Very cold night, -10 centigrade during the night, -1 in the tent in the morning. Ice on the outside of the tent, some snow fell during the night, pheasants clucking; in the snow covered fields. Breakfast of porridge and omelettes just as the sun rose. Quite windy this morning.
Away at 7:40am up the steep hill towards Gokyo, path soon levelled out 18 inches of snow
beside track which looked muddy but fortunately was frozen solid. I don't have a pair of
gaiters so I hope the snow doewsn't get much deeper. Not a cloud in the sky, extreemly
bright today with the sun and snow cover.
Took an hour to get to Fangka (14,700'), a cup
of hot chocolate warmed me up. Pangka is where an avalanche killed 40 people in 1995,
there was plenty of snow up on the surrounding mountains ready to come down again. Lovely
views from here, Cho Oyu dominant in front of us, Cholatse and lots of others, amazing, no
time to stop though! Reached the snout of the Ngozumpa glacier, a jumble of huge rocks and
boulders with the Dudh Kosi flowing out at a tremendous pace.
Climbed up a steep track
along the western edge of the glacier, very tiring. Then flattened out, lots of people,
muddy track, passed two lakes, first quite small , secong bigger, turquiose
coloured. Strength failing fast, very hot and bright, plodded on, soon the third lake and
then Gokyo came into view. Collapsed into the tenthouse dormitory for half an hour. Took
some dioralyte and dozed for an hour. No headache just dehydrated I hope.
Gokyo is at 15,584', a struggle to get there but what a fantastic setting. I wish I had time to spend a few days here rather than just tomorrow.
Tents are pitched on snow, its going to be a cold night .....