Kongde Day 2

11 hours of very steep hiking up the side of the mountain.  On the trekking path to Namche there were many people from all over the world, this is the season for it. On our single track trail we saw no one, except a young man with a beard following a Sherpa with fine red hiking shoes.  The man, who looked like he was from Germany, but spoke no language I could understand, carried only a metal water bottle. A mystic, I think. We hiked up to a huge clearing, just below the clouds and had a lunch of curried garlic potatoes and my omelette between fresh bread.  Adventure food said Nima.

 Lukla, from above. It is easy to see the downhill walk from Lukla.

The prayer flags at the pass and a brief view through the clouds of Kongde.

We continued hiking up the mountain through a Rhododendron forest until we were in the clouds.  It was me, Nima, Dano his uncle, and the three porters, Pimba Sherpa, Sonam Sherpa, and Pasang Sherpa. They were carrying pretty heavy loads and I had to stop several times to wait for them. Nima was not in good hiking shape and was struggling. After 9 hours of hiking up and up into the clouds, we reached the pass, just under 14,000 feet, an elevation gain of almost 6,000 feet.  Since the peak was 19,450, I thought; great, we are going to climb the mountain.  We saw the light of the setting sun on some extraordinary peaks, but we had to hike back down the other side to the stream.  Heartbreaking, first because it meant we would have to hike back up to the pass, and second because we were losing altitude.  Two hours later, in the dark, we reached the stream and set up camp in the dense, humid chilly creepy fog.  I saw a very large fat Pika peering out from some rocks. 

That is when I began to learn about Sherpa camping.  First they brought out the large gas stove and the large can of fuel.  Then  it was the potatoes and rice. Then they stoked the stove and brought out the pressure cooker.  They had been carrying a pressure cooker for the rice.  What else were in those baskets, I wondered.

First they made some Sherpa butter tea, which is very salty. It is an acquired taste that I will never acquire.  The goal is high camp tomorrow then technical climbing in some very old school crampons Nima borrowed for me. My only gloves are huge blizzard mittens, not the best for swinging an ice axe.  My other 4 pairs of gloves are in  the lost bag.

I was exhausted and fell fast asleep on my slowly deflating pad.  My good pad? In the lost bag. I awoke with a start, hearing my name being called,  loudly outside.  Was it a bear? An avalanche? Was the tent on fire? No, it was NIma bringing a bowl of curry and rice.  I tried to sleep, but the pad was deflating and the borrowed sleeping bag had the unique feature of being able to unzip itself. By daylight I was freezing in the damp cold.  I ate a cookie and Bob’s oat bar to generate some warmth.