After breakfast, the three of us (John, Frank and I) set of with the porters for the steep drop into the Khumbu valley and our next camp at Lobouche village. This walk was also a struggle for me, so if I had continued to the summit I would have been in real trouble making it to the next camp.  

 Although we had a rest day planned, there was for those with sufficient energy after Lobouche East, an option to climb Kala Patar.  Feeling better, I opted for Kala Patar and set off after breakfast with the others.  The remaining were going to start out later and meet us at Gorak Shep, below Kala Patar, for lunch.   A glorious day for walking up the valley, with us following the route along the Khumbu Glacier, with superb views of the surrounding mountains.  The route was fiarly easy, although there was a couple of steep sections crossing moraine, which with the thin air made it a little tiring!  We eventually arrived at Gorak Shep, where we stopped for hot juice and snacks.  It had taken a couple of hours, so the break was welcome before the final ascent to kala Patar summit. After the relaxing break, we continued up the steep path to Kala Patar’s higher summit of the two, with Everest Base Camp below.  Stunning views of Everest across the valley, although cloud had started to form as we neared the summit. Still good photo opportunity though of Everest and the base camp below.  Anyway, after a short while on the summit, we head back along the ridge in the direction of Gorak Shep to the lower summit.  More photos, then the long  drop back down to Gorak Shep. We stopped for lunch in a lodge, where we met up with the others, then retraced our route back to the camp for a relaxing evening to recover from the long day’s outing.

The time arrived for the next stage, heading over to Pokalde base camp.  We set off south before turning to cross the Khumbu Glacier, leading us to the base of the Kongma La pass (5400m.). Another steep ascent to the pass, with the latter stages through deep snow. Our campsite was a short distance below the pass, on the Imja Valley side, alongside a frozen lake and below Pokalde. Some snow on our arrival, but it started to snow not long after our arrival, which made sure our tents had a bit of a covering by that evening.