Markha Valley Day 3 - Ganda La to Skyu

Ganda La Base Camp 4500m 28 July 2010 5:30am
I forgot in yesterday's blog to write about the beer. The local brew is called Godfather and comes in 750ml bottles. All the tea shops sell it. Pema tried to persuae me to have a beer at the lower camp tea house but I was emphatic I was going to have it only when I got to the upper camp and the days walking is done. So I bought 2 bottles of Godfather and Pema slipped them into his pack and as soon as the upper camp was in sight went on ahead to help the horseman (did I mention he was deaf as well as not speaking English an I never did learn his name but I'm convinced he is a good bloke) set up camp. Pema noticed the last 20 or 30m I sped up and he called out slowly but I replied " I can hear that beer calling". The beer had been placed in the spring to get cold again. the spring is why we used the upper camp. There is no safe water at the lower camp so you have to buy bottled water.

The guide book doesn't mention the upper camp, possibly because it is about 200m off the track to Ganda La.

When I got up at 5am to go to the loo the moon was lighting up the cam site very brightly. I have seen very few stars. Either it is overcast or the moon is out (or both). The moon has gone behind the hill now but it is still reflecting off the river in the valley below making it look golden. It is cloudy to the east so I think the sunrise may be disappointing. It will appear over the ridge between Rumbuk and Stok (where Numlang La is).

The Ganda La toilet is a superior version to the Jingchan one.
1) It has doors
2) Rather than shitting into the stream it has a pit.
3) It has 2 cubicles (if that word can be use to describe a pair of squat style long-drops in one stone building,

Ganda La 4900m 8:15am
I was first to arrive at the pass. It took me 1 1/2 hours from camp. I arrived about 5 minutes before Gerhart an his wife from Austria. There is a plant that looks a bit like mint growing in this area. I picked some an sniffed it to see if it was mint. It isn't - and it stung my nose. That explains why the horses don't eat it and it is the biggest plant around here. Everything else is cropped to within a few millimetres of thee ground. I also saw 2 marmots but I couldn't get close enough to get a photo. There is a herd of dzo (yak/cow cross) grazing about 10m below the pass. There is still a little snow on the Jingchan side on Ganda La. Unfortunately it is cloudy so you can't see much beyond the valley on either side.

Shingo 4060m 11am
Coming down is so much easier than going up. I'm halfway to Skiu and feeling really good. The headaches I had yesterday are gone. I was so crap when I get to Ganda La Base Camp lasst night I took half a diamox and another half this morning. Today I have no signs of altitude sickness. I will start the diamox again when I leave Markha in the hope I get over Gongmaru La symptom free.

I met a really ol Laakhi women taking her cattle up the valley. It would have been a great photo but at that moment the camera decides the memory card is full. By the time I swapped memory cards it was too late.

Tsarik Camp, Skiu 3300m 2:30pm
This place is crowded. There are over 40 horses and about 10 parties. I made a fairly fast trip down from Shingo. The horses left Shingo just before me an were kicking up a lot of dust. Pema decided to drop back out of the dust. I took the opposite approach and passed the horses, I was about 10minutes ahead of them when I came to a tea tent about 20minutes out of Skiu where Pema suggested we have lunch. The tea house was not open but I was still able to use the tent fr shade while eating my lunch. The horses went past while I was eating but I caught up again just before the camp. The 1.5km from Skiu to the camp took it out of me. It follows the river so would be ever so slightly up hill. I had been balancing my energy reserves to get to Skiu. I had expected the camp to be in the town so I had little left in the tank for an extra 1.5km.

8pm
Charging down the hill has taken a toll on my left knee it is quite saw now. Just about everyone in the camp is going to Markha tomorrow so that will be a fairly full camp too. Pema has overfed me again. I was hoping to loose some weight on the trek but Pema has other ideas. I discovered the pedometer does not record the tiny steps taken going up the passes so I am having to estimate for that part.

A cold wind has come up since 5pm and I think it might rain