenery however is absolutely stunning and simply takes the breath away (OK, so the altitude doesn't help either). For me it no longer matters that base camp may be unreachable, the sheer scale of this place and the sense of wonder I get looking around is enough and I think I could now go home happy. There is one rest stop in the afternoon - no tea houses or any other sign of civilization nearby, just a breather - where the whole group seems to break apart for once, and I think everyone is just trying to take in everything around them.

We reach Dingboche mid-afternoon. There seems to be some confusion about how high we now are - the map says 4260 meters, our guide says 4350, the business card of the lodge says 4410 and trip notes say 4530.

Later on I'm reading in the dining room and something catches my eye through the window - looking around I literally utter the word 'wow'. Everyone else looks up to see what's happening. There's a short pause as we all take in what we're seeing, followed a few seconds later by a mad scrabble for cameras. A photo really doesn't do it justice, but here's what we saw - sunset on Ama Dablam.