Day 14 - On Top of the World - Dole 4200 metres

At 4.30 a.m. it was all systems go at 4.31a.m. it was a complete whiteout and mission abandoned and at 6.00a.m. it was mission back on as the early sun started to lift the heavy mist - needless to say I was exhausted and we hadn't yet climbed a damned thing !

With some gluggy sustenance supposedly resembling breakfast Birbal & I embarked upon our climb to the peak of Goyko RI a 2 hour incredibly steep climb on a path of switchbacks that progressively unveiled an amazing panoramic vista of the Himalayas.

First came the Emerald coloured Goyko Lakes followed by the expanse of the Ngozumpa Glacier then the mountains bordering the Renjo La Pass before on arrival at the 5,350 metre peak an amazing vista of the big players Everest, Pumori, Lhotse, Nupste, Cho Oyu, Makalu and many others sitting above a sea of low lieing cloud

This was as good as it gets in Himalayan panoramas

After my sensory overload it took an hour of knee bracing to descend to Goyko where we stocked up on some soup and tea before heading back down the Goyko valley !

I was ready for asleep after the 4 hours on Goyko RI but we still had nearly 5 hours of trekking to go first returning to Machermo in the biting conditions before continuing further down the valley to Dole arriving close to 4.p.m. pretty much fully stuffed !

A hot lemon drink and it was time for a reast before returning to the dining room to catch up with Birbal and a Russian couple and their adventures !

As per usual there was little on the calendar other than dinner and bed with Birbal getting pretty damned good at winning two handed 500,!

With another section of downhill we are now only a solid days trek from Namche and catching up with Monika and our porter Tilak.