Overland from Lhasa to Kathmandu
via the North Face of Everest

Greetings from the Himalaya group.

Impressions from Shigatse (Oct 1, 2, 2011):

Gyantse to Shigatse
A short two hour drive across the prosperous agriculture valley brought us to Shigatse, the 2nd largest city in Tibet and the home of the Panchen Lama. On the way, visited a Barley Farm; very fertile valley, old style farming, fertile land and tons of barley.

Festival at Shigatse

monks watching the dancing

some faces from the crowds

Hike in Shigatse
As part of acclimatizing to high altitude, the next day we all went for a hike.

At the start of the hike (we hiked over the ridge behind us)

It took us nearly 3 hours to go from 12000 feet to over 14000 feet, encountering at times treacherous and exposed terrain and of course spectacular scenery every step of the way.

Getting close to the pass
(in the distance, the small green patch before the shadow of the clouds was our starting point)

Once at the pass (banner picture of this page) it took us another hour to descent down to the road head at Ngor monastery.

the final ravine on the descent before we reached Ngor monastery

Coming down was difficult as well for all of us (Sonam and Sanjay excluded) with the many loose stone and the steep gradient. It was by far the toughest hike of our lives. Needless to say we all slept very well that night.