Travel Footprints

Trek the Himalayas Day #8: Gokyo Valley, Gokyo Ri
Elevation: 5,360 m
Relative Oxygen Rate: 50% (assuming sea level at 100%)
Price of Mineral Water Bottle: 350 rupees/USD 5

There was a soft knock on our door and a gentle voice saying, ‘wake up, it’s time!’ I checked my watch and couldn’t believe it’s already five o’clock in the morning! The voice that jolted us up to the freezing reality of the Himalayas was of course, Ang Dawa Rai, and he was making sure we got up for the early ascent up Gokyo Ri. He briefed us the night before that the best way to summit Gokyo Ri was to start at day break while the cold wind is not yet picking up. We agreed that was logical but did not realize how hard it was to wake up early in the morning!

Especially at this temperature! Even our water bottle freezes overnight

Mr. Rono was bargaining to extend time inside the sleeping bag, he didn’t want to get up until the sun is already out. On any typical Easter morning, we would have probably been woken up at 5am too. But instead of a salubong ritual between Mother Mary and her resurrected son and attending the pre-dawn mass, we get to celebrate Easter Sunday this year on top of Gokyo Ri – 5,360 meters above sea level – in the mountain ranges of the Himalayas.

But that feat is not entirely a walk in the park. Chin decided to stay in the lodge because of her colds (it was getting harder for her to breathe!) while Mr. Rono and I geared up for the trek. We didn’t even get to have any breakfast anymore – we just brought whatever trail food we have left (mostly GU gels and Nature Valley trail mix bars).

The frozen Gokyo Lake – considered sacred in the Khumbu Region and the highest freshwater lake in the world – looked colder than ever this morning. I looked up and saw the moon still shining down from the clear blue, star-less heavens as sunlight slowly creeps in from the tip of Mt. Makalu. The scenery was beautiful even from the Gokyo Lake vantage point but we wanted to see more.

About 45 minutes into our gruelling uphill climb, Team Canada suddenly came up from behind us. They must have stayed in a different lodge. Boy, they were fast! After 15 minutes or so, the Funny Frenchman also came up from behind with his monk guide singing what seems to me like prayer chants. We gladly gave way to them and their Sherpa as we continue to slowly (but steadily) climb up.

Ang Dawa Rai has estimated that we will reach Gokyo Ri summit in about 3 hours. We are well into the 2nd hour of our uphill trek and we still have a long, long way to go! Everytime I look up, I see a ridge and hope that it’s the summit. Only to be disappointed again to find out there are several more ridges to go. After a while, we met Team Canada again but this time they were already headed down from the summit! What the…?

A group of Germans with their Nepali friends we met at Namche Bazar were trekking as well but we let them pass us. We decided to give ourselves a break and have some of our morning tea. One of our porters was actually carrying a thermos of black tea with him plus some cookies for our breakfast. We were just happy to take a respite from our long uphill trek and enjoy our tea. Especially with all these other trekkers kicking our ass in the climb!

We got back to the uphill climb after our tea break and in a few minutes, we came across the Funny Frenchman again as he heads down a different trail path. Across the distance he shouts- ‘the view was wonderful!’ to which I replied, ‘we still have a few meters to go!’ And he says in his signature French accent, ‘yes you must go! Bistare, bistare (slowly, slowly) you will reach.’ This really is the beauty of trekking in the Himalayas – everyone you meet is a friend who encourages you to just do it! As the Brazilian-American lady we met in Tengboche said, ‘all of us here are survivors!’

On our way to the summit, we heard a helicopter that seems to be on the way to Gokyo Valley. But we were so high up we barely see the helicopter flying below us at all. As you can see in the photos above, the lodges in Gokyo Valley have now virtually become a dot in the horizon. We assumed it was a rescue helicopter and was a bit jealous that somebody is being flown back to lower grounds. Mr. Rono was already toying with the idea to seek for a rescue after we come down from Gokyo Ri. After all, we were covered with our travel insurance. We were surprised that another helicopter came up again after 30 minutes. Two ‘survivors’ did not make it, I guess. We got the low-down from Chin when we came back and found out that they came from the big expedition group. Two members of the expedition group probably couldn’t make it all the way up the summit (Mt. Everest perhaps?) anymore and decided to bail out from Gokyo Valley. Chin was able to capture this video too –

If you don’t see the video, click here!