I'm on the Road to Renjo La

This past weekend at the Namche lab we had the rare occasion to have a planned three full days off and did our best to take full advantage of it by passing the Renjo La. It is one of the "Three Passes" commonly traversed by trekkers who either don't want to deal with the crowds to or from Everest Base Camp or just have an extra week or so to do it in addition. The word "La" means pass (so saying the "Renjo La Pass" is a bit redundant).

Our first stop - return customers for dal baat in Thame!

To get to pass we first headed up thhe valley that leads over into Tibet that I mentioned a couple weeks ago. The stop in Thame for more open-fire dal baat was a no-brainer. Our Thame Mommy wasn't there this time but her giggly husband was (she was in the fields farming 'taters) and he took good care of us. This time around we also discovered that we were eating at the hometown of Ang Phurba Sherpa, the man who currently holds the record for the most Everest summits. Look him up - he's a real champ.

Further up the valley, approcaching Marulung

After lunch we pressed on up the valley through a couple more small villages towards our destination for the night - Marulung at 4210 meters. The walk up the valley was cloudy but still incredible with dark black cliffs lining a wide glacial valley with vast moraine across the floor. When we got to Marulung we were accepted by an excited teahouse owner - typical travel in the Himalayas means staying in teahouses - a lodge with a restaurant. If you eat in house you usually pay a measly 100 rupees (about $1.25) for a room per person. They make the real money on the food but it was soooo worth it.

Sunrise with Kongde in the background
The best part of waking up!

The next morning we got an 5 am start to get over the pass. We could have started one town closer to the hill but for acclimatization purposes we decided to sleep a little lower in order to keep everyone feeling as good as possible for the climb. Trekking in the Himalaya is often limited much more by elevation than by distance. Symptoms of even mild AMS (acute mountain sickness) include headache, loss of appetite or nausea, trouble sleeping, dizziness, and/or fatigue - all of which make a long day of trekking quite miserable and if they don't abate, such symptoms may mandate rapid descent.

Prayer flags at the top of the Renjo La

The climb was tough to say the least. From Marulung we climbed for just over six hours and shot up over 1100 meters to a height of 5360 meters (17,580 feet - almost exactly the height of base camp) and the altitude was definitely a limiting factor. In addition to fatigue and big increases in breathing and heart rate with the slightest exercise, I often felt sudden attacks of hyperventilation. It wasn't necessarily scary or threatening but it would take a few seconds for my lungs to catch up and relax again. This phenomenon is called hypoxic ventilatory response and it can be measured: experienced mountaineers and Sherpas often have a blunted response which allows them to remain composed and maintain a steady breathing rate at altitude.

View of Everest just over Steve's left shoulder from Renjo La - you might guess it's the highest mountain in the world because you can see it from everywhere

As it was Easter, I brought along my LDS hymnbook and we sang a song from the top. I like to think that our heavenly voices made up for the gasping breaths between verses. After topping out on the pass we had a good long descent to lunch in Gokyo. The descent was actually quite snowy and I got a chance to test out my fancy new boots (Taylor - I understand now). The snow was soft which meant that deviating much from the trail meant sinking up to the knees. It was definitely manageable though and the views more than made up for any inconvenience.

The cirque on the backside of Renjo La - check out the humongous hanging glacier on the leftmost peak!

 The lodges at Gokyo were a welcome reprieve. Hot tea and fried rice was just what the doctor ordered at about 4700 meters after just over 8 hours of trekking over the pass. Gokyo is a lakeside village and is a common stay for trekkers crossing the pass in either direction. The lake was mostly frozen over but at the inlet one could just see a sliver of the emerald green water. Even when thawed, the lake is oligotrophic which means very little grows due to the cold and the altitude.

A view of the (mostly) frozen Gokyo lake

Gokyo is normally a stopping point for trekkers crossing the pass, but as we were feeling particularly glutton for punishment, we descended a bit further to Machermo to sleep around 4410 meters (my highest night to date!). The clouds rolled in but it luckily the trail was easy to find and we beat our lunch host's estimated time by a few minutes.

Bluebird morning after a night in Machermo - 4410 m

Machermo was a great stop - the Yeti Lodge was full, bustling, and made great potato and vegetable Momo's and we made a quick visit to the doctors running the Himalayan Rescue Association post there. The clouds that socked in the night before made for a couple of inches of snow in the morning. The views were stunning.

Descending toward Dhole with Phortse village further down the valley and Thamserku peak in the background

From Machermo, we headed down the valley to join the EBC trail back towards Namche, arriving back in town just under 5 hours and just in time for lunch. I'd hate to go back to the office after such a phenomenal weekend... so I won't! It's back to life in the Namche lab. We've got a children's trek as well as a few Duke doctors along for the ride. More on all that later, I hope you all had a great Easter weekend with friends and family. Until next time,

Namaste