September 11th- Everest Base Camp Trek: Day 9

What the Hell Were We Thinking...?!

Ok... So everything we have said so far about any part of this trip being "dangerous" or "precarious" or "slippery" or "challenging" was a completely lie compared to today. Crossing the Cho La Pass was the most challenging and scariest part of our trip. But we're getting ahead of ourselves...

Breakfast at an unusually early 5am this morning. We ate up and got ready for the day, still carrying exhaustion from the day before. We set off and begin out walked through a field in a valley. The field was covered in grass with streams running through and beautiful snow-capped mountains surrounded us on all sides.

Walking towards the Cho La Pass, located just on the other side of those
peaks.

We walked for about an hour before we reached a wall of rocks. It was here Holly's previous rock climbing experience came in handy as we had to climb over huge boulders up a steep cliff face. Sounds a bit familiar, but this was far more challenging than before and a lot of hard work. We eventually reached the top and looked out over the other side of the mountain.

The rock pile we had to climb. Scale is hard
to see but most of these rocks are bigger than
us!

A view of the valley we just crossed from a top of the rock pile.

What greeted us was a glacier lying between two mountains, surrounded by rocks on the side closest to us. We were told we had to cross over these rocks and then climb up the ice to the other side of the valley. We nodded, seemed doable...

When we got to the rocks we realised that they were part of an old landslide and had fallen to rest on-top of the glacier. The angle of the wall of rocks we were attempting to cross was steep, about 60 or 70 degrees. The landscape as well was not static so Raju didn't know a path across, he had to clamber over first, testing the rocks as he went and then come back to guide us across. We followed his instructions as best we could. However, the rocks were all resting on ice so at times we would take a step and the rocks we were standing on would give way and we would have to backtrack and find another route. All in all, it was a very terrifying experience. It was the first time we felt in danger and even exchanged a couple "I love you's," just in case.

The last clamber over the rocks and a (very) unflattering action shot of Holly!

Skipping ahead slightly, when we got to the teahouse we were talking to another group who had passed through hours before us. We both commented on a particularly large boulder, about the size of a car, that was perched above our heads when we went across and how it seemed to be supported by very little and how rocks had fallen from under it as we crossed. The other group told us that the guides were talking and think that the boulder will fall tomorrow. We exchanged glances and were very glad we didn't take an extra rest day as we had originally planned.

Back to our story, we successfully crossed over the rock wall and made our way across the glacier. Being Canadians, walking across the ice is nothing for us! The experience of walking on a glacier was still pretty cool. We got to the end of the glacier and climbed up another wall of rocks, this one MUCH more secure than the last. We got to the top exhausted, emotionally drained and dug into our packed lunch.

Coming up to the glacier, happy to have 2 feet on solid ground.

Looking back on the glacier.

Happily across the glacier.

After lunch we headed down the other side of the mountain. Same as before, this involved climbing between rocks and jumping over crevices. It was at this point we really wished we'd hired a sherpa, carrying a 11kg backpack really throws one off when trying to balance on rocks. We made it down the rock face and, thankfully, just had to walk across more fields. Up another small mountain, this time made of sand, and down again until we reached Dragnag. Exhausted, we had some soup to warm up before we retired to rest our legs. The lack of pictures is a testament to how exhausted we were!

Today was a long day, we walked for 8 hours, almost nonstop. Our legs were more exhausted than they've been so far. It was emotionally draining too, crossing the Cho La Pass was frightening and exhilarating. Still, the two of us agree that today has been one of the most fun days we've had so far and we do not regret adding this to our journey. We felt like true mountaineers, we had our bravery and endurance tested and we feel happy and so very proud of ourselves and one another.

An interesting side story is that of Chola, an endearing and emaciated mutt that we ran into at the base of the Cho La pass. She followed us up the pass but we thought we had lost her crossing the loose rocky incline, and her whineing echoing across the pass nearly broke our hearts. We were all the more surprised when she emerged on the glacier, having followed us further still. She kept us company most of the way to Dragnag, and proved a welcome distraction from the monotony of hiking. It wasn't long until we found ourselves daydreaming of taking her with us to Australia, living out of a camper with her, etc. By the evening, she had disappeared, no doubt following another group of trekkers as they left the tea house. I guess we shall have to settle for each other's company for now.

Chola!

Altitude: 4700m
Altitude lost: 130m
Hours trekked: 8
Altitude at the Cho La Pass: 5420m