Yak crossing glacial moraine below Lhonak, 800x442 JPEG, 104K
After returning to Ghunsa, we "cut across the grain of the land" to Tseram on the Simbu Khola on the southern end of the Kanchenjunga massif. "Cutting across the grain of the land" may sound like a relatively innocent activity but in this case it meant going up and down about four distinct passes or saddles as we cut our way from one river valley to the other. (The somewhat scary thing is that this was the "easy" route; the Lapsang La route provides an even higher and rockier crossing between the valleys.
Highlights of the crossing included: The scenery from the top of the Tagmalasi Pass which gave us views up and down the Ghunsa Khola river valley ranging from the glacier at its tip to Amjilassa and other towns we had travelled through on the way up; and the campsite at Selene which we used to break the crossing. Though crowded with a large French group, it was situated spectacularly for when the surrounding mountains were exposed by the clouds. The morning provided clear views over toward Makalu in the Everest region.
Young porter, 800x502 JPEG, 105K
Porter above Ghunsa Khola, 640x480 JPEG, 70KFrom Tseram it is possible to hike up towards the base camp for the south route of Kanchenjunga but with clouds rolling in and the pass crossings of the previous day, the group's enthusiasm for a long all-day trip was rather limited. Mostly it was a day for relaxing and preparing for the last few days heading back to the airstrip on which we had landed. The ups and down continued as we were generally cutting across the land as opposed to staying in a river valley.
Departing Suketar turned out to be another exercise in "Will the plane be able to land?" We were certainly ready to depart (as had been the group waiting for the plane WE arrived on.) Suketar is not really one of the beauty spots of Nepal. Daredevil flying spun the plane in through a hole in the clouds, however (notwithstanding that the plane had to come in at right angles to the runway and pivot around over the runway to land) and we were able to return to Kathmandu following a not-so nostalgic stop in Biratnagar.
