Yak Kharka Elevation: 13,140 ft
Thorung Phedi Elevation: 14,599 ft
Daily Distance Walked: 3.7 miles
Total Distance Walked: 65.2 miles
Starting Time: 8:00AM
Ending Time: 11:15AM
We departed Yak Kharka just as the sun came over the mountains. It really is incredible how different the temperature is in the shade vs. the sun. The water in the streams flowing near Yak Kharka were still frozen when we began, so it made the start a bit more technical. We tried to stay on the rocks sticking up out of the ice and off of the ice as much as possible, but it was still a bit slippery. It didn't take too long though before things thawed out.
The trail was rather crowded today. There were many people making the trek from Yak Kharka to Thorung Phedi, and Laurence and I were a bit concerned about a room being available for us. People traveling with guides and/or porters send them ahead to reserve there rooms, so even if we got to Thorung Phedi before them, all of the rooms may have already been reserved by their guides.
The only part of today's trek that I didn't particularly like, was near the end, about a half an hour before Thorung Phedi. We passed through a landslide area, so there were several parts of the trail that were covered in loose rocks and some of the spots were quite narrow. I was very happy to get through that section.
Laurence and I were in luck when we reached Thorung Phedi. While the first place we went to only had two beds in a dormitory still availble, the second place we tried was able to give us our own room. We were similarly lucky in Yak Kharka the previous night and were hoping our luck would continue. We had heard several stories from people about being turned away from lodges or being put in out buildings to sleep. There is only one lodge in High Camp, so we were really going to need it tomorrow.
Arriving early in the day today was nice because it gave us a chance to wash or socks while there was still several hours of sunlight left. We also washed our faces, feet, and hands. The water was ice cold. There was literally ice forming where the water was coming out. It was rather painful, pain it felt nice to have a clean face and feet, and not having stinky socks for the next day was also a major plus.
Jono and Greg arrived in Thorung Phedi in the afternoon. We hadn't seen them since Chame. It turns out they had been moving pretty quickly but had taken the time to do a side trek to Tilicho Lake from Manang. Jono told us it was amazingly beautiful but that the "path" was sometimes non-existent and very dangerous in places. They only stopped long enough to grab a few passtries before continuing on to High Camp for the night.
Laurence and I are spending a lot of time counting our days. She wants to do teh Sanctuary trek after this one, return to Kathmandu for a couple fo days, and then do the Langtang trek. For me, I am starting to be concerned that I won't be able to get a flight out of Jomoson even I want to. Everyone I have spoken with on the trek who is stopping in Jomosom already has their flight booked, and I've heard the planes are small. Lonely Planet also mentions problems getting out of Jomosom by air due to weather and the airlines over booking their flights. I am counting my days to see if it is possible to complete the circuit in time to get back to Kathmandu by November 9th or 10th so that Heather and I would at least have a little bit of time together before heading back to the States. I think it should be possible, so plan for now will be to try for a flight out of Jomosom, but if it will take more than a couple of days to get one, I will complete the circuit. I think either way it will be difficult for me to meet Heather in Chitwan like we had discussed prior to separating.
We spent the afternoon and evening chatting with other people staying at the lodge. I played cards with a few folks before dinner - Sarah, James (England), and a man from Minnesota (I never did get his name). We played Nepali rummy, which is not like the rummy I know at all. It is more like gin but with wild cards and a couple of other extra rules. Laurence spent time chatting with a couple of Italians and a couple of French men (Sebastien and Pascal). She speaks five languages! - French, Italian, English, Spanish, and German - so she was able to communicate with nearly everyone we met along the way. After dinner I joined her conversation. Luckily, the French spoke English as well so I was able to participate. It turns out that Sebastien was the man that Laurence had flagged down in Chame to lend us light from his headlamp to get into our room.
Scenes we encountered between Yak Kharka and Thorung Phedi:
Wild blue sheep - they're not really blue :-( They were pretty far away, so I was using my super duper zoom to take this photo.
Even the waterfalls are frozen at this elevation.
Laurence all bundled up to ward off the cold.
The entrance to Thorung Phedi.
Our lodge in Thorung Phedi. It was nice because they had two dining rooms, one for the large groups and one for individual trekkers. The only down side was that there wasn't any heat in the dining area. When everyone was hanging out, there was enough heat generated from everyone that it wasn't cold. As people started heading to their rooms for the night, the temperature started dropping. Because everone else was going over the pass tomorrow, they headed to bed early since they would be waking at about 4AM to start walking. Laurence and I weren't as keen on heading to our sleeping bags quite that early, so we stayed in the dining room until it closed at 9PM.
1 comment:
How long does it take to get to the pass if people leave at 4 am?
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