Ghoda Tabela - 3,010 m - 23FEB14

 

I went to bed last night determined to head straight downhill.  But, Jean and Terese, the French couple, said they were headed for the summit of Kyangin Ri. 

 

I could not help thinking, "Am I going to regret, for the rest of my life, not doing this 740m ascent/descent?"  Letting my male pride convince me I could do it, I said, "So am I!"

 

I could already see the dark, ant-sized figures of another group halfway up the gigantic, snow-covered mountainside.  It did not look that difficult.  It was.

 

We were walking up rock strewn mud trail, or hard, calf deep snow pack, nearly straight up.  At nearly 13,000 ft the air is already thin, and with each step, it gets thinner.  It was extremely slow, and I kept thinking of my knees descending.  At about mid-point, I told Norsang that I should go down, due to the difficulty and the potential knee issue. 

 

He took us down a different route, for the view, across a boulder field of huge jagged rocks.  I asked him if he had seen the movie of the young climber who had to saw his own arm off after it had become stuck in the crevice between boulders like the ones we were walking across. 

 

We took photos with Langtang Lirung (7,227m) in the background, and began traversing down on tiny terraced paths created by yak and horses over the centuries. 

 



 

  

 

 

Finally back in Kyagin Gompa, we had coffee at the guesthouse where we had spent the night, then began our descent to this village (about 300m below last night).

 

The general direction is downhill, but there are always climbs, steps or rock trails, to get to the next stretch of downhill.  I met some more Australian college age people who had been on the IRCTC (Indian Railroad) and had some of the same impressions of Varanasi, Buddhism, the railroad, Indian culture as I did.  They had been at it for several months. 

 

The sky here is so beautiful at night.  I have never seen the starry blanket so clearly nor so populated.  Not even from the high Sierra Nevada.  I wish it were not so bloody cold, so that I could go out at night and gaze for awhile.  I'll need lower altitude for that, although I think altitude, less atmosphere, is what makes it so clear.  Last night I had to get up five times to pee.  Here the toilet building is many steps away from the sleeping building, so I'll just pee near this building and stargaze in the process.