Himalayan Travelogue Part 11 – In the land of Na and Gokyo

The morning was spent making the trek back down from Dingboche to Phortse, retracing our steps once again to meet up with my little beard pulling friend.  A nice night back in Phortse but the lodge is crowded, the snow has created some log jams both going up and coming down the trails.  Being at a lower altitude feels amazing especially when just days before this was the thin air we were getting used to.

The next morning we said goodbye to one of our group who was sick and would be heading down to Namche and then the rest of us hit the trail moving up again.  The trail to Na was by far my most difficult trail of the entire trek.  I don’t like exposed trails, I mentioned that earlier, and on the trail to Na we spent a very large portion of our seven hours of walking on the edge of about a 1000 foot drop off, with the trail winding out around outcroppings and the conversation for most of the day unfortunately centering on the guy who disappeared on this trail the year before.  The physical part of the walk was not an issue, it was the mental drain of having to focus so intensely on where to put foot after foot after foot.  By the time we reached the river drainage that led up to the lodge at Na I was spent, the last half hour was a long slow slog.  The high point of the day as well as the most embarrassing moment was watching a 50-something grandmother come up over mountain trails carrying her 4-year-old grandson and moving at least as fast as I was, it put things into perspective.

The lodge at Na was a bit of a throwback to old trekking days, the outhouse was well outside of the lodge and a good distance away, the Yak dung stove smoked up the lodge and the rooms were chilly and our Yaks were huddled up against the wall under our window.  However like the rest of the region it was beautiful, the shot below is the trail coming up the valley:

Trail to Na

We lit out of Na, across the river and started upward again toward the Gokyo Valley, saw what were quite possibly snow leopard prints in the snow, very cool.  We took a rest stop at the entrance to the Gokyo Valley on a little bridge over a raging river.  I had been looking forward to seeing the valley, there are five sacred lakes in the Gokyo Valley and we quickly came upon the first.  It looked  a bit like a damned up wide spot in the river but was absolutely beautiful set against the snow.  A little further up the valley we came to the second lake and it was magnificent, the lake is long and over a 100 feet deep.  Looking back down the valley from the head of the lake and my favorite peak was gleaming in the sun, this instantly became my favorite spot in Nepal.

My favorite spot in the Himalayas

We spent a little time resting by the shore of the lake and then made our way up to Gokyo and the third lake.  The first view of Gokyo (15,700 ft) was awesome:

Village of Gokyo

The third lake was like a small Lake Tahoe set in the Himalayas, the lodge we were staying at sat up over it with a magnificent view and had attached with it the outhouse with the best view in the world:

Outhouse with the best view in the world

The lakes as I mentioned were sacred lakes so there is no one on or in the lake in any way.  The lakes remain perfect and calm framed against the snow-covered shores of Gokyo Ri (17,585) and in the shadow of Cho Oyu one of the world’s highest mountains at 26,900 feet and pictured below:

Cho Oyu - 26,906 ft

We had a rest day in Gokyo and I spent the day shooting, here’s a sampling enjoy:

Rock piles on the shore of first Gokyo Lake

 

Gokyo first lake

 

Gokyo Lake Reflection 1

Gokyo Lake Mani Wall

 

Gokyo Lake Reflection 2

 

Gokyo Lake Reflection 3

Himalayan Travelogue Part 7 – Higher than I’ve ever been

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.  ~Lao Tzu

We headed out of Namche on what passes for flat in the Himalayas, this then led to a climb, a very long climb up to Mong La on the top of a mountain for lunch (12,795 ft) this was the highest elevation I’d ever achieved and it felt great.  I needed the rest at that point and we had a leisurely lunch.  Then it was down, down, down to the river and then up a really magnificent hill to Phortse at 12,400 ft and a really great lodge.  My favorite part of the lodge was the owner’s grandson who was a bit of an urchin and who was utterly fascinated by my beard which he proceeded to try and pull off of my face. 

Himalayan Beard Pull - photo credit Mark Laws

Also had my first experience with an Asian squat toilet, they’re hell on the legs, must be one of the reasons the locals have such strong legs.

Asian Squat Toilet

The next morning I made the mistake of running up the stairs and suddenly felt lightheaded, so I grabbed my pack and went outside to try and get my breath back and feel a bit better.  About 10 minutes later one of our guides, Lhakpa, comes jogging around the back of the lodge to get me, the group was already well up the mountain ahead of us.  The adrenaline burst took my mind off how I felt and I slowly climbed my way back to the group.

We spent the rest of the day on exposed trails heading to Pangboche, a really difficult day hiking for me as I started out feeling off and running late.  Plus exposed trails really wear me out mentally, not to mention that we ended the day at Pangboche (13,040 ft), and during the day on the hike we hit (13,500 ft)  my new highest point, a recurring theme for the next couple of weeks.

We’ve been passing a peak from different angles over the last couple of days and it is quickly becoming my favorite, it’s called, Khan Tiega and it is pictured below:

Khan Tiega in the Mist

Took a very cold shower in Pangboche and then walked out to take some shots of some truly magnificent vistas behind the lodge, an example below.

 

We would be doing an acclimatization day in Pangboche and the optional hike was to go to base camp for Ama Dablam, the mountain shown below.  The peak of Ama Dablam is over 22,000 ft and features a huge ice climb.

Ama Dablam

Upper base camp at Ama Dablam which we visited is at 14,800 ft, which is higher than any mountain in the continental United States, so I decided to go and here I was only a few days into my Himalayan experience standing at a point higher than anything in the continental US.  It was an accomplishment that hit me at the time, one I was proud of and also hit me because I was feeling the effects of the altitude and was happy to drop back down the 1500 ft back to Pangboche.

My actual notes for the day:

“It was cool to see base camp at Ama Dablam today with all of the tents set up.  Walking through the valleys it was amazing clouds, snow and 6-8000 meter peaks (20-26,000 ft) and so quiet, except for the sound of the occasional far off avalanche.”