An awesome day trekking from Gokyo to Phortse today. We deliberately set off early and were rewarded not only with amazing views and a quiet trail but also crisp snow which made for easy progress underfoot.

We followed the main route down towards Machermo and then crossed to the East side of the valley where it becomes a much quieter and less trod route. Having said that we saw a total of 12 trekkers throughout the day – the busiest I’ve ever known it!

The route meanders in and out of valleys and up and over shoulders so, despite dropping about 600m elevation, it is still a full on day.

We’ve met up with John (aka my Dad) again, who trekked here from Machermo, and we have all just had some hot orange and enjoyed some doughnuts that we’re very kindly given to me by my friends at Gokyo as I left this morning.

We are now poised to venture around the corner to Pangboche tomorrow where we will join the main Khumbu trail for a few days. After a rest at Dingboche we will spend 3 nights under canvas going up and over the Kongma La before dropping down to Lobuche and thence on to EBC where we will arrive on the 18th April.

It sounds like the route through The Khumbu Icefall has been fixed all the way to C2 which is great news. The fact that we are out of the way for the time being is no bad thing so that our Sirdar, Kame, and the Climbing Sherpas can concentrate on the business of getting logistics sorted on the hill.

Very much looking forward to working with the guys again and introducing them to my trusty group.

Photos to follow.