Day 16

Saturday 13 Oct 2018

Michael, our British born American, was the first to spot the morning glow on Teri Kang (7300m).

With clear skies to the North and improving by the minute, we were in an incredibly lucky situation as Tshering had never seen this view in all the years of guiding this trek. In contrast to yesterday, the trip notes provide a very accurate description of our valley, “one of the most beautiful valleys in Bhutan - maybe one of the best kept secrets in the entire Himalaya”.

We set off with our bags festooned with solar panels wet washing and the knowledge that batteries will be charged and clothes dried. A gradual descent of the river where we saw Blood Pheasant in amongst the forest and huge waterfalls cascading 100’s of metres from the cliffs opposite. A turn off to a tributary and a steep climb brought us to Woche Village (3800m) where we had lunch. This village, like so many we had seen, is expanding with new houses in various stages of construction appearing on this sun soaked shoulder. It amaze us how, even in this remote place, ornate houses were being built to the same quality as in Paro.



Foraging for Cordyceps was once illegal but in a bold and inspired move, the king granted licenses to rural communities so they can gather and sell them, the current market value for theses caterpillars is 35,000 US Dollars, and this has reduced the flow of people from remote regions into cities. Continuing after our break, we gained height in readiness for our next pass tomorrow. For once we had this beautiful site at 4200m to ourselves as the other groups continued higher and were trying to finish the trek in less days- all contributing to the 50% completion rate for this trek I am sure. It is widely publicised as the “hardest trek in the World” and a sobering fact that more people have summited Everest than have completed the Snowman Trek. Apart from a few coughs, headaches and mild loss of appetite our team all seemed to be coping well.

At camp, we had time to air and dry bedding and clothing for an hour or more before we lost the sun and caught a good glimpse of Jejekangphu (7194m) to the North right on the border with Tibet.


Distance 14km 7hrs

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