Highest lake and death drops. Day 14

We awoke to a sucker hole in the sky. It was seated directly above us. It was 530 AM, and it was still damn cold. We sprung to life, throwing on boots and puffy jackets and headed to breakfast. Fed and happy, donning our trekking poles and gaiters, we headed out. I must admit, I feel like a goof when I have gaiters on but they are an amazing piece of gear. We traversed while gaining altitude for an hour. From our hotel that resembled more of a prison camp to the World's Highest Lake would require gaining 900 meters of elevation. At the top we'd reach 5100 meters (just over 16500 feet). We hit switchbacks and snow in an hour. One more hour and we were on a ridge. We walked around on that ridge for a little while, putting in a bootpack and being pelted by increasing gusts of wind. To be honest, we never saw he lake. It lies frozen, covered in snow for almost the whole year. We saw where the lake would be, large icefall from the surrounding mountains touched the flat surface of the snow. Our sucker hole stuck with us almost entirely. We turned around. The HRA doctors were on the switchbacks as we descended. They were concerned about weather. We had timed it perfectly (I am learning that everything in life is about timing) and made it back to base camp, sun still shining, in time for lunch.

Not wishing to freeze for another night, we quickly paid our bill and headed down the valley. We passed through the infamous (and signed) landslide zone again, problem free and snowflakes started falling. Luckily enough, this was not meant to be an epic quest in a blizzard. It fell slowly and gracefully.

Mom: stop reading here (never works right?)

One interesting part of the day, (as if it wasn't good enough) included what I have been calling the death ledge. Coming back to Shree Kharka, we chose a high trail instead of the low trail we used to head up valley. We passed a couple who seemed very relieved (hindsight it all adds up, they just got passed what we were about to encounter). The trail quickly dropped from the ridge line, making a quick zig and a steep zag, ledging out above a sheer cliff. I said, "SHEER PRECIPICE!" to Kevin, before realizing how nuts this was going to get. A recent landslide had torn through this gully, ripping a suspension bridge from where it was built. Metal cable remnants hung down the cliff opposite us; a grim reminder of what Mother Nature is capable. We dipped down and both realized that the trail was about hip wide, cliff uphill and oblivion on the downhill side. Not only that, it was also covered in fine little pebbles that acted like ball bearings...like some cruel individual (rascally Mother Nature) had greased up the trail. When heading uphill, this isn't as difficult. Downhill is a different thing. You have to keep you weight over your hips or even a little more forward. If you are back at all, your feet will slip out from under you. It occurred to me, "if you mess up here, you could die." Of course at this point there is also no turning back, it is far too narrow a spot for that. Slow, decisive movements were our best friend. Erosion had removed two separate spots and the only option was to bear bug the uphill cliff while getting a foot to the next spot of ledge. Obviously, we both survived and afterwards looked up and remarked how f-ed up it was. Everywhere along this trail are signs, "beware of this," or "trichy that." Nowhere did we see a sign, "life threatening death cliff," or "outcome unknown, please turn back." May not have been able to check off being trapped by snow, but we can sure as hell check off Nepali cliffhanger.

Today was a long day. Total elevation gain 1100 meters, loss was 1400 meters. Topped out at 5100 meters. Hiked several, yet unknown kilometers/miles.