Trekkers Reach Gokyo Lakes

Cho La Pass. Jere­my Allyn photo

Greet­ings from Gokyo! First of all, sor­ry for the big delay in com­mu­ni­ca­tion. Most every form of con­tact has either been super spot­ty or non-exis­tent since Ding­boche. I’m proud to say that Chris, Brad B. and I — along with most of our staff — have crossed Cho La Pass and are now in Gokyo, near the ter­mi­nus of the Ngozum­bu Glacier.

Cho La Pass. Jere­my Allyn photo

Most of our team left after reach­ing Base Camp, with Joe and Gelu opt­ing for the low route back to Nam­che via Phortse. We’ll reunite with them in two days and trek the final leg to Luk­la together.

Back­ing up a bit.…after Teng­boche we made our way to Gorak Shep via Lobuche. The new Earth guest­house was a nice respite before 17000 ft. Gorak Shep — which is typ­i­cal­ly cold, windy and a like­ly place to catch some sort of sickness.

The team on Kala Pat­tar. Jere­my Allyn photo

After sum­mit­ing Kala Patar, we made our way along the mighty Khum­bu Glac­i­er to Ever­est Base Camp. It was a warm and sun­ny day, we left some offer­ings, and played a bit of fris­bee until I smashed it on a sharp rock.

The team at Ever­est Base Camp. Jere­my Allyn photo

Once split­ting with some mem­bers of the group, Brad, Chris, Dawa, Kaji and I turned the cor­ner on a beau­ti­ful high tra­verse below Cholatse and Taboche to the amaz­ing small vil­lage of Dzongla. Next day was Cho La.…it was snowier, longer, hard­er and bet­ter than we all expected.

Porters en route to Dzongla under Cholatse. Jere­my Allyn photo

After five days over 15,500ft we were all well accli­ma­tized and mov­ing well. The back side of the pass was quite icy and we were all glad for cram­pons or micro spikes. Thang­nak is anoth­er super nice high vil­lage — away from the crowds of Ever­est Base Camp clean and com­fort­able. This morn­ing we tra­versed the Ngozum­bu and in an easy three hours made it to Gokyo. The lakes have yet to freeze and Cho Oyu is loom­ing large up val­ley. Time for my first show­er of the trip!

~ MM Guide Jere­my Allyn

Brad, Chris, Dawa and Kaji at the Gokyo Lakes. Jere­my Allyn photo