The uphill section of our journey culminated on day 10 with an ascent of Tharong La, the worlds largest mountain pass. We spent our penultimate night camped on the edge of a cliff at Tharong La Low Camp (4500m) with about 100 other excited trekkers.
Overnight the temperature dipped well below zero, the wind picked up and it snowed for the first and only time since we began, however when we awoke for breakfast at 3:30am it was perfectly calm and the skies were clear. The only evidence of the overnight storm was a light dusting of powder which brought the the otherwise dull-grey mountains spectacularly to life - we couldn't have choreographed the weather more perfectly.
After breakfast the atmosphere was tense. Margaret lost her backpack only the discover that she was actually wearing it, Di visited the toilet tent seven or eight times and the large droplet of snot that had taken up permanent residence under Ruth's nose came dangerously close to freezing solid. Kate sacrificed her right hand to frostbite in order to capture this photo of the mayhem. Although it might look like i'm smiling, its just that my teeth had frozen together.
The trail started uphill along steep switch-backs and our group was quickly divided. Rita, Greame forged ahead, Kate and I were next, while all the guides stayed back to look after the slower hikers. We walked with head-torches and despite the cold, we paused for a few minutes at the high camp (4800m) to watch the sun rise.
As we passed 5000m I popped some panadol to dull my headache and although I was also feeling light-headed and a little dizzy, I was doing a lot better than some others. An English couple from a different group had already turned back and we were passed by two horses, each carrying a semi-conscious 'trekker' over the pass. After seeing them I opted to stay a little closer to Kate, a veteran of several mountain climbs, confident that she would be able to piggyback me over the top if required.
Fortunately it never came to that. Although we were trudging along very slowly the time passed quickly and once the end was within sight adrenaline kicked in to keep me upright and functional.
Although the views at the top of the pass weren't particularly special, just a small teashop, a couple of banners and an excessive number of prayer flags, the looks of elation and relief on the faces of the other trekkers brought the place to life. After a quick photo stop, we headed up slightly higher to a lookout over Thorong Peak and Basecamp. It was just possible to make out climbers carving a path through the snow, about halfway to the summit. 5450m was more than enough for me.
Although we didn't actually have a thermometer, we agreed in retrospect that the temperature must have been at least minus 20 and even on a 'calm' day the wind was strong and biting. After about 25 minutes on top of the pass my hands got so cold that I couldn't physically press the trigger on my camera which I took as a good sign that it was time to head down.
The long march back down to 3800 meters wasn't a huge amount of fun, but at least all the symptoms of altitde sickness disappeared. We celebrated that night in the local bar and although one and a half Everest Beers were more than enough, they tasted pretty damn good!
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