Everest Region December 2003 - Day 8

Chhukhung Ri and Chhukhung

You can see a slideshow of my best pics from Everest on flickr.
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We had great fun slithering up the frozen streams on the way to Chhukhung. The upper Imja Khola valley is really quite beautiful and well worth the extra day. Even in winter it can feel quite warm in the sun. In Helen's and my enthusiasm to climb Chhukhung Ri, we didn't really look for the best starting route, and ended up climbing the 160m scree above the village. Completely knackered by the time we got to the top of that, we admired the already stunning view (below). See the big hill on the right hand end? That's Chhukhung Ri... 500 more metres to go!

From below Chhukhung Ri:
Lhotse, Island Peak, Makalu (in background), Ama Dablam (centre), Mehra Peak (Kongma Tse), Chhukhung Ri, Nuptse behind it and Nuptse-Lhotse Wall.
You can also view it as a QTVR 360 panorama (750kB) if you have Quicktime.

"Oh my gawd!" we said to each other. "It's up there!" With the regular 3 o'clock clouds scudding into the valley below, Helen and I pressed on up the hill. What would normally be an exhilarating scramble became more and more of a grind as we tried to beat the clock of the encroaching clouds. Several times we thought "aw stuff it, let's turn back", but because we kept these thoughts to ourselves - and each thought that we'd be letting the other down - we pressed on grimly until we got to the 5404m top.

This is also viewable as a QTVR file.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.