Everest Gokyo Himalayan tahr, not unlike mountain goats The trail to Mong La is much more difficult than it might appear here Welcome to the humble and grand little village of Mong La, a vastly underrated spot that's normally bypassed in favor of sleeping an hour beyond Father and son in Mong La Jerry eating some sort of delicious tomato pie pizza in Mong La A room with a view in Mong La! Mong La at sunrise A view towards the village of Phortse . . . you can get there from here, but it's 1000 ft down, then up 1,000 Ama Dablam from the southern end of the Gokyo Valley Trekking up towards Mong La pass In the mountains of Nepal, everything is carried with a strap over the head, from 100 lb. loads of plywood to this baby in the basket Carrying water is a fulltime job for the littlest ones of the Khumbu A stylish female porter trekking up the Gokyo Valley with what looks to be 80 or more lbs! Dole with the peaks of Kangtega, left, and Tham Serku, right . . . the stone walls in Dole try to keep the unruly yaks in their place Vishnu & Shiva, porters from the Chettri caste . . . they walk to Lukla from their village lower down, to work as mountain porters, supplementing their income as farmers Somewhere in the Gokyo Valley Yet another yak . . . yaks as a rule are only half tame and as unpredictable as a moose One of the turquoise lakes of Gokyo . . . there are five large lakes above 15,000 ft. in the Gokyo Valley, all set in a row and each with its own unique variant on the color turquoise Sawtooth mountains in the Gokyo Valley The Third Lake, near Gokyo Village Cholatse Peak encircled by a halo A very hairy beast blocks the road to Gokyo Village One of the indigenous birds, said to be only in the Gokyo Valley??? The Sherpa twins of the Namaste Lodge, with Jerry in Gokyo Village The proprietors of Namaste Lodge in Gokyo Monte & a chorten as silhouettes on Cholatse Peak Everest from the "easy" Fifth Lake hike . . . this is called Scoundrel's View because the hike is relatively easy in comparison to other Everest viewpoints Gokyo Lake & Gokyo Village w/ Cholatse and Tawache peaks behind - from Gokyo Ri . . . the "dirty" Ngozumpa Glacier, behind Gokyo Village, tumbles off of the 8,000 meter Cho Oyu and is the largest glacier in Nepal Shiva & Vishnu on Gokyo Ri . . . prayer flags are hung at high points so that the wind can easily blow the prayers around the world Everest, center, from Gokyo Ri . . . high winds and steep slopes combine to keep Everest relatively snow-free Sunset view from Gokyo Ri with last light on Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu; three of the five highest mountains in the world Purple haze behind Cholatse & Tawache summits Heavily laden porters having just finished crossing the Ngozumpa Glacier Crossing the Ngozumpa Glacier The scary approach to the Cho La pass, center . . . the pass should be crossed early in the day, before the usual heavy afternoon fog rolls in Climbing the Cho La . . . today it's simply a hike, but in snow and ice conditions, it becomes a climb best tackled with crampons and ice axes Approaching the summit of Cho La, 17, 500 ft . . . taking the Cho La between Gokyo and Lobuche saves three days Busy rest area at the Cho La summit . . . Nepalis are endlessly social, so it's easy to make friends along the trail Super-sherpa on top of Cho La Cho La summit The "trail" from the Cho La summit to the glacier path below . . . in 2000, the glacier met the summit and you could walk directly onto the glacier. . . now however, clammering down to the glacier is a necessity because the glacier has lost 20 ft. of thickness in the past ten years The Cho La glacier Jerry takes a digger . . . Vishnu lends a hand Ama Dablam as seen from Cho La pass Porters crossing a flimsy bridge after crossing Cho La