Lunde to Gokyo
According to the itinerary, today's hike was touted to be one of the hardest days of the trek.....
Early start today, the walk plan stated approximately 8-9 hours of walking, tackling a 1000 metre climb to cross Renjo La Pass at 5360 metres.
Alarm at 5.15 am. Breakfast at 5.30. On the trail by 6.15 with first light touching the mountain tops.
Quite chilly to start, but no wind. Beanies, gloves and neck gaiters on.
 |
The first hour was uphill walking on a moderate incline, with beautiful clear views of the mountains and lakes. We certainly had slowed our pace and were plodding along slowly but steadily. I was conscious that I was taking more stops to rest and catch my breath. After 2 hours, we stopped for a break in the sunshine by one of the glacial lakes, having already ascended approximately 700 metres
We were now at the point where the trail became significantly steeper and could see where we we headed - it looked pretty daunting. When we checked the map, those contour lines looked very close together.....let's do this!
 |
| Renjo La Pass on the far right of the horizon |
After about 30 minutes, the weather started to take a turn for the worse, with clouds rolling in up the valley and over the mountains. The temperature dropped and visibility reduced to about 100-200 metres.
We got slower as we climbed the steep section, needing to stop to rest after every10-12 steps for a "breather". This was seriously hard work, the plod turned to a trudge. Just to make things interesting and add to the excitement, as we neared the top, the ground was covered in patches of snow, making the path treacherously slippery.
It took well over an hour for us to ascend that last 300 metres and I was exhausted when I finally reached the pass.
There was no view at the top, very disappointing given the effort and hard slog,
Some you win, some you lose. It does make you appreciate those times when there are great views. But what an achievement! We were at 5360 metres!
 |
| The clouds start rolling in..... |
 |
| Are we there yet? |
 |
| Taking a breather! |
 |
| Made it! |
 |
| We did it! |
 |
| The "A" team! |
 |
| Still smiling! |
 |
| Gokyo is down there somewhere..... |
It was fairly cold up at the pass, so after the obligatory photo shots and a chocolate bar, we did not linger and we headed down towards Gokyo, somewhere in the swirling clouds below us. The descent seemed to take a long time, but was in fact only about 90 minutes, quite steep in places and with several patches of slippery scree.
We arrived at Gokyo (4790 metres) at 1.30, Well, I stumbled in. I was absolutely spent, physically and emotionally. What with still recovering from my bout of "gastro", not enough energy in the tank, coupled with the exertion and the altitude, I nearly collapsed in the dining room.
Even Jack agreed with me...that was one of the toughest day hikes we have ever done.
I did feel better after some lunch, rehydration and resting during the afternoon. Jack played cards and we chatted with our Swiss companions and a Dutch girl we had met back in Namche who had hiked up an alternative route through the Gokyo valley to tackle Chola Pass.
Another delicious meal of dahl bhatt for dinner, then another early night. Routine bedtime had become 7.30 pm, must be the early mornings!!!, altitude and the exertion. Never had to complain about the cold overnight though - always warm enough with a silk liner inside my Z-packs sleeping bag with a blanket provided by the lodge on top,
Tomorrow was another "rest day" - you know what they say about "rest days"!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment