The view as we climb out of the tent is amazing.
Where there was nothing but cloud yesterday afternoon now stands the entire Ganesh himal range against a clear blue sky. Breakfast is a very civilised porridge and cup of tea in the dinning tent before we begin climbing on the narrow track. Our guide Rinzin points out a distant spot on the ridge above which is to be our campsite at the end of the day. It looks more than a days walk but then looking back down to where we came from seems more then a few hours.
We spend the morning climbing into the Rhododendron forests. By lunch we’ve climbed over 500 metres towards the alpine ridge. After lunch the track became stepper still until finally levelling out for the last hour or so before camp.
Having done two other treks in Nepal the main difference doing this trek is the remoteness.
Unlike the Annapurna region we don’t pass any other westerners or tea houses along the way and the locals seem to be much less accustom to encountering westerners then other parts of Nepal, like the three local farmers we meet at lunch today. They happily stood nearby and smoked their pipes content just to watch us go about our business.
The campsite tonight is high on an expose ridge with patches of snow nearby. We arrive in a thick cloud but like yesterday expect this to clear in the morning for another postcard like view.
The temperature again drops rapidly when the sun goes and tonight it seem especially cold as the wind constantly streams in from the valley. While it adds an unnecessary chill, the wind does at least drown out most of the communal tent snoring.
It’s a shivering night of readjusting my sleeping bag and adding layers for warmth.
