Over the Cho La Pass...

Here's a excerpt from my written journal about one of the more exciting days we had on our trek...

10/9/2005 Dzongla- Cho La - Gokyo

We woke up in Dzongla, had breaky, waited for the clouds to pass. We walked for only a brief bit in cloud until the powerful sun burned of the layer, exposing the beautiful valley below and the dizzying pass above. We continued up a flatish section and observed some trekkers making their way up the very steep and rocky pass. As we approached the pass, I got pretty tired up the twisty switchbacks just before the rock scramble, but we were all feeling the elevation, and took a break before heading up. At the base of the pass we met up with an Indian guy who was resting, and having a cigarette... He gave us some dried fruit and we were happy to rest there a while.

Matt led up the first pitch of the scramble, very shaky with our full packs on, but manageable. It was hands, knees, and feet up the first couple hundred feet. We all did fine and made it to the top without drama, I had used "sherpa socks" (put my feet and socks in plastic bags, then in my shoes, to prevent snow/water getting in. Using only trail runners has been great and light thus far, but could have used some proper boots at this point.)

We rested at the top of the first steep section, took some photos and drank water. The next section was a glacier crossing, which was just like on Rainier after Camp Muir, pretty flat, but hoping over a few crevasses via snowbridges and playing in the snow. Sherpa socks did their trick. We started to see more and more trekkers on this section, which was a welcome site, as we could get good route info from them as they had just come up the other side. The down side of the pass was completely snow covered from the storm the night before, and was in bad shape. We rested at the top of it with a few other folks, then headed down. I led and it was very slick, totally snow covered and steep. I twisted my left knee on one of the rocks, and had to nurse it all the way down, but it was fine later. Route finding was hard on the bottom section because we couldn't see any footprints to follow, but we eventually found the right path and successfully made it to the bottom. Had a well deserved rest, the concentration and altitude was pretty tiring. The pass tops out around 17,400ft.

We rested in a makeshift campsite a few k's from the bottom of the pass, I was out of water, only had 2 liters with me, and had one of my rehydration packs, Tim was feeling it too, and had one as well. We still had a to cross an unknown number of valleys to get to Thangnak, the next closest village and our desired lunch stop. We made it over with ease, as we were now quite a bit lower, and could really breathe well. Just before Thangnak, we saw the Dutch brothers, Gerhardt and Yann, resting my a stream. They had stayed in the same tea house as us in Dzongla. I filled up a bottle, and iodined it to be safe, it was ready to drink in about 15 minutes and I was damn thirsty, it was so cold and refreshing. An easy walk into Thangnak, and in minutes I was enjoying a massive plate of veggie fried noodles and black tea. We eat and rested, Charlie the British traveler in his 50's, who we had met a few times before was there an joined us. Charlie's amazing, has been traveling constantly for the past 8 years, an ex-geologist for the big oil companies, he said "I was a grown man and was drawing lines on pieces of paper for a living. So I checked the bank account, and told my boss, 'Thanks, I'll see ya later.' I'm trying to travel for a decade, year and a half to go." He usually can be found in Zambia with his girlfriend, or in Indonesia, where the going's cheap.


FOLLOW THE BLACK DOG...
What happened next was astonishing. After Thangnak, we had to cross the Ngozumpa Glacier to get to Gokyo, our final destination for the day. Following the trail from Thangnak with the Dutch brother, not really paying attention, chatting about soccer, Holland, and sports, the trail abruptly ended at a massive glacial lake. At this point we were pretty much into the glaciers moraine, a very rocky and unsettled area. During lunch dark clouds had moved into the valley, it was now foggy and snowing lightly. We decided to back track towards Thangnak and hopefully find a trail around the lake that we must have missed. Blazing a new path looked quite un safe over steep loose rocky terrain. We never found an alternative path, so went all the way back to Thangnak. At Thang, things got interesting. At the first lodge we met a British guy who helped us out, he led us to where he thought the "new path" to Gokyo lead, apparently we had been on last years route, which had been wiped out by the lake. It was all made more difficult by the bad weather and poor vis. While this was going on, a little black dog was under foot, not all that uncommon. There's wild dogs all over Nepal.

The British guy lead us as far as the glacier's moraine, and pointed us in the direction he thought would get us through to the other side. There were tiny trails all over the place, and many intersections, it was a bit confusing and getting late at this point. We noticed the same black dog was ahead of us on the trail, and all sorta of decided we'd follow him, since he was the only one that seemed to know where to go... Well, we ended up following the dog for the next two hours through the whole glacier and directly to Gokyo! The glacier moraine is a landscape from another world, without the dog leading, we would have gotten lost a bunch of times...And wouldn't have made it to Gokyo before dark.

The Dutch guys and the three of us were walking in amazement, the fog, snow, terrain, dog all came together to make it a memorable walk. We fed the little dog some crackers and water when he would wait for us to catch up as we fell behind. Got some pictures of him and the terrain which I'll upload asap.

We got into Gokyo just before dark and found a lodge which was free to stay as long as we bought dinner there. Sweet, and Dave and Francois were there, two great guys we had met a few times before on the trek. Had a filling meal and talked about plans with the rest of the crew. Another day that I will never forget.