EVEREST WITH ELVIS: NAMCHE

At Namche (3,450m) I bumped into a friend who ran an Irish pub and Elvis spent most of his time admiring the bottles. But I can vouch for the fact he didn't drink a drop!

You have to sleep at least two nights in Namche to acclimatise to the altitude, so Elvis sometimes left the pub to climb up the ridge for exercise.

It's a steep climb above Namche but not too much trouble for Elvis.

EVEREST WITH ELVIS: LUKLA

A helicopter takes off the feared Lukla runway as Elvis arrives the the airport village (2,850m), a week into the trek. 

EVEREST WITH ELVIS: UP, DOWN, UP...

Elvis and a friend in Bandhar. Bits of the trek reminded me of the English countryside.

A few days into the trek and we got our first view of Mt. Everest (the black peak half hidden on the far left of the snow peaks).

We trekked across hill ranges, which meant we had to cross a few passes along the way. Of these the Lamjura Pass (3,500 metres) is the highest, we had to ascend more than 1,000 metres to cross the pass and descend as much to reach the next village after the pass. According to a guidebook, by the time you walk from Jiri to Namche Bazaar, you will have ascended almost exactly the height of Mount Everest (8,850 metres)!

Elvis strikes a pose at yet another pass, this time literally the gateway to the Solo Khumbu area.

Elvis has now crossed most of the passes of the lower half of the trek and will walk along either side of the Dhudh Koshi River (seen in this image) until he reaches Namche.

EVEREST WITH ELVIS: THE LOWER HALF

We started the trek from Jiri (1900 metres) and walked along and across lush green hills and picturesque villages. The weather was hot during the day and cool in the night, generally t-shirt weather on the trail.

Rural Nepal, with family-owned lodges served us dhal-bhat tarkari, the main fuel for the challenging and endless uphills and downhills.

Elvis took great care to ensure the colours of his trekking wardrobe blended with nature.

Usually lunch-break happened against the most breathtaking backdrops, and each day brought us closer to the snow-peaks.