Day 8 - Ascent of Gokyo Ri

Rob McCarthy
Oct 25, 1988
2 min read

As we had hoped for, the day dawns bright and clear, and we make a fairly early departure to try to ensure that we get to the summit before the expected cloud rolls in. It is a very long way to come, and a lot of effort to exert, to find that the views are obscured by cloud when you get there.

The ascent is steep, with the trail rising nearly 2,000 feet in a mile, so the trail winds backwards and forwards to ease the gradient a little. Jesse, my tent mate, who runs a bunkhouse for climbers and walkers in North Wales, sets off at a rapid pace. He is probably the fittest of the group and also a bit of a loner on the trail, so it probably suits him. I would not be able to keep up with him even if I wanted to, so settle for my own steady pace. Even though I believe I am well acclimatized, walking steeply up hill at this altitude is taxing. After about an hour and a half I reach the summit.

The sky is clear and views are stunning. Along with Kala Pattar, which we hope to climb later in the trek, Gokyo Ri is reputed to have the best views of Everest in the Himalaya, without scaling a major peak, and it would be hard to disagree. The eastern horizon is filled with giants towering above the Ngozumbe Glagier, from Cho Oyo, through Gyachung Kang, Pumo Ri, Changtse, Everest, Nuptse, Lhotse, Makalu, Cholatse, Kangtega to Tamserku. There are few other trekkers up here today, and we basically have the summit to ourselves. We take the opportunity to remain on the summit for most of the morning, soaking up the views and taking photographs. I treat myself to a double daily ration (2 squares) of my Cadbury’s Dairy Milk.

Towards the end of our summit stay, a few clouds start to bubble up, but not enough to affect the view. Eventually we start to make our way down back to camp. Going down is almost as slow and steady as going up. It is hard on the knees and you down want to turn an ankle or something similar. We are a long way from any medical assistance.

The afternoon is spent back at camp relaxing. The day has been everything we could have hoped for.