We awoke at 3am to do the climb while the snow was still hard. Our horsemen had been over the week before, so we knew it was possible, but in this season there was still a lot of permanent snow. And we had no idea how much new snow might have fallen in the storm of the previous days. This pass can be closed for a day or two by monsoon storms even in the middle of August.
The weather when we awoke was not as clear as it had been the night before. A layer of low clouds had formed, and we feared it might rain and snow again by the afternoon. But as we climbed, the clouds burned off and it became perfectly clear.
We did have to deal with about 30 centimeters (1 foot) of fresh snow, however. Our team, including the ten strong horses, broke trail for what turned out to be about 8 kilometers (5 miles) of hiking through the snow. The steps were wide, especially for Marcia, but we were able to follow them without much trouble. I broke through the old snow up to my hips a few times, but that was more comical than dangerous. We were the only group to cross all day. Our trail will certainly be helpful to less well-equipped parties on the other side, some of whom had been waiting three days to cross the pass.
The Shingo La is impressive in any season, as the trail crosses the tips of several mountain glaciers. In the fresh snow, it was remarkable. Off the mountains above fell countless small avalanches and rockfalls, but these were far away and the trail avoided any dangers.
In the bright sun on the other side, I did become concerned about snow blindness. My sunglasses are okay, but I did not have the proper goggles for walking six hours on bright snow. I avoided any problems by taking care of myself and getting down as quickly as possible. Marcia and I did get mild cases of skiers' sunburn on the bottom of our noses, however.
Our other problem was finding our camp. Our destination Rumjak was already a very long day, especially with the extra effort slogging through the snow over the pass. But then, in a replay of Dolpo's "yak man problem," our horsemen took it on themselves to pass three perfectly good campsites in order to get better grass for their horses. And with them going way beyond our agreed stopping place, even our guide was worried about finding them before dark. Without our camp, we would have been bivouacking without food or sleeping bags at 4000 meters (13,000 feet).
We sent our guide ahead and kept walking slowly for two more hours down the valley. About 5:30 we spotted one of our kitchen staff coming uphill with a pot of juice. Camp was 15 minutes away in a small grassy spot across from a hill where our horses were happily grazing. The horsemen claimed that locals called this place Rumjak. We and our guide were not amused.
We had been on the trail almost 13 hours and were quite exhausted. But we had made it over the Himalayas.
