Nepal. Three passes. Part 1
Behind us are 350 kilometers of ascents and descents on the Himalayan trails of the Annapurna region... We've completed a good acclimatization, ahead lies the last and most important stage of our speed trek, covering over 280 kilometers... Three passes higher than 5300 meters and the summits of Gokyo Ri and Kala Patthar...
After returning from the Annapurna region, we decided to rest for a day in Kathmandu... For the next trek, we planned to buy light crampons for our sneakers, and I also needed to repair my "Salomons," which were starting to fall apart completely... A full stitch along the sole of both sneakers, gluing the soles, and patching the holes cost three dollars... Interestingly, it was this same guy who repaired my shoes four years ago when I first visited Nepal...
After repairing the sneakers, we went to buy bus tickets for the next morning... Initially, we planned to go to Jiri, but at the bus station, they convinced us to buy tickets to the village of Bhandar, which is located beyond the villages of Jiri and Shivalaya... We agreed because we wanted to avoid paying to pass through another national park, the entrance to which is in the village of Shivalaya, so we decided to bypass this village by bus...
The next morning we headed to the bus station and left at half-past five... The next 12 hours were spent on the bus, covering 220 kilometers of Nepalese serpentine roads and dusty dirt paths... What surprised us the most was the drive along a forest dirt road over a pass higher than 3000 meters, after which we realized our bus could do anything...
Arriving in the village of Bhandar, we settled into a lodge... The next morning, we began our route...
Interactive route map (Alltrails graphs):
In a day, we covered 40 kilometers, stopping for the night in a lodge at a pass with an elevation of 3000 meters...
The next morning... Preparing the main draft animals of the region for cargo transport...
Bananas...
Draft animals in action...
This is how they pave stone roads to maintain connectivity between villages during heavy rains... We witnessed how even a slight rain erodes the dirt paths...
A schoolgirl...
Without entering Lukla, we continued and stopped in the village of Choplun... Rainy weather and muddy paths made it very difficult to move... Thus, we covered 72 kilometers in two days...
Morning prayers on the path...
Passing the village of Monjo and registering at the checkpoint for entry into Sagarmatha National Park, we headed towards Namche... Ahead, the famous two bridges suspended between gorges were visible...
Reaching Namche Bazaar, in one of the lodges, we heard the sounds of drums and horns... Recognizing the Buddhist motif, we headed towards the music... Approaching the lodge, we asked if we could enter... Entering, we found ourselves surrounded by Buddhists who were sitting at tables and reading sacred texts to the rhythm of a drum... We offered to play our mantras for them, and they agreed... And so we waited for the Buddhists to pause so we could start our mini-performance... One of the lodge owners approached us and asked us not to play... It turned out the Buddhists had been invited for a four-day ceremony of mourning, which we had accidentally stumbled upon... They offered us masala tea and sweets... But the most interesting part was listening to the "closed" Buddhist concert...
Yak and bull pasture...
Passing the village of Thame, we headed to the last camp before the Renjo La pass - Lunden...
The good acclimatization we got after 350 kilometers of speed trekking in the Annapurna region allowed us to handle the climb from 4300 meters to 5390 meters without any issues... No symptoms of "mountain sickness," it felt like we were in our native Carpathians...
Ahead, the Gokyo lakes...
Descending from the pass to an altitude of 4800 meters, without entering the village, we started the ascent to the summit of Gokyo Ri...
The summit of Gokyo Ri (5360 m)... From here, we got our first views of the eight-thousanders - Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu...
Our legendary 28-liter backpack from Travel Extreme... Besides our belongings, we packed nine days' worth of food (breakfasts, lunches, snacks, tea, and several dinners from "Yidlo"), two gas canisters, a burner, a pot, and a ukulele...
Descending from the summit of Gokyo Ri, we continued our journey past the village of Gokyo, through the glacier, to the village of Dragnag...
That's what glaciers are like...
For the fourth night, we stopped below the Cho-La pass in the village of Dragnag... Ahead are two passes and the summit of Kala Patthar... Nepal. Three passes. Part 2
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