Day 11 – September 28

Another sunny day (with great views). Which, given the elevation of 4000 m, meant being extremely careful not to get more sunburns. Started the day with a climb to Shree Kharka (3950 m). Ate potato soup in their “resturent”.

Crossed landslide areas. Made sure to cross this section in the morning, as it appears the risk of falling rocks is smaller compared to the afternoon.

Arrived at Tilicho Base Camp (4150 m) and checked into one of the two lodges there. Accommodations were even more basic. Now there wasn’t even a light in the room. Also, there was no place to charge electronics in the dining room. There were just a few low power lights, connected to solar charged batteries. Instead, we got a view of The Great Barrier, just a stick’s throw away. Annapurna I (8091 m, 10th highest peak in the world) was hiding right behind it, out of our sight.

The temperatures kept dropping. When the sun was up it felt quite hot, despite the wind. But as soon as the sun got hidden by mountains or clouds, it got very cold. Add to this the craftsmanship of Nepali workers – windows and doors are very approximately built, with lots of slits – and you get very chilly nights. We put all our stuff on the window sill, trying to minimize the air flow. And.. ehm, there was no other place to put them.

Day 12 – September 29

The night was cold and long. Woke up a few times – probably got bored sleeping. 6am caught us eating breakfast. Packed a few things (left most in the room) and started the hike to Tilicho Lake.

Tilicho Lake is just 6 km away. Yet you have to climb almost 900 meters – from 4150 m to 5000 m. This is one of the highest altitude lakes in the world. The climb was breathtaking. Literally breathtaking. We were barely moving, yet gasping for air. It’s surprising how slow you can get at high altitudes, especially when you are not yet accustomed to that elevation.

The lake had a beautiful blueish color. We could hear the nearby glacier crack. Took a few photos, then started the descent, as we were already feeling cold. The temperature was maybe a couple degrees above freezing, with even a few snowflakes in the air.

Not a lot to do in the afternoon at Tilicho Base Camp. Played Airplanes on improvised paper (we had none to spare). Saw a raven fly off with a bar of soap. Unfortunately, didn’t catch it on camera.

The night before, I saw a huge centipede on the wall, in our room at Tilicho Base Camp. As I had the only headlamp (but with both of us using the light), I ignored the beast and chose to pretend there was nothing there. I knew Andreea would freak out if she saw it. I also considered the risk of it dragging any of us into the night as negligible. But this night, while wearing the headlamp, she saw not one, but two Himalayan giant centipedes on the wall. Needless to say, my plan of not freaking her out failed.