Nepal Day 15 - Dzongla to Dragnag via Cho La

 5.6 miles, 3477’ climbing

Tashi Friendship Lodge, 15,397’ elevation

Cho La elevation: 17,800’

It was snowing when we went to bed. We set our alarms for a 5:30 breakfast and 6:00am departure, but Bire warned us that we would check conditions in the morning. If too much snow had fallen or weather was bad, we would stay an extra night in Dzongla and reassess. In the morning Bire said the weather was good, and we were on. For a couple of desert dwellers, the weather seemed questionable: cold, trail covered with snow, low clouds reducing visibility.

The route was marked with yellow pickets. We quickly lost sight of Dzongla in the clouds as we headed up the valley. In places you could see where the trail was under the newly fallen snow, but in some places you could not. A few other trekking groups were behind us, but for the most part we led the way.

The clouds lifted, and we had some beautiful views behind us as we continued through the snow. We put on our microspikes since Bire spotted blue ice lurking beneath the snow. As we approached the pass, only snow pickets were visible to indicate the route. Three young men passed us, but soon they floundered wondering whether to go left or right. Bire led the way up the steep final snowfield, carefully probing the snow. I think the independent trekkers and even the other guided groups were holding back to let him do the hard work of locating a safe trail. We traversed up some rock and then grabbed a fixed cable up to the actual pass. The cable ended before the last slippery, rounded step, but Bire was there to give a hand. Cho La pass was a small area with prayer flags and, strangely, an electric outlet and usb charging port mounted on a post with a small table. A few trekkers reached the pass from the other direction and few came up behind us. We joked about having tequila shots at the small table. 

After high fives and a couple of photos, we headed down the west side of the pass. There was a long section of cables with a few slippery gaps. We carefully passed those ascending. Finally we reached the rocky shoulder of the hill where we could walk more easily, winding around some boulder strewn canyons. We stopped for our box lunch: Tibetan bread, nak cheese, a hard boiled egg, and a small snickers bar. Microspikes came off, and we continued the long walk to Dragnak. 

We had to climb a couple of ridges, fairly tiring. We saw a bunch of Kongma on the hillside. Finally we walked down a rocky path next to a rushing creek, and we had our first view of Dragnag where the canyon opened up. Impressively long strings of prayer flags were strung across the village. We saw even more Kongma here, squawking and chirping and flapping their tails.

The Tashi Friendship Lodge had a comfy dining room, toilets that actually flush as opposed to requiring a scoop of water from a bucket. It’s somewhat off the main routes and a charming place to stay. We saw no yak trains, no ponies, no helicopters, no porters that weren’t part of a trekking group. It’s such a contrast to the Khumbu valley with its expeditions gearing up.