Day 6 — Nangkartshang Peak

4.2 miles
2,300 feet elevation

Today was the hardest day yet even though it was just an acclimatization hike.  We left Yak Lodge at about 8 am and started out on the trail towards Lobuche.  Once we climbed over the ridge that protects Dingboche we took a hard right at the stupa that saddles the ridge and started up the neighboring hill.

Nangkartshang Peak is the summit on the right of the ridge

We knew when we started today that it was going to be difficult.  We were staying at 4410 m and our destination was 5083 m (or just about 16,700 ft).  We had made several similar climbs earlier in our trip but we all expected that it would be much more difficult now that the starting point was over 14,000 ft.  

At first we couldn't really tell how far we had to go.  From the beginning we could see a stupa and strings of prayer flags a ways up the hill but that didn't look like the real summit.  

It didn’t help that the trail was steep and very dusty which made it easy to slip.  The exposure started understandably to make Kate nervous so we kept a very deliberate pace.  After hiking for about an hour we reached the prayer flags — and it was at this point that Rabi our guide pointed to one of the distant hills and said that was our destination.  He kept referring to a pole that I could barely see in the distance that represented our final destination.  

It was also the coldest and windiest that we have experienced hiking.  For the first time, I was wearing three layers on-top and long pants (up until now I had gone with shorts and a t-shirt most days).  The weather stayed pretty clear but we could see clouds coming our way from down the valley.  

In spite of everything, we kept at it passing several false summits.  As we neared the top, the trail largely disappeared and we scrambled over boulders and scree as the metal pole seemed just out of reach.  But finally, after more than 3 hours, we reached the summit.  There we had incredible views of Ama Dablang and for the first time we could see Makalu, another nearly 8500 m peak.  There our guides told us that most people turned around somewhere down below so we were pretty proud of ourselves.  

We rested for a few minutes but the weather started to worsen so we started down.  The descent was precarious but much faster than the ascent.  We really needed to watch our footing and use our hands to safely navigate our way down.  The weather largely cooperated and it wasn't until we were safely down that it started to snow.  

Once we arrived back at the lodge, we had a stirring game of Settlers of Catan.  Cannon has been carrying this game with him this entire trip (well, I guess our porter has been carrying it for the most recent part of the trip) and the first time we played it was in the mountains of the Himalayas.  For those keeping score at home, Grace won.  

We measured our oxygen levels again (and heart rate)

Seth — 74/73

Kara — 79/96

Grace — 79/115

Kate — 79/119

Cannon — 77/119

Tomorrow we will head further up on our way to Base Camp.  We are only two days away.