Pangboche and Tengboche

With some of us still weak we hiked the relatively short distance to Upper Pangboche. We stayed at the lodge where we had stopped for lunch 4 days earlier, just above the Pangboche Gompa, the oldest monastery in Khumbu, founded by Lam a Sange Dorje in the 17th century. We visited it and saw wonderful murals, statues, and Buddhist dance masks.

Early the next morning I backtracked a bit to get some photos of Upper and Lower Pangboche including this one of some of the wonderful stone walls in this area.

From Pangboche it was yet another down and up, to cross the Imja Drengka Khola (river), to reach our destination for the night, Tengboche with arguably the most famous Buddhist monastery in Khumbu. Our lodge afforded nice views of Everest and Ama Dablam. Late afternoon, Stephen and I hiked up the ridgeline above Tengboche and got some nice photos of mountains with sun coming through clouds. A panorama I created during this excursion is below. In the distance above and behind Stephen you can see a faint line that was our trail from Khumjung to Phortse a week earlier. Also to the left of the monastery in the distance you might be able to make out the field of Pangboche.

After ordering breakfast but before eating it (meals take a while at these lodges), Chhongba, Stephen, and I hiked along another ridge to get a view of the Tengboche Monastery. In the center is Ama Dablam with Everest peaking over Lhotse to the left. Near the top left of this photo you can find the trail we took from Phortse to Dingboche six days earlier.