Everest Trek: Crossing Cho La Pass

We left Gokyo in the afternoon and had a short day’s hike back the way we came and then east across the Ngozumpa Glacier.  It was an eerie walk as it was very cloudy, we couldn’t see much and we could hear lots of small rockslides and ice falls around us.

We stayed in a small village just off the moraine and had an early night as we knew we had a long and tough climb the next day over the Cho La pass.  We had fine weather in the morning, however as we neared the pass the cloudy came in and we even got a little snow.

The pass itself was steep and contained a lot of loose scree and rock – a real gut-buster towards the top.  At the top of the pass we celebrated our achievement before walking up onto the glacier.  It was very cloudy and our guide Shiva got a little lost and we missed the route down off the glacier, but we eventually found the path.  From there it was a couple of hours walk to the small farm settlement of Dzonglha with just two lodges there.

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Our first view of Cho La, wedged between a couple of big mountains.  That’s Cholatse at right.

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We made it!!!                                        On the glacier.

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Dad coming down off the glacier.            The view of Cholatse from our lodge.

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Our lodge at Dzonglha, looking west back up towards Cho La pass.

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