Mt Everest from Gokyo Ri Part II

Day 4: Khumjung (12,435 ft) to Dole (13,287 ft), 5-6 hours

When you get to see Mt Ama dablam from the window day and night, what else you need for the motivation to trek further 🙂 After breakfast I headed towards Dole. Tall trees were only till Namche. From Khumjung the trail was barren with clear views of vast mountains and celebrity peaks 😀

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Day 5: Dole (13,287 ft) to Macchermo (14,600 ft) 4-5 hours

With the rise in altitude, I felt some change in sleeping pattern and was losing appetite. Today I was heading to Macchermo.

• 

• 

• 

Acclimatization in Macchermo was very important. Many consider it as waste of a day, but this is recommended even by the experts. As we reached to the guesthouse there was a session held by some UK medical volunteers here and later our oxygen was measured.

Day 6: Macchermo (14,600 ft) to Gokyo (15,744 ft), 6-7 hours

Snow had covered this place completely. Entirely unrecognizable to the day before. Today we started to Gokyo through the snow covered trail.

• 

In the Diner, I came to know that the Indian guy I met during the AMS session had returned as he could not tolerate the extreme cold and his oxygen was dropped till 70. Weird how humans fall weak to such changing climate and high altitude.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Trail to Gokyo was easy but the high altitude made it difficult. In my hypoxically impaired state I was going forward. My pattern was noticed by Dawa and I was advised to take Diamox as soon as we reach Gokyo.

• 

• 

• 

Day 7: Gokyo (14,600 ft) to Gokyo Ri (17,575 ft), 6-7 hours

Today was the most special and important day as we were now climbing Gokyo Ri. From the base, sitting in the dinning area when I glanced from the window, sipping hot black tea, I realized this is not going to be easy.

I met a Polish girl and his father. They were already prepared and discussing with their guide about the trail to Renjo-La pass, which was accessible after climbing Gokyo Ri. I was fascinated to check out their gear and to learn about their climbing experiences in the Alps. In few minutes Dawa and I began our ascent to Gokyo-Ri.

• 

Ascent was so steep that I was wheezing at every step. Plodding upwards, in every 10-15 min I was turning back to check if the apex of the planet was visible.

• 

Whole place was washed under bright sunlight, under an immaculate cobalt sky and I could see clouds nearing slowly to block the whole view.

In an hour I got the glimpse of Mt Everest so closer to me.

• 

• 

Gokyo/Gokyo Ri was not on my list when I was planning this trek, what a stupidest mistake that could had been 😉

I was complacent, I was at peace. Honestly never felt this way, ever! There was a 360 degree view from here. All the three frozen Gokyo lakes were visible. To my surprise there were some sparrows hoping in the closer proximity of humans 🙂 Luckily I had some cashews and opened my palms to one of them.

After spending two hours, I started to descend back to the guest house. Around 2 PM the weather no longer looked benign. It began to snow and the visibility to the downward trail was bleak. At 4:45 PM we were back to the base and I treated myself with Tibetan Thukpa 😀 and a Yak cheese Pizza.

• 

Day 8: Gokyo (14,600 ft) to Thagnak (15,420 ft), 4-5 hours

This day I woke up to hear a very unpleasant news that there had been drastic change in weather. It was snowing heavily and Chola pass trail was going to be impossible. We decided to concrete our decision once we reach Thagnak.

Trail to Thagnak was covered with snow and having the longest glaciers of the Himalayas, this was one of the unique trail of this trek.

On this trail I hardly clicked any photos and was totally engrossed talking to Dawa and listening to his Everest summit experiences.

We reached around 11 AM to Thagnak. Our decision to Chola pass was totally dependent on the next day’s weather.

Next Page continued..