I naively thought that crossing the high pass at 15000 feet would be the most difficult day. How wrong could I be! On the map the trek from phedi to ghopte (the next village) really didn't look too bad. How wrong I was! Frozen snow and ice made climbing and descending really treacherous. We really could have done with an ice axe and crampons but just had to make the best of it, especially on exposed slopes. As ever our guide and porter were just amazing and kept us safe in dire conditions. At one point karma insisted on taking my rucksack for me, despite his own load. We finally arrived at our lodge after 8 hours of exhausting conditions around 30 mins before whiteout conditions and a storm that threatened to blow the roof off! But we had a great evening playing cards- England vs Nepal (pairs and then trumps which they won hands down due to our addled brains at altitude (good excuse eh?!)
before retiring to our frozen bedroom for a fitful sleep.
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