Day 22: Nangkartshang

We woke up at 6 am to a frosty morning, with our window iced over blocking our view out to Ama Dablam. Hauling ourselves out of the warmth of the sleeping bags and into the frigid air, we downed a feast of porridge, omelette, jam toast, fried potatoes and tea for breakfast, before heading out to tackle Nangkartshang. The conditions were once again lovely, and the weather here takes a quite consistent pattern: beautifully clear in the morning and clouding over by mid afternoon without fail, hence our eagerness for an early start.

The 732 m of steep, steep ascent up to Nangkartshang's 5073 m pinnacle was a laboured one, with us stopping regularly to catch our breath in the thinning air and question quite how we could possibly only have ascended about 50 metres each time we'd stopped for a break. Still, the early morning stillness, combined with the peaceful solitude and grand vistas out to some of the largest peaks not only in the region, but also the world, encouraged our efforts. The increased leverage brought us level with some giant glaciers and a great angle of eagle eyed observation over the valley. The views from the vantage point as we broke the 5000 metre barrier were so beautiful in every direction and we agree that they rank among some of the best we've both ever seen. But how were we managing in the altitude? So far, okay. Minus a pang of dizziness from Thomas at the top, which was easily solved with some ibuprofen, we've been doing pretty alright so far (without trying to tempt fate. 🤞) And so, we sat at the mountain's pointy bit for well over an hour, just staring out at the jagged peaks while big birds of prey circled overhead (and Thomas spotted a marmot.)

The route back down was relatively straight forward, and after a spot of lunch, we spent the rest of the day taking it easy, topping up on snacks from a nearby shop and tackling each other's wit with more vicious card games (today I'm the curlywurly. 😔) Thomas also has plenty of fun facts on Edmund Hillary now after having finished his book so hit him up for that if you're feeling nerdy.Read more