Day 4

Phakding - Monjo

We had decided to take the first part of the trek slowly in order to give the students as much time to acclimatize as possible, so today we walked the two easy hours to Monjo and then took lunch.

After a long rest we set off in light rain for a walk up the hill. There is a saying amongst mountaineers "climb high, sleep low". It is possible that this helps with the process of acclimatization. 505 hard vertical meteres later we climbed out of the tree line and into the clouds. Briefly these parted and revealed a distant view of Namche Bazaar which actually looked lower down the mountain. As the kids had made this climb fairly easily, it gave them quite a boost to their coinfidence. The descent was quite tough though, with the older members of the team suffering from painful knees by the end.

It is remarkable how much energy the students have. Whilst they chatted and played cards, I went to sleep in a corner.

Namche Bazaar tomorrow. When we have got there, I will really feel as though the expedition is under way.