Another fabulous day. This was the second of three challenging days in a row, and everything went well. We spent last night at a hotel which was a nice treat, but it was so cold in my room and the front desk staff were unable to get the heater in my room working...so they brought me a heated mattress pad...and held their finger to their lips saying shhhh! I guess I'm the only one to get this special treatment!!! Princess :)
I couldn't take off early today as we had two check points to go through. The visa has all of our names on it, and we have to show our passports in the same order as what's on the visa. It's not easy organizing 13 of us to collect our passports and then enter in order...like herding cats!!!
Once we were through the second checkpoint, we were free to go at our own speed. It was 23 km up with 48 switchbacks so we could almost see the entire climb from the bottom. Not sure what I prefer, seeing it all like today of having a long traverse like yesterday where you only see around the next bend.
It wasn't as steep as yesterday, now was it as cold. Eventually I made it to the top and was rewarded with a spectacular view of Everest! Unfortunately my little camera didn't do it justice. It is huge and magnificent and amazing. As we headed down, at almost every switchback we has a different view, so I stopped and took a lot of pictures
We did not cycle past many settlements or people working in the fields today so no children running out to the road shouting "Hello, Hello" like we've had for the past several days. No matter how tired we are from cycling we always look up, wave and shout back "Hello" to all the children.
We are at a great campground, encircled by stone walls which is great because the wind has really picked up, and there are a few scrubby trees to provide some shade. While the sun is up it's very hot, but once it goes down around 7:30 pm it gets quite cool...cool enough to wear a down jacket to dinner.
Tomorrow we will see how close we can get to basecamp. Have a great day everyone!
A fast descent from camp takes us through a checkpoint and to the turn-off for the highlight of the tour: Everest! The early morning sun softens the rugged appearance of the landscape bathing the snow-dusted mountains around us in light. The terrain changes abruptly as we leave the main road towards Everest and the switchback-climb to the top of the Pang La (5205m) is slow going. On a clear day you will enjoy stunning views of the Himalayas at the top of the pass, with Everest directly in front of you. Another fast descent of endless hairpin bends takes us through settlements where local people group together in the fields drinking Yak tea and making bricks. We drop further onto an almost desert-like valley floor surrounded by rugged mountains cycling on to our campsite for the night.
Accommodation: Camping
Maximum Altitude: 5,205m
Sleeping Altitude: 4213m
Distance: 80km
I couldn't take off early today as we had two check points to go through. The visa has all of our names on it, and we have to show our passports in the same order as what's on the visa. It's not easy organizing 13 of us to collect our passports and then enter in order...like herding cats!!!
Once we were through the second checkpoint, we were free to go at our own speed. It was 23 km up with 48 switchbacks so we could almost see the entire climb from the bottom. Not sure what I prefer, seeing it all like today of having a long traverse like yesterday where you only see around the next bend.
It wasn't as steep as yesterday, now was it as cold. Eventually I made it to the top and was rewarded with a spectacular view of Everest! Unfortunately my little camera didn't do it justice. It is huge and magnificent and amazing. As we headed down, at almost every switchback we has a different view, so I stopped and took a lot of pictures
We did not cycle past many settlements or people working in the fields today so no children running out to the road shouting "Hello, Hello" like we've had for the past several days. No matter how tired we are from cycling we always look up, wave and shout back "Hello" to all the children.
We are at a great campground, encircled by stone walls which is great because the wind has really picked up, and there are a few scrubby trees to provide some shade. While the sun is up it's very hot, but once it goes down around 7:30 pm it gets quite cool...cool enough to wear a down jacket to dinner.
Tomorrow we will see how close we can get to basecamp. Have a great day everyone!
the summit
Mount Everest in the background
switchbacks
switchbacks
A fast descent from camp takes us through a checkpoint and to the turn-off for the highlight of the tour: Everest! The early morning sun softens the rugged appearance of the landscape bathing the snow-dusted mountains around us in light. The terrain changes abruptly as we leave the main road towards Everest and the switchback-climb to the top of the Pang La (5205m) is slow going. On a clear day you will enjoy stunning views of the Himalayas at the top of the pass, with Everest directly in front of you. Another fast descent of endless hairpin bends takes us through settlements where local people group together in the fields drinking Yak tea and making bricks. We drop further onto an almost desert-like valley floor surrounded by rugged mountains cycling on to our campsite for the night.
Maximum Altitude: 5,205m
Sleeping Altitude: 4213m
Distance: 80km
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