Phortse Thanga to Macchermo via Dole : Trek To Everest Base Camp

Aminur, 5 years ago 2 min read 3030

At Phortse Thanga, as we start, we see that the route separates to Phortse and Dole. We have to take left for Dole, and that route takes us to Gokyo.

Google’s 360 degree view of location from where we started :

Thamserku (6608 m). View from our guest house, before we started the day.

Well important to note is that mobile network stops working (or works unreliably bad) from here onwards.

As we started the day, we get passed Dole Post and continued into alpine forest of fir, rhododendron, birch, alpine bamboo, pines in between Phortse Tanga to Dole. The trail is mostly gradual up through this alpine forest.

Our porters who started late, were fast enough to get past us quickly.

There were quite a few water falls in the way.

A walk without any lighter moment makes it a mundane activity.

We continued on the uneven rocky track, to reach Dole in around 2 and half hour.

From Dole, it’s a steep climb through scrub junipers to Mt. Lhaparma 4,329m. We will pass the small settlement of Luza and continue to hike through the valley to Machhermo. The views of Mt. Cho Oyu, Mt. Cholatse and other peaks are majestic. We had a lunch break at “Paradise” Lodge at Luza and post that, crossed a stream to climb up the hill again.

To reach Machhermo, we have to cross, one hill after another and quite a few pasture land is also seen in the later part of trek.

And finally the guesthouse and its heating oven.

A brief note on tea-houses oven which keeps the tea-houses heated. Mainly the dining area of these tea-houses. In the Sagarmartha National Park there are strict rules about the burning of wood. This whole area has suffered massive deforestation over the years and the burning of wood is not only forbidden, but there’s probably not enough to go around. These stoves, are fuelled by dried Yak dung and is vented ok, so that the room doesn’t fill up with smoke.

And this is how the map trail looked like