Another pleasant day in the Khumbu. We moved up to 14,250′ today. This is only a few hundred feet below the highest mountain in the contiguous 48. Many are beginning to see the first effects of altitude. Most of us have, by now, had our “Welcome to the Khumbu Gift Package” of intestinal maladies. These are all very fit people and we are moving at a very slow pace but we are approaching the limits of what is normal human habitation. Until climbing and trekking became big in the Everest region no one lived above Tengbouche at 12,500. They came higher each summer to farm and graze cattle but for no more than a few months. Even now the government requires these people to leave the area periodically. Each year the families rotate who will stay in the village and keep an eye on things while everyone else is lower. In most cases the children go lower to boarding schools for most of the year. This is a harsh but beautiful environment. Everest is now hidden by Lhoste (the fourth highest peak I believe) but we are surrounded by mountains that are higher than anything in North America and don’t even merit a name in Nepal.