Nepal - Kangchenjunga trek
Day 6 - Toronton to Tseram (3700m) - continued
After a few hours we get to Tseram. It's a beautiful camp.
Lots of clouds are coming in from the South but they separate and leave
us in the sun. I guess that the glacier which is quite close creates
an area of high pressure.
Day 7 - Tseram to Ramche (4300m)
A straightforward walk along the river. Now above the tree line into a more desertic landscape.
As we arrive at Ramche temperatures are lower and we need to cross icy patches from tributary rivulets. We walk straight towards the impressive peak of Ratong
A few people in our group have headaches but no further symptoms of AMS. Sunny and clear day with beautiful views of Koktang, Ratong and Kabru.
A day later I tried to have a wash in this glacial lake...more like a glacial puddle actually. It was difficult finding an unfrozen place but I managed after a while
The photo on the right is one of my favourites. I took it on the moraine above the Yalung glacier. Glaciers in the Himalayas do not look icy because they carry huge quantities of rocks on top of them but below the surface it is all ice.
The peak of Ratong is on the left and just beyond it, at the lowest point, is a pass into Sikkim which gets to Ratong glacier on the other side. Funny in retrospect to think that I was visiting the training camp of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute there exacly a year later.
But even though it is only a few km away it would involve around one or two days of arduous trekking across the glacier (as well as an illegal border crossing).
These photos were taken from the same spot as the photo above right but looking towards the north. This will be our path tomorrow to Kanchengjunga South base camp.
