By this point trekking at high altitude in such a remote part of the world, you quickly learn to adjust and cope with the little annoyances that you experience. For example, as mentioned earlier in my blog series, there is no hot water for showers and you wash by baby wipes. This presents a unique challenge in the mornings, having spent the night in subzero temperatures. The wipes are blooming cold!
To get around this, you sleep with them in your sleeping bag. This is also the same for batteries, as the cold affects their ability to hold a charge. Things you take for granted at home are a luxury here. Something as simple as a Mars bar, is divine; a pure bit of joy I would not trade for the world.
It is also interesting and amusing how people react to being stripped back to a basic lifestyle. While sat in the common room enjoying the warmth from the morning sun before breakfast, there was another guest at the teahouse (not part our group), complaining to the proprietor about the room she had been allocated.
She kept on comparing the teahouse to hotels back home, she even dropped the most cringe sentence ever “This would be unacceptable in western society”. She continued rabbiting on about how the marathon runners would be spoiling the tranquility of the walk. I felt embarrassed from the other side of the room and I wasn’t even part of the conversation! No self-awareness at all; she certainly hadn’t done her homework on the trip and clearly needed bringing back to reality!
From Gokyo, we would make our way to the Khumbu Valley. This meant crossing the Ngozumba Glacier to reach the beginning to the Cho La Pass. News had reached us that due to flooding, the main route through the glacier was inaccessible resulting in a diversion. We had a briefing from Rajesh, which was unusual as we hadn’t had one like this until today.
He stressed that the route would be dangerous and that we would need to keep a fast pace to cross the glacier due its instability. He added that there is a risk that the temporary path may move, even while we are crossing it!
We climbed up to the moraine that marked the edge of the glacier. The sight was menacing. Rocks tumbled down mercilessly below. You could hear them thundering around us. Large boulders clung precariously along the edges and the path through only visible by the little hastily constructed cairns marking the route.
We made our way reaching the centre of the glacier to the sound of the rumbling, crunching ice below our feet. Loose rocks covered the terrain making it treacherous underfoot as we raced forward. If it wasn’t for my trekking poles, I would have been on my back several times! We arrived at a small glacial lake in the middle of the glacier where we stopped for a short break.
You could see the huge moraine on the opposite side from here. Gigantic rocks overhung it erratically, where every now and then, one would tumble down. As a yak train sped past us, we moved on. Rounding a huge rock we came to a stop, the path had changed in a matter of minutes and the cairn stones had been swept away.
Ram (one of the guides) took point, leading our group through this now uncharted territory. We kept the hard pace that strained our lungs and with a sigh of relief, we soon caught sight of the cairn stones. Before long we were scrambling out of the glacier joining the path to ‘Dragnag’, the end point for the day.
From here it was easy going. I looked back at the barren, lifeless, grey expanse we had just traversed. From this vantage point, it looked like nothing, but it demanded our utmost respect. The adrenaline was still kicking and I felt alive, I carried on with a giddy smile.
We reached Dragnag (4700m) at the mouth of the Cho La Pass in the mid afternoon. I checked my map to see what the following day would bring. It showed a very sharp ascent to over 5000m, with warnings of falling rocks, crevasses and in bold “Keep Left”. Looking up the gulley to the pass was daunting, but knowing I had conquered Gokyo Ri, I knew I could also conquer this challenge.
After some sunbathing on the patio to the teahouse, I was feeling lethargic prompting me to go for a siesta. One effect the altitude has had on me, is that I had been having very surreal and vivid dreams. Thus far, I have had one where I was hiking in my sleeping bag, one where I was investigating a murder while being taunted over the phone by the murderer and on this occasion, I dreamt I was David Tennant in Dr Who battling aliens that had toilet rolls for eyes!
To ensure I would have more crazy dreams, at dinner I added extra grated cheese to my spaghetti bolognese. We all sat in the common room playing cards for the evening; Ron showed us a game that was a cross between bridge and poker. We all named ‘Ron’s Game’. After now spending a week together, the whole group had bonded. It felt like we had known each other for years, not just for 8 days.
Stu's Camino 