Life of Wry

Trip Day #14, Trek Day #8

On our way from Gokyo to Thaknak today.  Sometimes Thaknak is called Tagnag, sometimes Dragnag, all of which has to do with language translation.  Makes research and route finding a little challenging.  Though, in our case, we were in the able hands of our guides, so not an issue.

Slept in a bit after our big climb yesterday and looked forward to an easy day today.  Tea came at 7:30, we went to breakfast at 8:30 and had a planned departure of 9:30. Today’s hike was to be short–about 2.7 miles–and would take a leisurely 2 1/2 hours.  We had only to climb out of Gokyo village to a ridge, pick a route through the Ngozumpa Glacier to the mountain on the other side, traverse along the edge of that mountain, then meander into Thaknak.  We were looking forward to a short hiking day with a long afternoon of rest in preparation for three huge days of major hiking and elevation gain to come.

So. Breakfast was my favorite–a fried egg on toast and tea.  I put peanut butter on the other piece of toast.  Across the table, Karen’s having a bowl of oatmeal and Laura’s having a scrambled egg.

Here’s the view out the window, looking north. That’s Cho Oyu dead ahead (6th largest mountain in world at 26,864′). We talked to many people who’d climbed it. Yaks are kept in the yard below.  Gokyo Ri, the 17,585′ peak that kicked our butts the day before, is mostly out of sight just to the left.  It’s well below freezing out there but it’s a mostly sunny morning:

Here’s a nice shot Karen took as we climbed a muddy, steep hill and reached the top of the ridge. I have to say, my legs were really tired from the day before.  I also hiked most of the day with a headache.  I was usually able to knock my headaches out with two tylenol and two ibuprofens, my usual headache remedy, but for some reason, I didn’t take that this day. Bummer. In any case, even at 15,700 feet, no real altitude issues.

Hiking through the remnants of the Ngozumpa Glacier was interesting, not at all what I’d expected.  It was sandy, rocky, gravelly, a lot of ups and downs.  We followed cairns throughout, and the rough semblance of a trail.  But the trail has moved over the years as the glacier’s receded.

Here it is on the map. We started on the west side in Gokyo, adjacent to the Dudh Pokhari (third lake), and traveled southeast to Dragnag (it’s called on this map). You can see the marked trail (black dotted line), and the route we were able to take because the ice was gone (red line that I added).

Here are some views of the glacier crossing:

Here’s Leslie at top of ridge before dropping down:

Here we are on one edge of it, looking across.  You can make out people on the small hill in the foreground.

Here we are somewhere in the middle, Laura in foreground.  Leslie took this:

And here’s another of Leslie’s shots:  Rick out in front, Laura following. Very rocky. Literally, the “trail” has shifted seasonally as the ice has melted. Though now that the glacier boundary is so far north, these trails across from Gokyo to Thaknak will probably settle in.

Here’s a shot Rick took of Leslie, me and a random sherpa porter–no idea what party he’s with –carefully picking our way down a steep hillside.  The one really nice thing about the Gokyo lakes region side trip (with its harrowing pass crossing), besides the spectacular scenery, was the absence of crowds.  So few other parties for so many days. Very nice.

There were patches of frozen water.. not glacial ice (I don’t think), just water and some snow layers that had frozen. And you can see the granite layer on top.  To give you a sense of scale, were I to stand on that frozen pond, I might be able to reach up and touch the tip of one of those icicles hanging there.  Maybe that is glacial ice…

Anyway.  We walked pretty slowly through all of this and finally got to the other side, the base of a huge, steep mountain wall that formed the glacier’s eastern boundary.

Here’s a snip from my journal:

“I got the most scared on the trip so far as we traversed beneath a giant rocky slope where there’d been a lot of rock fall.  Any rock rolling down that mountain would be potentially deadly.. the boulders were huge and sitting so precariously on the loose scree slope.  I had that in my mind the entire time.”  

Here’s a picture of that portion of the hike, shot by Leslie. If you click on the photo, you can make out the trail and a person or two on it at the base.  I don’t think anyone else had this notion of an avalanche.

But we did make it out of that little canyon-ette, unflattened by giant, rolling boulders. Yay. Here’s a shot Karen took:

In any case, we were soon ambling into the settlement of Thaknak, around noon.  This is Leslie’s shot.  You can see a rock-roofed house in the foreground, a green-roofed building in the distance and a trail that cuts up a canyon far ahead.  We’ll take that trail the next day up to the pass:

Here is our teahouse, the brand new Khumbila Hotel:

Some blankets drying outside (not sure how anything dries in that cold):

This place was very clean, if spare.  Here’s our room.  I shared this night with Leslie.

Some parts were still under construction. Here’s Leslie, down the hall from our room. You have to imagine that all the construction materials came in on the backs of porters and yaks. And all the work happens in very, very cold weather.

We got settled in and had lunch–dal bhat (in bowl, which is a lentil soup), basmati rice and a cabbage, carrot and onion thing–and just hung out.

Here is a view out the window… wandering yaks and a small stream:

The Khumbila Hotel was very quiet with only us and two or three other very small groups. Here’re some guys sitting across the room doing basically the same thing we were:

I did this:

And wrote this:

… Going to gather at 4:00 to drink tea and play cards, then dinner, then sleep, as we’re getting up early (3:30am!) to make an early assault on the pass.  There is much nervousness about the crossing. It’s cold and snowing now.  The cute Israeli who just came over from the other side said two people died on the pass two days ago.  They closed it due to bad weather then but it seems it’s open now and we are going.  So plenty of anxiety. Cold, altitude, snow, ice, slippery, many miles, long day, much elevation gain, soreness, weakness.  Scared.  

But I need not approach tomorrow in scared mode! I need to believe we are in good hands, that Hom is conservative, that if it’s not wise to continue we will either go back or not even attempt it.  I know a lot of people cross the pass daily.  Still.  I’m hoping for better weather.  The path up is ominous, steep, relentless (a word I’m using a lot these days), but that part doesn’t worry me. Part of me really wants to do this, to challenge myself, to accomplish it. Part of me is a mom of a young boy and I don’t want to take the risk. I don’t really think it’s that risky, but still, even writing this is making me cry. I’ve cried many times thinking of Peter. Sharing pictures of Peter and Jim with others makes me cry.  Kind of emotional..but going to stop now. Must be tired…

Tomorrow, the Cho La Pass.