warpus
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Look at the exact centre of the first photo in post 339 and then look a bit down
Look at the exact centre of the first photo in post 339 and then look a bit down
OK I see it now. Cool.
warpus
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Another Look at Ngozumpa Glacier
The blue building is I think Dragnag, the village where we slept the previous night.
The blue building is I think Dragnag, the village where we slept the previous night.
warpus
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Gokyo Ri Summit Video
I did not snip any of the footage, so you get to see everything I recorded while at the summit.
I did not snip any of the footage, so you get to see everything I recorded while at the summit.
Great video from end to end. Was every place as windy or was it windy because you were on a peak?
Could you see Everest from there?
Could you see Everest from there?
warpus
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Yeah, it was windy here because we were up on the summit. Although when we were walking on the Khumbu glacial moraine I remember cold winds moving rather quick as well.
You can't quite see Mt. Everest due to the clouds. It's popular to climb Gokyo Ri in the morning for this reason (the clouds move in throughout the day), but that didn't fit in with our itinerary. I think it's easier to do that when you walk this route in the other direction (but I'm not really sure)
You can't quite see Mt. Everest due to the clouds. It's popular to climb Gokyo Ri in the morning for this reason (the clouds move in throughout the day), but that didn't fit in with our itinerary. I think it's easier to do that when you walk this route in the other direction (but I'm not really sure)
warpus
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One last look from the Gokyo Ri summit
The next day we would be walking down the trail you see below, following the glacier to where the river begins, and then over the next couple days following the river all the way back to Lukla.
The next day we would be walking down the trail you see below, following the glacier to where the river begins, and then over the next couple days following the river all the way back to Lukla.
warpus
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Descent
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All those colourful prayer flags were put up by the Sherpas. The pole too probably, but I'm not sure if it's used for anything else
warpus
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Day 12
Gokyo 4750m to Dole 4038m
For the remaining three days on the trail we would follow the valleys downstream until we were back at Tenzing Hillary Airport. Since we were hiking downhill and did not have to deal with acclimatization concerns we were able to cover a lot more ground than when hiking in the other direction. This would allow us to return to the trailhead in 3 days, whereas hiking in the other direction would have taken us 6.
The day began on the shores of Dudh Pokhari, a beautiful view capable of pumping anyone up for the long hike ahead.
Here is a 3D map view of this route, although it is again in the other direction, and this time split up into 2 parts:
Gokyo to Machermo
Machermo to Dole
I am pretty sure we ate lunch at Machermo, so this breakdown actually makes sense in this case as well
Gokyo 4750m to Dole 4038m
For the remaining three days on the trail we would follow the valleys downstream until we were back at Tenzing Hillary Airport. Since we were hiking downhill and did not have to deal with acclimatization concerns we were able to cover a lot more ground than when hiking in the other direction. This would allow us to return to the trailhead in 3 days, whereas hiking in the other direction would have taken us 6.
The day began on the shores of Dudh Pokhari, a beautiful view capable of pumping anyone up for the long hike ahead.
Here is a 3D map view of this route, although it is again in the other direction, and this time split up into 2 parts:
Gokyo to Machermo
Machermo to Dole
I am pretty sure we ate lunch at Machermo, so this breakdown actually makes sense in this case as well
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warpus
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Views from the Trail
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Leaving the Gokyo Lakes behind
warpus
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The Source of the Dudh Koshi River
We were now near the Ngozumpa Glacier terminus, where more and more water begins to flow downstream, marking the beginning of the Dudh Koshi river. The Dudh Koshi is the highest river in the world, also taking in water from Khumbu Glacier (right by Mt. Everest) and other nearby sources. However, if you look at a map, this is the point where the river officially begins.
The hill just to the left is the Ngozumpa glacial moraine, to give you an idea what you're looking at.
I don't think that Machhermo, our lunch destination, is in view here, although it would be somewhere near that trail you see up ahead.
One thing I loved about his day's hike is that there was basically nobody else on the trail. I'm sure we ran into people here and there, but most of the time it was pretty empty.
We were now near the Ngozumpa Glacier terminus, where more and more water begins to flow downstream, marking the beginning of the Dudh Koshi river. The Dudh Koshi is the highest river in the world, also taking in water from Khumbu Glacier (right by Mt. Everest) and other nearby sources. However, if you look at a map, this is the point where the river officially begins.
The hill just to the left is the Ngozumpa glacial moraine, to give you an idea what you're looking at.
I don't think that Machhermo, our lunch destination, is in view here, although it would be somewhere near that trail you see up ahead.
One thing I loved about his day's hike is that there was basically nobody else on the trail. I'm sure we ran into people here and there, but most of the time it was pretty empty.
That river is one of the many sources of the Ganges, holiest of rivers!
warpus
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Yep! The Dudh Koshi first connects up with the Kosi river and then eventually the Ganges. If anyone's wondering, Dudh Koshi translates to "Milk River".
Here's a map of this part of Nepal:
At this point in the trek we were right at the beginning of this river. You can find this spot on the map by first locating Namche and then following the river up the middle branch that runs up to that long glacier. You can spot the Gokyo lakes up there as well, they are a tiny bit north and just to the left of Ngozumpa glacier. Everest Basecamp is a bit north-east of where it says "Pyramid", which is a reference to a building with a triangular roof (that we did not see personally, but it's on the trail)
Here you can see that basically all these trails we've been walking run alongside rivers.. except for the alpine crossing route of course. Lukla is marked on the map as well, it's where the Hillary-Tenzing airport is that we were now hiking back towards.
warpus
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It looks like the bridge railings are made up of sections that could be stacked and carried on a Sherpa's back, but I bet this was mostly carried up here by a yak caravan... at least part-way, I don't know if Yaks get up all the way up here. A yak caravan probably brought all the parts to Machhermo (where we would be eating lunch) or a bit further, and then Sherpas probably carried stacked pieces on their backs the rest of the way up.
So yeah, that's a lot of effort on the part of the humans and animals carrying all the parts of this bridge up here! But we ran into so many yak caravans earlier on in the trail, it was probably a routine job for whoever took on the task of dragging all that up here.
Probably. It was likely designed so that all the individual parts are fairly small and easy to transport. And then assembled with a lot of bolts.
warpus
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Descent
This photo was taken about 5 minutes after the ones of the bridge. It shows you what the trail looks like as you descend right beside the glacier on your left. (right in the photo, as I'm looking back)
This is why I'm not so sure that yaks make their way up here. Although maybe they do on the right hand side of the glacier? Propane has to get to Gokyo somehow. Then again, would yak caravans cross the glacier? That seems doubtful as well.. I'm not really sure what to think about this. For all I know this trail is solid enough for yaks to be able to traverse it.. Those stairs you see in the photo are pretty solid, the Sherpas do a really good job of placing down those stone steps.
This photo was taken about 5 minutes after the ones of the bridge. It shows you what the trail looks like as you descend right beside the glacier on your left. (right in the photo, as I'm looking back)
This is why I'm not so sure that yaks make their way up here. Although maybe they do on the right hand side of the glacier? Propane has to get to Gokyo somehow. Then again, would yak caravans cross the glacier? That seems doubtful as well.. I'm not really sure what to think about this. For all I know this trail is solid enough for yaks to be able to traverse it.. Those stairs you see in the photo are pretty solid, the Sherpas do a really good job of placing down those stone steps.
