Carolyn and Milt joined us on my third and fourth treks in Nepal – the Annapurna Circuit and Jiri to Everest Base Camp.

 

They are delightful people, volunteering their time and labor to help others in need in Vermont and New Hampshire. They are welcoming and generous. For years they have offered housing to international students at Dartmouth for no or little rent.

 

As I neared the end of my fourth trek, I developed a bad toothache.  Milt dug into his pill supply and came up with some azithromycin that really helped.  He didn’t say anything, but I got the feeling they were pills he might have needed.  When I got home I had a root canal to fix the tooth problem.

 

Earlier that same four-week trek, Carolyn and Milt befriended a student, from Georgia Tech I believe, who we met in Thangnak on Day 18, just before the Cho La pass.  He had taken a year (or more) off school and was bumming around the world carrying one backpack on his back and a second on his front.  Milt invited him to dine with us several times and paid Chhongba for his meals.  We had dinner with him in Kathmandu the last night and Carolyn and Milt carried a large box of stuff he had collected during his travels back to the US to mail to his parents.

 

Carolyn and Milt have sponsored children’s schooling in Nepal.  Carolyn is a long-time Director of the Tara Foundation.  Milt was a much loved and respected school principal for many years. Next door to the school is a wonderful nature area named in his honor.

 

Here are six photos from the Annapurna Circuit trek.

 

 

 

Early in my fourth trek we met the mother of Nabin, one of our shepas. Here is Milt greeting her with Carolyn recording the occasion.

 

 

 

The next day we crossed over the Likhu Khola (river). This is actually a relatively short suspension bridge by Nepal standard.  Some are much longer and much higher over the rivers. And many are filled with prayer flags, perhaps helping trekkers to cross uneventfully.

 

It was always nerve-wracking when crossing a long suspension bridge and a line of 1000+ pound yaks with three foot wide horns laden with gear would come at us from the other direction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were heading to Kala Patthar and Everest Base Camp, hiking a challenging route over two high passes that Milt and Chhongba chose months previously. Heading up to Renjo La, the first high pass at almost 18,000 ft, two of our group of five New Englanders had problems with a severe cold and a mild altitude sickness. They turned back with Chhongba and a porter and took a different route to Kala Patthar. Carolyn, Milt, and I continued with a very substantial support group of sherpas and porters.

 

Here are Carolyn and Milt part way up to the Renjo La pass at 9 AM

 

 

For the above photo, I had my back to Renjo La. From the same spot, here is the view to the pass which is very near the center of the photo below.

 

 

Mid-morning we had a picnic lunch of sandwiches before we reached a very snowy area.  After lunch the trail got quite steep.  I slogged on, getting well ahead of Carolyn and Milt. I guess I was excited about getting up to the pass to take photos there. I arrived a bit before noon. Not too much later Carolyn and Milt also reached the pass. Here is our group at Renjo La in a photo taken by Alawa Sherpa and a photo of Carolyn and Milt taken by me.

 

The photo above shows Carolyn and Milt descending from the pass.

 

You can see Babu Sherpa carrying two packs in the photo below.  The sherpas helped us a bit this day by carrying our packs for some of the time. Gokyo is across the snow-covered lake on the left side of the far shore.

 

 

Here is a long lens view of Gokyo from 75 minutes closer to it. You are seeing perhaps 90% of the village.

 

 

We spent that night in Gokyo and the next one In Tagnak. Then it was up and over our second high pass, Cho La. Below you can see Carolyn and Milt climbing up to the pass and then celebrating when they reached it.

 

 

 

We spent that night in Dzonglha and the next morning we hiked down into the valley of the Khumbu Glacier. 

 

In the photo on the left you can see Carolyn and Milt standing in front of the beautiful Ama Dablam on the left with Tangtega in the distance to the right.

 

We stayed that night in Lobuche, a really cold and marginal town. Chhongba boiled our water, as he did every day, but also had us put purification pills in it to keep us from getting sick.

 

That afternoon Leeli and Denise. caught up with us. The next morning we headed up to Kala Patthar and after a too-long lunch, finally reached its summit around 2:30 PM.

 

We were actually a day ahead of the conservative schedule that Chhongba had laid out so Carolyn, Milt, and I were able to hike with Chhongba the three hours from Gorakshep to Everest Base Camp. It was a wonderful experience. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the photo on the right, Carolyn and Milt are entering Base Camp. You can perhaps see some of the yellow and blue tents above their heads on the Khumbu Glacier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below are more photos of Carolyn and Milt from our 2012 four-week trek from Jiri to Everest Base Camp.