At 0530 hours I wakened and started to pack after a good night’s sleep despite the extreme cold and hard overnight frost. Ten minutes later bed tea arrived and water to wash and shave in.
At 0550 hours I watched sunrise on Kabru and at 0630 hours had breakfast of porridge, boiled egg and pancakes. At 0715 hours we set off on the trek, first with a slight climb then a descent down a snowy path. It was sunny with a cold wind. A long ascent followed to the next pass and a further descent, very steep in places, on a snow-covered path to river that was crossed. One of the group fell on this descent.
Once across the river there was a very steep climb to the next pass, but some of the group were struggling on this climb. We rested initially in a warm sun waiting for the rest of the party but the cloud increased and lowered which made it quite cold again. We dropped down into the next valley and half way down we were met by the “juice man” who had walked back up the hill with hot juice for us. After drinking the juice we continued down to the campsite where we had lunch. This consisted of soup, chickpeas and some small pieces of fried sausage.
Some new yaks, needed for the higher altitude and a few ponies arrived at the campsite and we said bye to the original yak men who all received a tip.
It was now misty and damp so I wrote up my notebook and read with afternoon tea and biscuits being served at 1600 hours.
At 1800 hours we had dinner and at 1930 hours I retired to the tent to read. The cloud had cleared and it was a starry night. Lights out at 2030 hours. Good nights sleep but it was cold.
Ascent for day was 665 metres with a descent of 835 metres. Maximum altitude was 4556 metres.
