Today was the hardest day so far. We woke up at 5am, had breakfast at 5:30 (hot rice pudding) and promptly left at 6am. Sunrise is around 5:15am, so although it was very cold, at least we were walking on daylight. The trail to Cho-La pass starts very easy. A "gentle" climb up a valley with a nice bubbling creek. We were accompanied by Tibetan snowcocks, a chicken-like bird that makes a laughing sound.
After about an hour, we reached the top of the valleys with nice views of the mountains at the front, and the glacier at the back. We could also see see the pass (in the picture at the left is the lowest point to the left). We dropped into another valley where Yaks, Naks, and baby Yaks were grazing. Getting to the pass, requires crossing a few ridges into shallow valleys which started to get a bit tedious. But in no time, we were at the bottom of the class 2 pass. Our side of the pass was snow free, which made it easier, but more dangerous for rock fall. We kept about 15 feet apart from each other and started to climb.
The pass starts on an avalanche chute that was full of debris. This would be a very dangerous area on high snow conditions. At the top of the chute, you move to more solid rock with a hint of a trail all the way up. Resting half way up, I got a cute picture of Sharon and Donna and their companion teddy bears.
We reached the top of the pass, 5340m, at 10:10am. From the top we could see the glacier that we need to cross to get to the other side plus new mountains: Nireka Peak (6159m), Lobuche West (6135m, which was climbed by the assistant guide just before this trip), Lobuche East (6090m) and the perfect pyramid of Ama Dablan.
We had a snack at the top plus the obligatory group picture. I was also challenged by the trip leader to 25 pushups which were easier than I was expecting (even though at 5340m the air is thin, pushups are mainly anaerobic and therefore not so affected by the reduced pressure),.
While we were resting at the pass, a Chinese man, his guide, and a porter arrived. Shortly after a Chinese woman followed, but instead of heading to the rocks to the side of the glacier, she went straight to the bergschrund (the wide gap between the glacier and the rock) that was pretty big and full of water with a thin layer of ice on it. We tried to get her attention and direct her to the rocks on the North side of the glacier but the more we tried to get her to go North, the more she continue going South. Eventually she started going North, but staying dangerously close to the bergschrund. During all this, her partner and the guide did nothing while our group was the one trying to get her to safety. Eventually, her guide stopped eating and went to the rocks and brought her to safety. When she got to the pass, we talked to her as we were worried about AMS. She was exhausted, but she was making sense, although she keep complaining about her guide going too fast and that she thought she saw footprints on the ice and that's why she wanted to cross there. We encourage her to get down the pass as soon as possible and our guide scold her guide for not paying attention to her. I don't think neither her nor her guide understood that breaking through the ice on the berschrund would have been a major emergency.
From the pass, we got on the glacier. The surface was styrofoam ice so it was very easy to walk on it (this kind of ice breaks under your boot, giving you lots of traction). The route we followed was also quite flat with just some minor crevasses that we jumped easily. After 10 minutes, we got to the rocks on the South side and we started descending. On the rocks, the route finding would have been tricky, but the abundance of cairns and the occasional green arrow painted on the rock made finding the way down trivial.
After dropping into the valley, we took it easy, arriving at the Dzongha lodge around 1pm. This lodge is one of the most basic lodges we have stayed with small and drafty rooms and a hole on the ground for toilet. Still, it faces the impressive North faces of Arakam Tse and Cho-La Tse, and has a commanding view of Ama Dablan (22349 ft).
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