Day 9, 3 November Goyko
Since we had such a hard day yesterday Ganesh team decided to change the plan a bit. So instead of staying 2 nights in Goyko and climb up to Gokyo Ri (5 360) we will stay one more night in Pakhding, between Namche and Lukla. But of course if someone wanted to climb Goyko Ri, you could do that!
Heading down to Dole
And take a good guess who wanted to do that…if you know the family Berg . So Svante started early again together with Pasang Sherpa, at 0440. They started their hike up in the dark with headlamps, passing two or three other teams within the first 20 minutes. They withheld a healthy fast pace but stopped regularly to take photos as the sun slowly rose behind the highest mountain range in the world. It started as an orange glow barely visible behind the black pointy silhouette, but soon the sun began to light up the frostbitten ground and the surrounding mountains. Already halfway up the 600 m vertical ascend, the view of Mt. Everest and the neighboring summits was spectacular! After about 85 minutes they reached the summit of Gokyo Ri and the stunningly beautiful 360 degree view of the Khumbo area. Nearly 100 pictures later, they started the quick descend as the sun warmed up the surroundings. One hour and 20 minute after they started walking, they returned to the lodge for tea and, a bit later, breakfast with the rest of the group.
2nd Lake Gokyo
After the breakfast, the rest of the group walked up to the Ngumba glacier. This glacier is the biggest in Nepal and was nice to see even if its cover with stones. As always we saw a lot of Yaks and this nice, funny birds, called Himalayan Snow Cock.
Walking downhill
Afterwards, the whole group began the trek to Dhole and our lodge for the night. The path smoothly followed the Gokyo – Bhotekoshi river on the mountain side, past the three Goyko lakes. After lunch in Machhermo the sun, which has been present every day until now, disappeared behind clouds and fog. Still, it was a peaceful hike down to Dole, tea, dinner, nice conversation and Plump.
//Helena and Svante
