Soggy Moose Travels : REACHING THE HIGHEST POINT ON THIS TRIP

Sheigatse to Xegar:

Last night our briefing from Peter was basically about making things happen in ones life, making proper choices to meet your dreams. He was born into a life of adventure and certainly his fathers achievements made these events possible. The most striking choices were those of his family to help the people of the Himalayas. The building of runways, airpots, clinics, schools and hospitals are a great investment for these kind people.

After breakfast we will start our drive to Xegar crossing over Gyatsho La, the highest elevation on the Lhasa - Kathmandu road at 17,121 feet. This will be a long 9 hour drive. Our hotel for the evening will be the Qomolangma Hotel and we have been advised to lower our expectations. Sounds great to me.

We are prepared to bundle up and have a Milky Way to munch on.

It has been a bit cloudy and hopes of seeing everest this morning are slim.

The first pass we encountered was Cho La, here we took a short walk to 4580 meters or 15026.25 feet, but who is counting the .25.

We descended to our lunch stop. This lunch location really reminded me of canyons in Wyoming. There seem to be dogs living at these lunch spots and today one kinda looked like a Malamute. Here we glassed the hills for more Blue Sheep.

After lunch we were back in the cars ascending the Gyatsho La and park at the summit. Here we had hopes of seeing Everest, but alas clouds filled the horizon. Here we got a bit of exercise as we ascended to a summit near the pass. This was about a 1.5 K climb gaining about 600 feet in elevation. We summited this hill and took some pictures. I enjoyed a Milky Way and Duffy got his picture taken. For me it felt great to be at altitude again, the wind was at 10-15 MPH and the temp was probably 30F. Our elevation was 17628 Feet.

After we got our photos taken with the Nat Geo Flag, we descended and made the drive to Xegar. Here in Xegar we are staying at the Qomolangma Hotel. Here we find a very ornate lobby and are soon checked in and heading to our room. We learn there is no heat in the rooms but we have a electric blanket, we hope works, and a nice comforter. The hot water is turned on after 1900hrs.

After dropping our bags we did our standard walk-about to check out the neighborhood. Well, there is not much here. Across from the hotel is a motorcycle repair shop, a gentleman painting cabinets, and what looks like the local biker bar.

Our briefing will be at 1830 followed by dinner and then quickly to bed. Tomorrow will start at 0530 as we drive to Pang La for sunrise, where we hope to catch the suns rays hitting Everest. From there it is off to a trailhead for a 4-5K hike into base camp at 17,100ft.