Just beyond the serenity of Tok Tok and the gateway to new discoveries of the gateway to the Sagarmatha National Park at Monjo is the base of the gruelling Namche hill. Of course a hike through the Khumbu region is made of countless steep rises and drops over rocky trails overlooking the wide river valleys and dwarfed by magnificent Himalayan peaks. The scrambling up and down over the mossy boulders and the rolling up and down to sides of the valley will only be a mild conditioning exercise leading up to the muscle searing climb from the river at the base of the hill to the village of Namche. This is not a remote and neglected trail, as it is perhaps one of the most heavily traveled trails in the region. Namche is the center of economic trading activity, where merchants and shoppers converge once a week for a bustling and overcrowded market on a terraced bazaar. Hardworking and entrepreneurial merchants from many miles and many days’ hiking around will converge and overcome the agony of the Namche Hill packing 50 to 70 kilos on their backs and strapped down upon panting pack animals to bring canned goods and fresh vegetables for the weekly trade. Namche is also the marshalling point for many treks and expeditions leading higher into the mountain terrain, and there any many gear shops and comfortable lodges to welcome them in to charge up for greater adventures.

No one attains these opportunities without first overcomes the steep gain of over 1,500 feet, seemingly endless and literally up into the gathering fog clouds that form early each day around the village. The hill begins as a sharp twist off of a bridge and up around a tight turn up steep steps. The incline never takes a gradual rise, especially from the start. Right away it is a taunting sense to stop and let your ragged body tumble back down the trail. Perhaps you had enough adrenaline charged up in your legs for the first few hundred feet of rise, but the take soon becomes menacingly daunting and the urge of your boots to slip back down in tenacious. Even the most celebrated expeditionists in the Himalayas have felt discouragement and frustration at taking on the Namche Hill at a single dash. It is a dose of reality as a casual hiker to face this hill and imagine that the weeks ahead might reflect many such challenges as this.

Just hope that you don’t face this hill in inclement weather as the rain and mud cascade down the trail to wash you away, or if powdery snow has piled up to give you no certain foothold. The one uplifting waypoint on the steep hill is the first clear view of Mt. Everest, still at a distance and often shrouded in dense clouds, but this rest stop at about half way up still gives hope and renewed vigor to reach the day’s goal. It’s a decent place to stop for a lunch of chapati and nak cheese, and it’s your last chance to roll over the quetion in your mind why did you volunteer, even pay good money, to come out and induce such suffering on yourself. Hours later you’ll thank the end of the trail as you see the first lodges selling snacks and you see the colorful rooftops and the grand Buddhist stupa at the base of the village. At just about 12,000 feet the top of the Namche hill is still a low point on your hiking chart, but it’s a point of elevation you’ll still regard with a high price of your effort.