Base Camp to Yangle Kharka

The porters had all arrived at Base Camp by late afternoon on 29 May. It was therefore no surprise that at 05.30 on 30th they began gathering at Base Camp, anxious to be allocated their individual load and to get started on the trail. We had arranged bed tea for 06.30 but there was little point in trying to get further sleep due to the noise in the vicinity. Our Sirdar and his support staff were extremely methodical in recording the names of all the porters, allocating them particular loads and recording details of what they had been allocated to carry. Most importantly, the weight of each barrel was also recorded in order that the correct level of payment could be made at the end of the trek.

Rather frustratingly there was no cloud covering Makalu and it appeared that the upper winds had dropped significantly. We knew that the French guides were somewhere high on the mountain but from Base Camp we were unsighted as to their progress.
After breakfast the team members packed their remaining kit whilst the remaining loads were allocated. The whole process of allocating loads took approximately 3 hours, not uncommon on the first day of the trek. With many of the porters having the same name details of their village also had to be recorded to avoid confusion.

The trek down to Yangle Kharka provided us all with an indication of how different the walk-out would be from the walk-in. The river was significantly higher due to being filled by the melt waters from the glaciers, the lower valley full of blooming rhododendrons and marigolds and the afternoon rains set in - a warning that the monsoon was very close.

By late afternoon we were all relaxing in the thicker air at 3800m - the lowest altitude that we had been at for nearly 2 months.