Day #10 - Pangboche Acclimatisation Walk

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As we had trekked only a short day, and to aid acclimitisation we agreed with Dirge our guide leader to embark on an afternoons walk up to 4400m, the height as our destination the next day.

As this was 2 hours and 500m of uphill walking behind Pangboche, I opted to leave my day pack and camera in the lodge and travel light with only 1 litre of water and some chocolate bars (inflatable). Walking was certainly much easier without them I found, though I can hardly complain at the 5-8kg of daypack I had been carrying.

We trekked up the mountain in heavy cloud, passing by 3 monasteries - each being further up the hill than the last. As we progressed higher up the mountain, we eventually lost site of the village below. Pretty much as we reached the 4400m target height, we fleetingly saw a Snow Leopard some 20m away. As quickly as we had seen it in the mist, it was gone. Ramish, our lead guide bolted after it, (the quickest we had ever seen him move) but the Snow Leopard was long gone. Dirge our guide leader indicated it was very rare to see a Snow Leopard, so we felt very privileged to have seen one in the wild. Even if I had my camera with me, it was gone so quickly I would not have even been able to take a photograph of it.

Descending back down to the lodge was an uneventful journey, passing by a precariously placed helipad made of stone on a ridge above the village. I was glad of getting back to the lodge and the warmth. The night at the lodge was as many nights were to be - dinner, cards, reading and an early night, only wearing slightly more clothes to bed than the night before - oh and no Germans hogging the heater.

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