Namche

From Larry:  Fixed lines, oxygen bottles and upper mountain won't be ready for our team for at least a few days. So we decided to seek thicker air at Namche Bazaar to recover before our summit bid. Wild heli ride down here. But rewarded by pizza! We'll likely stay here 2-3 days. Looking to head back up to C2 on May 10 or 11, pending logistical readiness.

Following the creed of Anatoli 'touch grass before summit.'

Climb on!

My friends who have been to Namche describe it as the nicest village along the trail.  It has the nicest teahouses of anywhere, a couple of restaurants, tons of shops, a massage place, bakery, barber, coffeehouse, even a bar, etc--and it has great Wi-Fi.  I think it was a major boost for the guys to be here.  Dave said the air is much thicker and they each have their own room and bathroom.  I asked about acclimitization because this village is a about 11,000 feet and they said they were already acclimated.  Larry described it on his FB post after someone had asked the same question:

Excellent (and somewhat controversial!) question. This is my first experience with this approach, but after weeks above 17k, the 'touch grass before summit' philosophy has become increasingly popular in recent years. As we were flying down, a British group was headed back to EBC after having spent 5 days down low. They're headed for summit in the coming days and were very happy with how they were feeling. Proponents argue that once appropriately acclimated, descending allows the body to heal and adequately rest prior to summit push. This probably comes at a small cost of acclimatization, but I do believe the benefits outweigh the risks. I've seen in sled dogs that short bursts of intense training followed by some planned rest maximizes performance as microinjuries that the musher never sees can heal up before a big race.

Anyway, time will tell if we made the right call, but I think it was the best decision as we would have been waiting 4-5 days at base camp for fixed lines and O2 to be in place. We're feeling really good here, much more active and eating well, etc.

They are with Lhakpa and he thinks it was a good idea, so let's hope this stay gives them the needed rest and recovery to have a successful summit.  I was able to talk to Dave and video chat for longer than 20 seconds so that was pretty great.  Pray for good weather and good health!