We had light rain during the night. In the morning the temperature is nearly freezing.
There is a light layer of snow nearly down to our camp and even a light layer
on our laundry hung between our tents. Bruce, Wendy and Wangdi leave early for a hike
up to the knob north of our camp at about 5000m. Tammy, Michael and Marina walk
up towards the lake to go bird watching in the mid-morning. Michael hopes to
be able to make a better judgement of his acclimatization. Philip takes a
short walk up the valley towards the glacier at the base of Jhomalhari,
but is quickly out of breath though no longer having a head ache.
Wangdi is convinced Philip has altitude sickness. Dodo and Tika prepare
a garlic and ginger stew -- the local remedy for altitude sickness.
Bruce, Wendy and Bryan return from their hike reporting that they
saw a lot of snow but the passes to the east towards Lingshi and Laya look
passable. We have a second lunch of red rice and the cheese and mushroom dish.
During the lunch, Tammy, Michael, Bryan and Marina return from their hike to
the high lake. Michael seems confident that he can make the passes. Tammy
has decided to return with Philip to Paro. We decide to stay another day
and go down with the others if they are blocked by snow. Tonight,
supplies for those going on are separated out and organized
to shift to the yaks which have arrived for the higher passages.
We had 20 horses and seven staff - including a cook -
carrying all of our gear up from Paro. |
