Day 14

Thursday 11 Oct 2018

We woke to high cloud, no wind and the promise of good views. Our track ascended through dwarf rhododendrons where we were greeted by the chirp of Laughing Thrush.

A huge white Yak crossed our site below us and the climb to the first false col was very pleasant. 

The quantity of discarded rubbish was troubling us so I got a plastic bag and collected as much as I could carry all the way to the Tsome La (4878m). The cloud started to build from the pass and the temperature dropped. The track then efficiently undulated around hanging valleys and over shoulders. It is easy to assume that these paths are just used for recreation like the mountains of the U.K. But our route today provided major access to the remote Lunana region so we encountered many trains of horses carrying anything from rice to corrugated roof sections.

We crossed the Ladam La (4906m) and it was somewhere in this area we had our usual lunch with table and chairs. The difficulty of walking post lunch and at high altitude was eased as we approached our site, our spirits were lifted when the clouds parted to reveal superb views of Gangala Karchung (6395m) together with it’s great glacier and moraine walls. We set up camp at Narethang (4900m) in rare, dry conditions- thank you white Yak!

Distance 16km 8hrs

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