Day 11 - Tilicho Lake

Tilicho Lake

The wet snow from last night was indeed snow. In the morning the sky is clear and the ridges and peaks are powdered with fresh snow.

Jose is up before me and heading out soon. He wants to go to the lake, come back and continue down the valley and on the Annapurna Round.
I point out to him that the view for the picture would be better from the little hill in front of the lodge. Next, I head that way in sandals through the wet grass and brushes. Needless to say that in very short time both sandals and socks are soaked.
When it's time to get ready for the day I realize I don't have any clean dry socks. So I put on again yesterday's socks - dirty, stinky and by now stiff. I only drink a tea and get going ahead of Pipi. He's going to catch up with me in no time, anyway. It is 7:10 am.

At first the trail skirts the slope up this beautiful glacial valley. To the left on the other side of the little run-out creek from the glaciers the glaciated ridge and peaks glitter in the sunlight. Magnificent! The air is clear and crisp. No haze.
Pipi catches up with me after about an hour then goes ahead and soon disappears. I keep stopping to take pictures and admire the landscape. The whole ridge unfolds in front of me, the icefalls, the peaks. I can't get enough breaks.
After 2 hours from the lodge the trail starts climbing the steep slope to the right in switchbacks. I count 10m elevation gain for every 100 steps. It's hot and I start having a problem with my boots. Not the boots actually but the socks inside. I need to stop take off boots and socks and let the socks dry out in the sun for a few minutes. Then I turn the socks inside out put them back on and the boots and get ready. Much better! This is a trick I learned a long while ago.

Pipi has long disappeared behind the ridge and I assume he already reached the lake. From the ridge the trail continues flat and wide. It is more like an alley now with slabs stuck vertically into the ground on both sides. Promenade at 4900m. Splendid!
I eet Jose who is on his way down now. He asks me to take a picture of him which I gladly take. Then I ask him for the same favour in return. Now I know I'll have a proof I've been here :-)
Then we say good-bye and wish good luck to each other and I continue towards the lake. I can spot in the distance some cairns and strings of prayer flags fluttering. There's also a small red spot on the ground which must be Pipi waiting for me. It is still sunny and hot but there are clouds gathering from all over.

When I finally reach the high point above the lake close to Pipi I start jumping up and yelling "Yuppeee!" It's gorgeous, it's unbelievable! Crazy. It's so beautiful and wonderful. I'm hyper. And I don't think I suffer from any altitude problems.

We are at 4920m actually a bit higher since there's a steep drop to the lake from here. A very intense blue, the lake stretches as a long wide patch to the distant ridge on the horizon. It is fed by several glaciars on the left and only has a nice flat shoreline on the right. Actually one of the glaciers on the left ends in the lake; it's a big steep ice wall several meters high. From time to time big chunks of ice break off and fall into the lake with a big noise.

When I arrived Pipi was crouched down waiting and obviously freezing. "Pipi, you're freezing. You're cold!" He confirms and I quickly put down my pack and open it. "Wait a second!" Then I pull out my primaloft jacket and the warm Scholler gloves and hand them to him. "Put these on. I want to stay here for a while."

Pipi puts on the jacket and gloves while I pull out Pepe from my bag. I place Pepe on one of the many cairns and take a picture with him and the lake in the background. Then my flashcard gets full and I need to change cards and save the pictures on the harddisk. So here I am at over 4900m copying pictures from the card to the harddisk. In the meantime we eat some chocolate and biscuits I had bought in the event of camping. I can see Pipi is slowly warming up.
I set up the tripod and take a picture a picture with the three of us - Pipi, Pepe and Didi. That's the nickname Pipi has given me. Didi means sister and is the familiar way to address any woman here. For example at the market a local would ask the woman selling potatoes " How much do you ask for the potatoes, sister?" What this means is that basically every porter, guide or other local knows my name :-) And I have to make distinction between Didi and Didi :-)

After the pictures get copied and I can put harddisk and stuff aside I am still jumpy and hyper and take a few more pictures. I don't want to leave in spite of the chilly wind and the fact that the clouds have just become compact above us. So I run around and jump around some more before I pack and get ready to go back to the lodge. Pipi is anxious to leave.

Some facts about the lake - 4 km long, 85m deep, highest altitude in the world 4919m. I forgot volume and other data but I took a shot of the information board.

As we slowly head back I take some more pictures. I never get enough pictures. The tiny blue flowers that I admired on the way up, the glaciersnow on the right, Manaslu in the far distance in haze. We can see Chulu and Pisang peak as well in the distance and some others Pipi can't name and then Khagsar, Gangapurna and Tilicho close by.

We get to see some mountain goats on the way back - Pipi spots them. As we near the lodge the ridge in front of us gets closer and closer. The scree slope I came down yesterday looks quite impressive.I'm starting to wonder how I came down. It's just a matter of perspective, actually. I know it's not as steep as it looks from here.

We arrive at the lodge at 1 pm. Good timing. It took us about 3.5 hours on the way up, spent about 1 hour at the lake (I would have spent a day, but wasn't sure about the weather) and then 1.5 hours down.

It is sunny and hot again and so we can enjoy lunch outside with a great view. The women are busy washing and cleaning windows. We just eat our lunch and hang around lazy.
Around 3 pm it gets windy and soon it starts raining again. I go to my room and read for a few hours in my sleeping bag.The book is fascinating, I enjoy it very much. It's incredible what these people went through in their quest to reach Lhasa in the second half of the 19th century when it was the "forbidden city".Weeks and months of hardship in freezing temperatures, deep snow and close to starvation Westerners have attempted to reach the place and discover its secrets. "Tresspassers to the Roof of the World".I like the title very much.

The rest of the day continues similarly. Dinner again (again daalbhat) then a few ore hours of reading before going to sleep. I love this rhythm. I've never slept this much since my childhood, I think. Or had the time to read quietly for so many hours a day since my years in University...