Day 5: Tengboche to Pangboche + Ama Dablam Base Camp

Approximate Trek Time: 1 hr. to Pangboche; 4 hr. Ama Dablam BC (return)

Distance: 13.5k / 8.4 miles

Overnight Elevation: 3860m / 12,664ft

We were awoken at daybreak by the sound of horns from the monastery. The sounds were sometimes higher pitched, like trumpets, and others very low-pitched, like those from a French horn or tuba – or, as I’d imagined, that very long horn the man in the Ricola commercials plays… something from the Swiss Alps. What they actually looked like, we don’t know since we could only hear them but not see them.

We rose, packed, ate a quick breakfast, and were on the trail toward Pangboche just after 7am. While we had originally planned to spend a second acclimatization day in Tengboche, after looking at the map, we noticed that Pangboche was situated at around the same altitude and we could make the side-trip to Ama Dablam Base Camp from there in an easy half-day trip, staying the night in Pangboche for the same recommended acclimatization. Since it was currently climbing season for Ama Dablam, the base camp would be active with a small town of tents and climbers (unlike Everest Base Camp), which would be exciting to see, and the trip would also aid in acclimatization (climb high, sleep low).

The hike from Tengboche to Pangboche was only around an hour, and the first section of trail was among my favorite. While mountain views were few (at least for the first half hour), the trail and surrounding foliage were beautiful. Rhododendrons covered the hillsides, shading the trail with an archway of branches. Everywhere, bright green moss carpeted the forest floor, covering the base of the trees and rocks and stones along the path. Mosses, lichens, and small grasses grew on the rocks and mani wall stones, adding to the old and sacred appearance of the tablets.

Descending from Pangboche through this beauty, the trail passed by a long mani wall near the Debuche Nunnery, hidden back among the trees. Continuing further along the rocky trail, trees suddenly dripped with Spanish moss, completing the atmosphere of a magical enchanted forest.

Eventually, the trail emerged from the trees, becoming dry and sandy, following along the Imja Khola (river), where a ruined metal bridge clung along the dusty slope to the river. Just down the trail, another bridge – first logs, then metal – crossed the river to a steep climb of switchbacks. Here, we unknowingly started up the dangerous shortcut that our guidebook advised us not to take. While the majority of the path was fine, the shortcut included two VERY airy ledges. One wrong step and we’d have been over the mountainside. On the second of the ledges, I removed my gloves to have a better grip against the rocks around the narrow jutted corner. We recommend not traversing anything that looks even remotely like a shortcut on the hike from Tengboche to Pangboche. Hint: you always know a shortcut is a bad idea if the porters are not taking it. Generally, they can handle and will take nearly any shortcut possible, and they were NOT taking this one.

Just up the path from the second ledge, the shortcut rejoined the main trail. Here, the safe wide trail followed uphill along the mountainside up rocky steps and gradual ascents, past small chortens, stupas, and mani walls. A large stone staircase led to the entrance kani for Pangboche, though beyond this the trail continued along further, past a slope where large yaks grazed on grasses, before entering the lower part of the village.

In Pangboche (3860m/12,660ft.), we quickly found a guesthouse for the night, The Highland Sherpa Resort, where we unloaded our packs and began our trip to Ama Dablam Base Camp.

Ama Dablam Base Camp…

The trail toward Ama Dablam Base Camp veers off from the main trail through the village at the far end of Pangboche near Sonam Lodge. Here, we descended a dusty path to a metal bridge over the Dudh Kosi.

Beyond the river, the trail made a very steep ascent through loose sandy switchbacks, which already had me worried for the downhill return. Loose sand and rock slid under my feet with each step. Though steep and slippy, at the very least this section was relatively short, emerging upon a large rock-strewn meadow. From here, we hiked up a boulder-strewn hillside, where a myriad of loosely defined trails allowed trekkers to choose their own path to the top of the hillside.

At the top of the spine, a number of trails lead along the ridge to the north/northeast, all heading in the same direction at different levels along the slope. To the other side of the ridge was a deep valley, the thin Cholungche Khola River thundering through the rocky terrain below. The opposite side of the valley was a steep eroded slope of sand, gravel, and rock, and we could hear rocks tumbling down the slope from where we stood. Continuing along the narrow ridge trail, we rounded up, over, and around small slopes toward Ama Dablam. Many sections of the trail had fine silty sand, like beach sand, a reminder that this entire region had been under water thousands of years ago.

The views along the route toward the base camp were spectacular. Taboche loomed like a massive giant to the west. The peak of Pumori poked out above the landscape far to the north, where it straddles the border of Nepal and Tibet. Mt. Everest and Lhotse continued to be in view, as well as Island Peak off to the east, and of course Ama Dablam, growing more and more prominent in front of us with each step we took.

As the terrain leveled out in our approach toward the base camp, the Cholungche Khola trickled along the trail, some portions around the rocks clinging to crusts of ice, melting in the sun. Much of the land along this portion was choppy, with large gaps between chunks of earth caused by the continual freeze-thaw cycles of the stream.

Finally, we climbed over a last set of rocks to the view of base camp. Ama Dablam Base Camp (4580m/15,022ft.) sits in a flat meadow right at the base of the mountain, which towers above at a height of 6,856m (22,282ft), its eastern face one of the most unique and easily identifiable peaks of the mountainous landscape. Likely over 100 tents, both small and large, were set up in groups of the many mountaineering expeditions that were tackling the summit this year. The colors of the bright yellow and orange tents popped out on the landscape of short, dull green grass and the gray rocky base of Ama Dablam.

We wandered through the camp, relaxing in the grass near the base of the mountain for awhile and admiring the amazing peaks all around us. A complete 360° view of Himalayan peaks, the Ama Dablam Base Camp was an amphitheater to the mountain gods. Eventually we pulled ourselves away from the majestic views and made our way back toward Pangboche to relax for the rest of the afternoon.

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