I survived the mountains! We started at 5am, which was just as well because I only slept in fits and starts through the very chilly night where I had to continually breathe through my mouth to get enough oxygen. I needed to go outside at one point for a toilet break, and I found everything completely covered in frost. It was crisp and magical. A slightly scary moment followed where I lost my bearings on the rocky slope and couldn’t pick out the tents with my torch again. However, having had a fair amount of practice at not panicking recently, I just searched till I could creep back in my sleeping bag again.
As dawn broke, we traversed mountain landscapes around Tilicho Lake to get to the other end of its 4km length, and looking back at what we had to do, I still can’t quite believe it! Dorchi and Syange somehow managed to find trails where to any other eye there were none. We got fabulous views of the lake as the day went on, in contrast to yesterday’s dark and cloudy vista. We raised the prayer flags we had carried with us with the handwritten names of all those who asked for one, and they looked beautiful against the bright blue skies and snowy peaks of the Annapurna range. It was an honour to leave those mementoes behind at those giddy heights. Ozge’s flag and my own fly next to each other, just a whisper from the heavens.
We then climbed gigantic orange rock cliffs, walked on the ice cap over meter-deep snow (that caused us such problems yesterday as we kept sinking!), negotiated 60 degree slopes with slate-type shards so loose they came down in avalanches as soon as you looked at them, waded through ice-mud which needs to be experienced to be believed, climbed snow ridges several metres tall, and then, at the glorious Meso Kanto Pass (5100m), we had to make our own stairway into the hugely steep snow-covered slope that was the way down.
Halfway down, I couldn’t stand it anymore and just sat myself down on my bottom, dug in my heels as brakes and started descending like a human bobsleigh! Once Syange and Dorchi got over the shock as I flew past them with a wave, we were all at it… and it was magnificent! We ended in a soaking wet pile of laughter at the bottom, and there was lots of impromptu singing!
My descent from Meso Kanto La
I had been quite worried about not making it through this extreme experience, with the altitude problems and other physical niggles, but there was a real sense of triumph in my heart as we affixed the last prayer flag rolls at the Pass. We made a glorious installation with the first few rolls at a peak behind Tilicho Lake, ready to greet any other travellers bonkers enough to try that route. In Lonely Planet, it is NOT advised and in fact warned against! My legs are now forged with steel at altitudes higher than Europe’s tallest peak, and my body somehow adapted to around 60% of the oxygen it is used to at sea level in London. If I had not walked this trek myself, I would not have believed it possible. Even hardened Dorchi told me: “Well done!”
Now, in my tent next to an isolated yak herder’s house at around 3700m, I am aware that we only have a 3-4 hour walk tomorrow morning to Jomsom and civilisation. As often happens when part of an adventure is coming to completion, I feel like I am in a sort of transitory state already. One set of rules giving way to another. I just washed myself with wet wipes and brushed my teeth, changed clothes and generally took care of my physical body and appearance. That sort of stuff is last on the list of concerns at 4500m+. I realise I haven’t seen myself in a mirror since I left Manang, and that feels alright. Whatever I see when I arrive at a Jomsom hotel tomorrow will be a surprise!
