Day 08, 2 Nov – Renjo-la Pass to Gokyo
We had an extra early start from Lunden; waking up at 4am, having breakfast at 4:30, and leaving around 5:20. It was still dark and we had headlamps on for almost an hour. The sun rising over the mountains made for a spectacular morning. It was still cold until the sun finally reached us a few hours later. On the way up to we saw the dried out Renjo lake.
Preparing to cross Renjo La Pass
To reach the pass we had to walk a very steep trail. Starting at an elevation of 4300m, we walked up 1040m to the pass at 5340m. The last 100m were covered in snow and part of the trail was frozen with slippery ice. Our guides had brought spike shoes, but they were not needed. There was no tea house on the way up (or down), so we were provided a packed lunch. The pass had beautiful panoramic views of Himalayan peaks, including Mt Everest. We could already see our destination at Gokyo.
Team walking towards Renjo Pass
Berg Family
Group Picture at Renjo La Pass
After about 30 minutes of resting and taking photos, the trek continued downhill on the other side. The trail was steep and treacherous. As we were running late, one of our guides ran ahead to the tea house and sent two people to meet us with warm tea and crackers. The reach our destination, we had to go down 550m to 4790m. The Himalayan Eco Resort was located right next to the beautiful green Gokyo Lake.
View of Mt. Everest and Goykyo Lake
Gokyo Lake with Gokyo Village
With active help from the guides, everyone managed to arrive well before sunset. The total trek time was 11.5 hours, a few hours longer than expected. Everyone was exhausted, but happy about the perfect weather and comfortable tea house with a magnificent view of the lake.
// Christina and Tomas
