Today we headed out to cross our first of 3 high passes. We woke before first light and had a quick breakfast before heading out. In the dining hall we found a French couple we had been hiking with. They were passed out on the dining benches after trying to Summit Island Peak. Halfway up they felt too sick to continue and backtracked to Chhukhung. Along the way they saw one of the most secretive animals on Earth, the Snow leopard! Shadow and I were so jealous. I can't believe it! That is just so cool. A snow leopard. In the wild.
We headed out at 6am sharp. A dog from the lodge followed a us and another group up the pass. He had no trouble running back and forth checking on everyone. We, on the other hand, had a long and difficult day. Early on we passed a herd of curious yaks. One came up to me during a break and sniffed my pack while letting me pet him. Shadow was off marking his territory which, by the way, is a new record of pooping at an elevation of 17,000 feet.
As we continued to ascended hypoxia set in. Our brains became fuzzy and breathing was no longer involuntary. I have never experienced that before. I'd say this was the hardest hike we had ever done, but frankly it was a blur. It took every ounce of energy to concentrate on breathing, staying balanced, and slowly moving one foot in front of the other. If either of us were too dizzy, we would stop and take a break. 3/4 of the way up we passed a beautiful glacial blue lake. From there you could see the prayer flags flying in the distance at the pass. Neither of us thought we could make it much farther, but we did. Slow and steady we continued being especially careful close to the top which was more of scramble up to 18,100 feet. The number in our non-guided group continues to fluctuate based on pace and altitude sickness. We were down to 7 of us crossing the pass today.
There is apprehension with this pass for a few reasons. One, it's the first one and no one knows what to expect. The second is that even after you cross the pass and make it down the other side, you have an hour long crossing of the Khumbu Glacier. This is the famous glacier that provides the treacherous Khumbu ice fall for the Mt. Everest climbers. We are crossing the mouth and not the ice fall. This glacier moves around 1 meter a day so you never know what to expect and there's no way you have time to turn around and hike back in one day. You are committed. Rock cairns mark the route across but even those are not accurate. We found that out today. As we climbed the edge of the moraine we stayed to the right like we had heard. Exhausted from the long day we stood at the crest looking across the trying to find the right route. No one was in front of us to follow. Suddenly we hear voices echoing across the glacier. It was 2 locals that had made a new route last week based on the glacier movement. We went right and continued up and down the rocky hills of the the glacier. It was a scene from the Flintstone's quarry. At one point we crossed a lake within the glacier. Jumping from boulder to boulder while watching ice fall into the water. I was so ready to get across safely. Sure enough it took an hour to cross then a descent into Lobouche.
This place is like a Wild West town. At 16,100 feet the village is a major stop to and from the Everest Base Camp. A few lodges, some over priced crappy food, and a heliport for evacuation. Basically a crap hole on the side of a glacier. Seriously, if we are going to get bed bugs in Nepal it will be here. There's no real choice for other places to stay and it's packed. We were lucky to even find a room. After dumping our stuff in the freezing bunk room we went down stairs to warm up in the dining hall. It was a dark, and seedy place with only a few single light bulbs hanging from the ceiling and a cast iron stove in the middle burning Yak poop for warmth. We eat and pass out for the night.
From Lobouche you can continue a day and a half to Everest Base Camp (EBC). We had considered doing the hike, but was never high on the priority list. The combination of our terrible time in Lobouche and the fact that the next village was already booked for the night, we bailed on EBC. We had had enough of the over crowded trail. Neither of us expected this hike to be a non-stop congo line. Instead we continued to Dzongla, the village at the base of our next pass. The hike was by far my favorite so far. Passing more snowy jagged peaks and glacial lakes. Plus it was only a 3 hour hike. Dzongla is just a group of 4 tea houses high in a neighboring valley. It's the most beautiful setting. The clouds dropped down after lunch and made it feel as though you were floating amongst the mountains. It's cold as can be here. Our laundry froze to the line outside it was so cold.
We ran into some friends from the other day and spent the evening playing the monopoly card game I had brought. The tea house's common room warmed and filled with guests. So many, that some will sleeping on the benches in the common area. Don't feel bad for them though, it's nice and warm there.
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