Travel

Today we got up very early again to head for the Chu pass at 4am. We had a nice nearly full moon which shined through the fog we had to go through. Once we went above the cloud we had a stunning view on the cloud-filled valley where our lodge was.

The first part we went in darkness or without sun so it was pretty chilly. We arrived at a nice spot with great views and sunshine so we could rest and eat something.

There we also saw what was about to come upon us: A steep field of gravel and big rocks leading up to the pass.

After endless climbing over rocks we finally arrived on the pass at 5420 m (17780 ft). We had a good view on a nice glacier (this time without rocks and gravel) and a tiny glimpse on Mount Everest!

Going down was a little bit easier but also not really easy. We had to cross a big ice field which was beginning to melt in the sun. Some people got wet shoes…
And finally we arrived at our new lodge (Mountain View Lodge) at 4830 m (15850 ft) which is the most basic lodge we had so fare.

The hike was announced as not so long and hard as the last one. It turned out that it was technically quiet challenging. We had to climb steep rock fields and cross ice fields – nothing for beginners. So for me it was the most exhausting day in my life (again).

Today we had a very short hike of 3 hours to recover a bit from last day’s strain and to prepare for another pass which we will do tomorrow.
After taking a look at a nice view of a snow covered mountain we headed to the glacier.

The glacier did not look like you would probably expect. No huge blue surface but a flow of rocks, sand and dust. Just on a few spots you can see the ice. But also no bright blue. I tweaked my photos a little bit to point out where these spots are. The Ngozumba glacier is 32 km long (22 mi) and thus is the largest glacier of the Himalayas.
 

It needs a good deal of going up and down over rocks and stones to cross that glacier. It was also kind of odd to know that you are walking on a moving surface (Although the speed is pretty slow)

At the end a yellow flag indicated that we arrived at Chola Pass Resort.

This day was the most exhausting day in my whole life. We started from Lungden at 4300 m (14100 ft) and climbed up to 5350 m (17550 ft) with some steep passages. Especially at the end we had a lot of steps and every one of it was pain. Breathe in – take the step – take a short break and repeat.
Up on the pass I just had enough energy and endorphines to make a happy dance (the song from Pharrel Williams). With some fellow sherpas, porters and trekers joining in. No picture of this though 🙁
The attraction of this pass is that you might be able to see mount Everest. However it was hidden behind a big cloud (down at one of the photos it is the mountain range on the left third of the picture)
Then Jon started his helicopter drone again and took some aerial footage around the pass. Again no photos of this from me because my energy level was near zero at that time.
After a very challenging descent through rocks and gravel where several of us fell down we finally arrived at Gokyo at 4800 m (15750 ft). And finally the lodge we entered has electric power to recharge our devices and internet. So I could send all the posts I had prepared from the last days (scroll further down to see them)
Here are some impressions from this day:

 
 

Since we have a hard day coming up we could just hang around and do whatever we like.
Of course there are the numerous yaks. There was a dog which had a lot of fun chasing and mocking the yaks.

Yaks are very important in this region for multiple purposes: Transportation, Cheese and dried yak dung for heating. Every evening the yaks come from the hils to their home to get som food and deliver there dung. Below you can see how the dung is dried and then collected and piled up.

Another highlight of this day was the test flight of Jon’s quadcopter (helicopter drone with 4 rotors) which can be equiped with a camera.
 

This day we went on a very pleasant trek through the Marlung valley. We had stupas, yaks and beautiful sceneries. We even came across a street sign 😉


 
 

We started of in the morning at 7am from Namche. Some children watched our departure from above.

On our way to Thame we passed the most scenic excercise pit you can possibly imagine. Also along our track there are once in a while very stylish rubbish bins made out of wood. Here we found one made entirely out of plastic bottles filled with sand.
 

At lunch everybody was really tired…

Finally we arrived at Thame around 3pm.

Today we did some resting and acclimation. We could have a late breakfast at nine :). After that we made a ‘short’ trip to gain 400m up to the Everest View hotel at 3880m. It had wonderfull views to high mountains. Unfortunately the Everest hid himself behind clouds.
In the afternoon we did some last minute shopping (buffs against the dust on the way, some medicine and some money exchange)
 
 

A lot happened since the last post but I had no internet connection until now. So let me summarize up:

Wednesday, May 7th

We should have flown to Lukla on that day but the wheather on the way and in Lukla was against it. So we spent half a day at the airport waiting. There have even been speculations that we might get there by helicopters. Then suddenly all went very fast and we were rushed into the airport bus to the plane. We took off in that tiny plane and after we approached Lukla at a distance of 20km the pilot turned around because there was a big wall of clouds and rain.

So back to town and another hotel. After dinner we decided to go back to the big stupa and go around turning every prayer wheel on the way to ask for good weather the next day.

Thursday, May 8th

Our prayers have been heard and we finally managed to get to Lukla!

On our first and rather short walk of 4 hours we encountered the transportation specialists of this mountain region. The first specialist is the porter. And the second picture below shows a kind of ‘truck stop parking lot’ where the porters put their load before the enter a small snack bar.
 

The second transportation specialist are the Zopkyo (pronounced ‘Jopkyu’) which are hybrids of Yak and Cattle.

Then we arrived at our first lodge which was rather luxurious for mountain standards. It even had hot shower.

Friday, May 9th

Today was one of our hardest trips where we gained at least 800m and most of the track were step steps. At the beginning it was still rather flat and we passed a lot of mani stones and prayer wheels which we always turned to keep our karma high 🙂

One of the highlights have been the suspension bridges which crossed rivers: