Day 14 - Beauty contest

Churi Lattar to High Camp

When I wake up at 5:30am it is very cloudy. Soon the mist from the valley is starting to rise and the lodge gets shrouded in whiteout.
I had planned to leave at 7am and ordered breakfast for 6:30. However, my bivvy sack is damp and I want it to dry out first. We end up leaving at 8am. At this time all other trekkers with their guides and porters are also leaving and we end up hiking more or less as a group. Somewhat spread out, but not in total isolation like the days before.
It is quite a difference from yesterday. No sun, chilly and almost rainy. This is the temperature I like best. Therefore, in contrast to most other trekkers, I am comfortable in my t-shirt and do not wear layers over layers of clothes, neither tuke nor gloves.
We follow the trail upstream I hiked on yesterday gaining elevation gently but steadily. After crossing the Jharshang Khola over a wooden bridge we need to go up a steep section. The landscape is more and more arid, there's little vegetation and in this light it all looks pretty grey. At the top of the steep section, in the middle of nowhere, is a tiny hut acting as a tea shop for the trekkers. Everything seems to be about the trekkers up here. Well, almost. A woman sells apples, snack and tea in the hut. Everybody stops for a break.
Pipi and I still have an apple each from yesterday but I feel bad when the other 5 porters are looking at us. Their clients are eating or drinking something, they're just waiting and watching patiently. And resting. I end up buying an apple for each of them and they are very happy. and thankful.

From here on the vegetation is even scarcer along the deepening valley. The other side of the river is suffering badly from erosion, long steep bare slopes of scree. Our side isn't spared either and we traverse a shorter landslide section. It is negligible in comparison to the lower trail to Tilicho lake. Shortly after (at 10:20am) we reach Thorong Phedi which looks like the end of the valley with the big rock walls behind it. The river here is no more than a creek, but the shape of its bed, the erosion and depth of the valley provide hints as to how it can look like in spring whe all the melting snow contributes.

Thorong Phedi is nothing more than 4 lodges in a sheltered spot overlooking the valley. Ever since the lodges at High Camp have been built less people stop here overnight. However, everybody stops here for a break before the last steep section to High Camp. The place sits a 4400m and therefore is a good place to stop overnight for acclimatization purposes.
At Thorong Phedi all trekkers and their porters and guides are again reunited in a small dining room and chatting, drinking tea and resting. We are probably some 40 people in total today. It's been an extremely easy and short hike so far and so I am restless. I don't need tea or rest but I stop. Pipi needs to socialize. I do that much less but I tend to stick to the German couple from Bonn which I met the day before.

Finally, half an hour or so later we get up and start the final ascent. It sounds so much more impressive and dramatic than it is. Especially without the magnificent views of the glaciated peaks. We are going up a steep bare wide slope on a good trail with many switchbacks. The slope is steep and to our left there's mainly scree and rocks, but the trail has even spots where you can stop and rest. I repeat my mantra continuously counting 100 steps and stopping to breathe and so the climb goes fast: 350m elevation gain in 1 hour.

We reach High Camp at 4850m at 11:30. Not even noon! Why were we in such a hurry, Pipi ? Never before did we reach the destination of the day this early.
The lodges at high camp look like North American motels. Long flat buildings with many identical doors at equal distance from each other. The only difference is that there are no showers. The toilet is just one outside to share by everybody. But the views are spectacular when the weather looks good.
This time the weather doesn't look too good. Actually, it soon starts raining. Fortunately by then everybody - or almost everybody - has reached the lodge. The dining room is packed the kitchen staff is busy like noplace else. All the time someone brings a tea or soup to the dining room.
After settling down in my room I take my diary and go to the dining room to have a tea and a soup. I watch the people around, how absorbed they are in socializing most of them. I notice the rain outside turning into wet snow and I can imagine how heavily it snows higher up. Visibility is low, maybe 100m or so.
I'm thinking about all the infrastrucure that has been created for the tourists. The lodges so far reminded me of the huts in the Alps, there's clearly some inspiration there. Here, I notice again signs of mass tourism, or mass trekking for that matter. This lodge only is offering electricity and room for 110 people - it must have required an enormous effort to bring all the materials here and build this. The rooms are very austere, like in most other places, including just 2 beds, but there are clean sheets and some blankets. All this has been carried up here and someone has to maintain. Not to mention the food and bottles of Coke and Sprite and Tuborg beer which are everywhere available. And the different sortiments of cigarettes (oh yes, Marlboro and other familiar brands). You can also find whisky and other types of liquor in most places. I'm not impressed, but really disappointed by some of this. The way our culture creeps in with the less positive aspects - to put it mildly - first.

After a while the rain stops and I go out. The clouds are still very low and there's some fresh snow on the ridges. However, the sky looks a little bit brighter. I hope that tomorrow we'll have a clear sky. I don't want to go up to the pass in this weather; it's not because of the weather per se, but because of the implicitly missing views. I am well prepared for cold and snow but I'd like to see something on the highlight of the trek. Let's hope!

Behind the lodge is a hill with lots of cairns and prayer flags on top. It provides great views of the valley and the peaks and mountains across the valley, including the Chulu peaks. Other names I do not remember. The hill is said to be good for acclimatization, so trekkers are encouraged to hike up in the afternoon.
I get to hike it up twice first in search for subjects for my pictures and later for better light for the subjects of my pictures. I am lucky enough to be there during a fair break in the clouds and I am stunned at the beauty of the peaks ahead of me. They are lined up like the women in a beauty contest. You just need to shift your eyes from one to the next and decide. I can't decide which one I like best. They're all glaciated, white and glittering against the blue sky and competing with the bright white clouds in the purity of their white.
The fluttering colourful prayer flags above my head are in stark contrast to the white rooted magnificence of those giant beauties. I try to include them both in a picture without much success.
Some trekkers also come up the hill and sometimes the little top gets crammed. We take pictures of each other and stare in awe at the scenery. Below us, almost vertically below us, lies Thorong Phedi.
I also get a glimpse of Gangapurna at sunset, far away at the end of the valley. That's where we came from yesterday and today...

The rising clouds and mist soon envelope again everything and I'm left in a whiteout. I return to the lodge and enjoy my dinner in a quiet but cold room where all the guides and porters have gathered. Then I manage to read a bit from my book before I decide to go to bed. It is only 7pm, but I know tomorrow we need to get up as early as 4:30am in order to leave at 5am.

However, knowing what a chaos and agitation will there be in the morning with people rushing to go but eat and pay beforehand I decide to get my breakfast now and also pay for the room and food in advance. For breakfast a chapati and 2 boiled eggs will do and I make an apple cider. It is 8pm when I finally get to my room where I pack everythign before going to bed.

I wake up around 11pm. It is hot and I have difficulties breathing. Breathing through the nose, that is. My nose feels totally clogged and so I need to breath through my mouth. That works fine but now falling asleep is hard. I unzip the sleeping bag to chill down a bit. It's snowing outside, it's cold in the room, why am I this warm ? I remember, it's the spicy food that always has this effect on me :-)