It's bloody cold each night as I crawl into my sleeping bag. The need to pee mid-night is an unbearable thought and requires motivation. Right now, I'm feeling like a rag doll. I think its the combination of the continued high altitude, the Cho La pass that shattered me and a looming sickness that i fear will soon attack.
On Day 74, I only walked 2 hours from Thagnag to Gokyo and I was struggling in my head. I was comotose in the lodge all day.
On Day 75, we hiked to the furthest Gokyo lakes (#4 and #5), even though they were frozen. They are normally icy blue. It was not significantly hilly but we were still in 4790 meter altitude and the snow was deep in parts. I used my hiking pole to test the snows deepness, but a few times I fell knee deep and our guide once sunk to his hips! (Photo on camera).
But what was amazing about today's hike was the pure silence. I sat in the snow staring at a glacier and the snowy mountains around me and I did not even here a bird chirping.
On the way back from the lakes, the wind picked up freezing my cheeks. It took us 2 hours and 40 minutes to walk there and we raced back in 2 hours. I know I planned to be vegetarian on the mountain but everyone was eating yak and fries and I could not resist. Yak....I guess it tastes like a cow? Definitely a change from Dahl baht. (Picture on camera)
On Day 76, our goal was to hike up Gokyo Ri (5360 meters - less than Kala Patthar) at sunrise, but the weather was crap so we slowly made it out the door. I dragged every step up that steep mountain. I struggled to get a full breath - A combo of the altitude and my impending sickness. But I made it to the top for my completely obscured view. That 2 hour and 30 minute hike was the most brutal day yet.
On Day 77, we passed the only unfrozen lake but its so small that it does not sparkle icy blue like the others. But as you can see, its still pretty stunning.
NEXT STOP: Making my way down the mountain
On Day 74, I only walked 2 hours from Thagnag to Gokyo and I was struggling in my head. I was comotose in the lodge all day.
On Day 75, we hiked to the furthest Gokyo lakes (#4 and #5), even though they were frozen. They are normally icy blue. It was not significantly hilly but we were still in 4790 meter altitude and the snow was deep in parts. I used my hiking pole to test the snows deepness, but a few times I fell knee deep and our guide once sunk to his hips! (Photo on camera).
But what was amazing about today's hike was the pure silence. I sat in the snow staring at a glacier and the snowy mountains around me and I did not even here a bird chirping.
On Day 76, our goal was to hike up Gokyo Ri (5360 meters - less than Kala Patthar) at sunrise, but the weather was crap so we slowly made it out the door. I dragged every step up that steep mountain. I struggled to get a full breath - A combo of the altitude and my impending sickness. But I made it to the top for my completely obscured view. That 2 hour and 30 minute hike was the most brutal day yet.
On Day 77, we passed the only unfrozen lake but its so small that it does not sparkle icy blue like the others. But as you can see, its still pretty stunning.
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