Day 9

Saturday 6 Oct 218

After a restless night worrying if our wayward horse team would trample us to death in the night, we made the usual 7am start. Soon after leaving camp, we passed through a majestic juniper forest to a field where we saw yaks being milked, the sun promised to shine and the day was already looking brighter.

The climb up to the Jhari La (4720m) went quickly and we beat the Kiwis! The views from the pass were stunning and, although we were denied any more than a glimpse of Tiger Mountain (Gangchen Tagg) (7000m), we saw vultures and blue sheep.

Beyond the pass the mountain barrier between Bhutan and Tibet stretched before us and we could just make out our next pass. The Shinge La seemed an infeasibly long way away and our first 5000m plus to cross.

We descended through more glorious silver pine, rhododendrons and birch forests to a river for lunch, once more we were served a cooked lunch with jasmine rice, beef curry and baby sweet corns. Descending this tributary to the main river, we had a tricky bridge crossing which we all succeeded unassisted- unlike the party from NZ!! After a short ascent, we camped at a place known as Robluthang (4200m). The sun shone intermittently but enough for us to construct a washing line and air our clothing.
Distance 14km 7hrs

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