To summit of Pang La: camping with view of Himalaya mountains

May 17, 2007

We can hear the Kiwi camp wake up about 5am starting with the cooks singing. We stick to our routine and are starting the climb by 0800. The German cyclists are going to take it easy today.

It doesn't take long for the Kiwis to start passing us. Though with the switchbacks we can see them climb. The angles between the switchbacks are not bad, but each corner is rutted with loose sand so that you have to power through and with the altitude, become breathless.

We reach the summit about 1:30-2pm to the applause of the Kiwis and a Dutch tour group. This is the group we saw the first day out of Lhasa. On the way up they had passed us, then when the road was blocked by a truck we pass them. Because of the delay of the truck accident, they are on the summit when we arrive otherwise they would have been long gone. We give them our email address for them to send their pictures of us. The summit is full of land cruisers.

Patrick walks up a road to a higher hill. Eventually everyone is gone except for one Dutchman, white hair and ponytail talking to Rachel about the spirit of the mountains. She shares with him that we have been travelling with a friend's ashes, Dan, who was a mountain climber and we were thinking of leaving him here instead of Mt. Everest Base Camp. He shared that he was "adopted" by a Florida Indian tribe and is a shaman. Then he starts a chanting prayer and tells Rachel "the spirits and eagles are ready to receive him tonight."

Patrick comes back and says he has "good new, bad news" about the camping spot. That high on the hill is an awesome view of the Himalayas, just that we have to push our bikes up the steep hill. It took us both pushing one bike in a section, well worth the effort. We had waited about 45 minutes for the German's to arrive, when we see them near. They want to get more mileage in today, their time is limited.

We are at 5130 meters, pitch the tent and watch the mountains. There are clouds and storms but slowly Mt. Everest shows itself. We can see 5 mountain peaks all over 8000 meters. A land cruiser drives up the road and it is a film crew and a singer from Lhasa. They stay for quite a while, leave then return. Earlier there was a land cruiser with Chinese who offered us slices of radish, then gave us a Red Bull drink and a bag of goodies of peanuts and sardines.

At sunset, we build a cairn with a white prayer shawl for Dan and release his ashes. As a mountain climber, he has a great view, Rachel read the words of the song by Sarah McLaughlin "I will remember you" that had been sung at his memorial service. Patrick hung the prayer flags on our bikes, we plan to give them to Laura.

The wind is strong, as the sun set it becomes colder. We are on top of the world.

Kiwi camp and the start of the switchbacks.

The beauty of a bike...can still keep moving past obstacles...and the help of locals to push the bike around the block

41 switchbacks, spot the cyclists Tine and Joerg

Success, we decide to stay here, the Kiwi's are on the descent

This Dutchman is the man who is a shaman and did a chant then told Rachel "The Eagles are ready to receive Dan"

The "bad news" part of a great camping spot

The "good news" part of a great camping spot

Leaving Dan's ashes on a cairn, Rachel read the song that was at his memorial Sara McLachlan "I'll remember you"

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