I was trekking in the Himalaya Mountains hiking there by myself. Another day high up in the mountains made me very emotional but it was probably a sign of the height or of the amazing things that happened.
THE EXPERIENCE
Plan for the day
After some breakfast with the people from England I had met last night, I left to go to the fifth lake at around 8:45am. I asked them if they wanted to trek there, but some didn’t feel so well and they wanted to chill. The other half went up to Gokyo RI in the morning. Unfortunately, the plan for me was to go after the fifth lake.
Trekking to Gokyo Fifth Lakes without a plan
While I was hiking, I didn’t know where I was going and the path to the fifth lake was not really obvious, so at first I was just following a direction where I assumed I had to go. I was hiking all by myself in the Himalayas not knowing whether I was going the right way. The uncertainty was whether I would find an easy back to Gokyo and I didn’t see another person for the first hour until I met Jordi from Spain. He didn’t mind going together. I then found out that he was actually trekking with two other guys from the UK, who I got to meet a little later. They trekked really fast and I couldn’t imagine that they really enjoyed it. When I first saw them, I was freezing for them as they were hardly wearing anything – typical English. Ha ha, they never seem to adjust to freezing weather. Not in England and not even when traveling. I know because I had been studying in the UK for the past three years. However, I still enjoyed the beautiful snow covered scenery along the way.
The Gokyo Fifth Lakes
It was a pretty flat hike and sometimes unclear which way to go, but after passing one lake after the other, we finally made it to fifth lake after around 2.5 hours. We chilled and enjoyed amazing views over the lake and Mount Everest, which you can see in the background. It’s always worth putting in some effort to get views like this especially after the cold nights I suffered. Ha ha. So here was the reward.
Eating Spanish cheese in Nepal ?
We were lucky because Jordi from Spain had only arrived in Nepal a few days ago and had brought some Spanish cheese and bread, which he shared with us – very nice of him and a very yummy snack with a beautiful view over the lake and Mount Everest so close – wow!
We stuck around for a while doing pretty much nothing apart from enjoying the views and sometime we threw a rock into the lake, which smashed the ice frozen surface, creating this amazing “plop” sound.
Heading back to Gokyo
We started heading back together but all of them hiked really so fast that I lost them and I didn’t care because I didn’t want to rush. I took a break to enjoy another lake and had another snack. They didn’t even wait or look behind them, which I didn’t understand. I know we didn’t “really” come there together, but leaving somebody behind is not really nice – a little bit strange in my opinion, but whatever. It’s not like I cared, but it didn’t seem that they didn’t like me because we had fun together before – oh well, I still had fun even by myself again.
On my way back, I bumped into most of the English group, the ones who didn’t wanna come in the morning; they had spontaneously decided to come and apologised, but that was okay because I wouldn’t have gone so late. I got back to the lodgearound 1:45pm. The hike was really exhausting, and I therefore needed a boost of energy and decided to have a massive portion of plain pasta at the lodge.
A meeting that made me change my mind
I bumped into an American guy, who was so young and therefore hiking with a personal guide. They gave me the idea of going up to Gokyo RI to watch the sunset. The initial plan was to do it tomorrow but I thought it can’t be too hard and spontaneously left a little bit after 3pm.
The hike up to Gokyo RI to 5,360 m
It was a long way up and very steep but I kept walking steadily without a break although quite slowly. This is pretty important because I was going to a high altitude (from 4,790 m to 5,360m) and the air got thinner and thinner. Therefore it got harder to breath, which made it even more exhausting.
On my way up, people who were already on their way down continually told me, “you are almost there !” Yeah right, I thought and looked up again to see how far it still was. I then bumped into the Canadian couple, who told me that people absolutely bullshit about how long it takes to go up. I didn’t think I was too tired after the first hike today but when hiking up, I realised my legs didn’t want to do what I wanted and I stumbled a couple of times.
Reaching the top at Gokyo RI at 5,360 m
I actually made it after around 1.5 hours without having a sit down break. When I reached the top, I was so happy and couldn’t believe what I saw – absolutely spectacular. The feeling started in my stomach and went all the way up to my face and I got this big smile on my face and laughed looking at what I saw – happy Tobi.
It is pretty cool to be so high up, having Mount Everest right there and being surrounded by many 8,000+ m mountains. For a little moment I was overwhelmed and wished I could share this moment with my family who made all this possible – I felt so blessed and actually wanted to cry because they were not there. I thought, how did I deserve this and they didn’t…
TW CRAZINESS
You have probably already noticed that I’m sometimes a little bit crazy, so I climbed up this rock close to the edge, a little bit dangerous actually, but I loved the adrenalin rise. The American guy and his guide were also there so the guide came back to take a picture of me.
Sunset at Gokyo RI and the journey down in the dark
The sun was setting and I enjoyed this moment, especially when the sun shined on Mount Everest before it disappeared – it got very cold. This was it, and so with this last image in my mind, it was time to head back down. I actually ran down to get down quickly, but since it was dark I had to slow down. I arrived back to the lodge absolutely exhausted, and couldn’t even sit anymore.
The evening
I had again pasta for dinner with spices and played a fun card game with my English friends. We then headed to the bakery to get something sweet for dessert and headed to bed 8pm.
I TRAVEL FOREVER’s VIEW & RECOMMENDATION
I think this was the most incredible day in the Himalaya Mountains considering the things I had done that day, what I’d seen and how emotional it was being on “top of the world” at 5,360 m with the most spectacular sunset in a scenery that is indescribable. You can decide by seeing the images. So happy about the travel experience and felt so lucky.
#TW
