Day 8: Acclimatisation at Pangboche.

The itinerary told me that this was an acclimatisation/rest day, so what do we do? we take the arduous 7 hour trek to Ama Dablam base camp and back! Well at least Mo and I do, quite understandably Joy & Dave decide that a rest day should be just that.
The first hour was down to the Imja Drangka river on what can only be described as a ledge. It was either rock or earth that was barely a boot width - sometimes less than that. It definitely got my heart racing. 

Across the river and a slow climb took us above the tree line and onto moorland. Each turn giving more amazing views, just breathtaking.

After the moorland we walked (stumbled) across snow covered rocks and by the time we reached the site of the base camp, much of the landscape was covered in snow. Unfortunately the camp was deserted and I can't blame anyone for not wanting to climb in this weather

Ama Dablam is a 22,349ft/6,812m mountain and is a very technical climb. Since 2008 approx 1,900 have summited with 19 fatalities. 

Prem, Pasang and Son Kumar had brought everything we needed for lunch, so we spread out and had a picnic of cold toasted cheese sandwiches, hard boiled eggs, nut cake and black tea - under the circumstances, it was delicious!
On the way back Prem and Pasang stopped to gather juniper tips for incense burning. Apparently you can only find this particular type of juniper above 13,000ft/4,000m.