EBC Day 9 Gokyo – Trangnag

After almost a full day recovery spent fighting for WiFi connection, sleeping, eating and drinking tea, today was to be a pretty short day crossing east over the Ngozumba glacier (the largest in the Himalayas). Having been able to view the route yesterday from The top of Gokyo Ri, I had some idea of what to expect.

Firstly back to the lodge/tea-house and some more detail on how they work. In essence they are closest to a Youth Hostel in the UK, offering simple bedrooms (2-4 share) with no electricity points, just a light. The beds have quilts but I have been using my sleeping bag anyway. The rooms are locked with bolts or key operated padlocks. Wash facilities consist of one or two basins with cold water only (you can pay for hot water if you want it). Water supply is gravity fed from tanks to taps feeding basins and outlets for toilets, which brings me onto this often sensitive topic. So how do the toilets work? Mostly they are Arabian squatting plates, like you find in most countries in the Asian region, although occasionally there has been a western style pan, most likely with no seat. You need your own supply of toilet paper which when used must be thrown in a waste bin, not down the trap because the human waste is put to good use as fertiliser in this part of the world. The tea house will sell toilet rolls if you run out, or even if you don’t! There are no cistern tanks so each toilet has a large water butt filled with water and a handy blue (always) jug which is filled to use as a manual flush. There are hot showers which must be paid for – call me stingy but I have my own personal hygiene system which will save me about $80 on the trek and make the one when I get back to Kathmandu absolutely awesome and something to look forward to.

The other main purpose of the tea house is to provide food and drink. There is generally a wide range of dishes including soups, various types of bread (Tibetan is my favourite) and eggs, pasta, rice, noodles, pizzas and dumplings or momos. We have been advised to avoid meat although tuna is acceptable. They do some simple desserts but our appetite has not really stretched past a main course. There are numerous types of tea and soft drinks can be bought also. I’ve given up the poor black coffee and stuck now to the ginger lemon and honey tea. The dining area is usually heated by a stove in the centre (often powered by yak dung) and tables mainly around the edges. There is a counter where the charging facility and other sale items are kept and behind that is the kitchen which is a hive of activity at busy times. Electricity is solar powered, most places have roof panels, but where we are today has large solar dishes which generate enough heat to boil water outside.

The tea houses stock a variety of items that trekkers may need, snack bars, biscuits, spare batteries, alcohol (off limits for us) and they operate a very lucrative device charging service usually from $3 an hour.

Anyway, back to today’s hike. At just over 2 hours the shortest day of the trek. We climbed up away from the lake at Gokyo over the ridge to the glacier. This first part was longer and steeper than it had looked yesterday. As we got to the top, we could see the glacier spanning the valley in front of us like some enormous moonscape, we estimated at least a mile to the other side. First we had to descend steeply from the ridge and keep moving as there was a danger of rockfalls. The path then wound up and down around mounds of rock debris sitting on top of the glacier below. There were occasional pools and every so often the sound of the glacier creaking as something moved. It felt like being inside a very large quarry despite the absence of heavy machinery. Eventually we approached the far side and another steep climb to get out onto terra firma again. The terrain reminded me again of Scotland as we descended gradually down a valley to be greeted by grazing yaks at Trangnag. WiFi seems ok here so a light lunch, rest before dinner and an early night as we start at 4am tomorrow for the hardest day on trek going over ChoLa pass.