If you look in the lower left you can see the village of Namche--the view's not too bad, I suppose. The colorful prayer flags are everywhere in these mountains, usually on prominent ridges, peaks and passes. They are Buddhist, or more specifically Tibetan (or Vajrayāna) Buddhist, and usually have pictures of the Buddha or mantras on them. The altitude here is about 12600 ft., the same altitude I'd reach on an easy day hike in Colorado.
This is Ama Dablam (22,349 ft.). It was the first peak to really take my breath away and is still one of my favorites. The view is about what you'd see if you turned around in the picture above.
As you can see, we were still below tree line. That changed the day after we left Namche and started traveling along the Ngozumpa Glacier toward the village of Gokyo. It took us three days to get to Gokyo, traveling relatively slowly, hiking only a couple hours a day. As I've mentioned, altitude sickness is a major concern so we stuck to our guide's advice.
The weather was perfect. The mornings were cloudless with the brilliant blue sky that I love in Colorado. Since we were so far from the usual sources of pollution there wasn't even the slightest haze, everything was so crisp and crystalline--like the day after you get your new prescription for your glasses. Sometimes in the afternoons clouds would form, but not above you, around you and usually beautiful, wispy, ethereal things that just made everything more beautiful. I assumed this was just typical for this time of year, but later in the trip found out we just had very good luck.
Our reason for going to Goyko (15,583 ft.) was to climb Gokyo Ri (17,575 ft.) which is a small (by Himilayan standards) peak that rises above the village affording fantastic views of the surrounding Himalayan peaks, including four over 8000 meters (26,400 ft.): Everest, Lhotse, Makalu and Cho Oyu.
We got the good word from a couple of Aussies that the our best bet was to climb Gokyo Ri in the afternoon and stay for sunset. This is some of the best advice I've ever received, as you'll soon see. Here's a shot looking back towards Gokyo a little way up Gokyo Ri.
Here's my journal entry from the next day:
Nov 2, 2007
Yesterday we set off at about 1:30pm for what turned out to be a rather difficult hike. It reminded me of climbing a 14er [Colorado speak for peak over 14,000 ft.] back home, but this one is around 17,500. I think it will be hard to describe the experience of the next few hours. It was cold, but no wind, so surprisingly comfortable at the top. Prayer flags were strung everywhere. The view was--well I could use so many words here: beautiful, incredible, expansive, amazing, grand, otherworldly, spectacular. And they're all true. Everest is to the east. Actually quite an array of peaks are to the East and I wish I knew all their names. Below us is the Ngozumpa Glacier, stretching from north to south. We've been walking along it for the last few days. As I got higher and all of this came into view, I was overwhelmed. I keep breaking into tears. I've had the good fortune to have visited a great number of beautiful places on this planet, many of them in my back yard, but nothing has come close to this.
And it was just the beginning. As the afternoon progressed, clouds formed, but not where we were, far down in the valleys, in fabulous roiling, bubbling shapes. It felt like we were in a place where gods might dwell, some other realm. But more was in store for us. As the sun lowered, the colors started to come out. Oranges on the peaks, different shades of blues and purples in the sky and clouds below. It's almost as if the Universe was saying, "oh yeah, you think that's cool, well look at this." Finally the last rays left Everest and the temperature started to drop. We began the walk down and even that was magical. The air and sky were brilliant and clear. The outline of the peaks in front of the recently set sun had a pale violet outline that I've never seen before. Half way down it was dark and the stars were--well, I'm sure you can guess.
Back at the guest house, I looked at Holger and started to say, "I've seen a lot of beautiful things before, but..." He just nodded and gave me that look that said, yes, I know exactly what you mean.
I hope that wasn't too gushing, but it really...well take a look:
That's Cholatse on the left, Taboche just to it's right.
Everest on the left, Nuptse and Lhotse
Everest and friends (the peak lit up on the right is Ama Dablum from the beginning of the post)
Everest and Lhotse
And almost as beautiful, yours truly (with Everest behind me)
2 comments:
AMAZING pics, amazing journey, amazing you.
love from D-town. We (still) miss you.
xo, misha
thanks for sharing the info.that is interesting.
Post a Comment