Everest Gokyo Ri Trek, Summit Day Gokyo Ri
Woke up to a toasty 30 degrees and that is not sarcasm. It was much  warmer than the summit day on Kala Pattar. Although our guide and the other guides wanted to start early, I vetoed it and we started at about 8:30 because I thought the light would be better later based on my recollections of the light on my previous trek in the Himalayas.

After crossing a stream and a flat area, it was pretty much straight up to almost 18,000 feet. We climbed for 1 ¼ miles and gained about 2,000 feet in altitude. The trail was in better shape than expected, with some lengths containing snow and others clear.

By halfway up Gokyo Ri we were able to catch our first close up views of Everest. About the same time Padam barked that his lungs weren’t working. However, with the weather spectacular beyond belief, we weren't complaining. As we climbed we could make out a series of prayer flags at the top of the rise. Still 1,000 vertical feet away, it looked like a false peak so I didn’t get my hopes up.  To our surprise, when we got there it was the actual peak. The views were all that I hoped for. Everest was up front and personal, a lot clearer that I thought she would be. Aside from the main attraction there were other mountains as well as glaciers all lit under a deep blue sky. I had forgotten the sheer magnitude of the Himalayas. To top it off it was actually warm and sunny with little to no wind. Padam actually had carried a rock all the way up to place it on the top for good luck.

I stayed up there for two and a half hours, longer than any previous summit bid. While some in our party got headaches, I was spared any negative effects of the high altitude. My only concern was where to step, because you could put your foot down and the snow would cave in under you dropping your foot two or three feet down. This happened to me almost immediately as we headed down back to Gokyo. Ironically, my best spill came from just losing my footing on a dry patch of ground. I flipped head over foot. Padam only saw my feet go in the air and thought I was in big trouble, but other than a bruised ego I was fine.

We cruised back to the guest house, had a quick lunch and headed out so we wouldn’t have to spend another night in cold altitude. We had to move quickly thou as we left at 3:00 PM and it got dark around 6:00 PM. At first it was all fun and games as we traversed the valley in the late day sun. However, the sun faded  behind the mountains just as the clouds rolled in. The temperature dropped immediately. Still it was tolerable until we turned and traversed the river. The trail narrowed, became icy, and plunged down on one side to a treacherous drop. We walked really carefully for what seemed like forever. Eventually we saw the prayer flags that we thought signaled the Machhermo village. We were very wrong. There was a complete section of trail that we forgot about. Visibility was poor, the edge of the trail continued to be steep, and we were getting very tired.

Along the way we even got lost. We were not amused by our situation. Fortunately, with the GPS we couldn’t get too far of course, but we also had difficulty finding the trail in the snow. Happily we made it to Machhermo just before the sun went down. We entered the dining hall and it was really warm. To celebrate my accomplishment, I ordered my first non-Nepalese food, spaghetti.

The story continues...