18 December 2008
We were allowed a small lie in and left the hotel at 9am and again it was uphill. Why am I constantly surprised by this. We were happily plodding along when we started encountering a lot of ice which was very slippery. We then continued on and rounded a corner and there was a huge almost impassible ice flow where the guides and porters were waiting for all of us to help get us across as it was extremely tricky and any slip involved a very long splattering fall to the river bed below. Hmm not the way I woul want to end the trip.
On the other side of the ice we went down a tircky downill zig zag to cross a bridge, which the porters all ran down wearing all our packs – amazing. At the bottom we had to yep – you guessed it – go back uphill. This time through a landslide area which just added another dimension of adventure.
As there were no teahouses open on the way we cotninued through to the lodge for the night, which is very basic.
SB did the acclimatision climb which went partially up the track we will go tomorrow, I took the easy option and had a rest and read my book.
We all had an early dinner and contemplated the trek tomorrow which I am not looking forward to.