From Lhasa to Kathmandu

Last October I crossed a good part of Tibet, namely the road connecting Lhasa with Kathmandu, in Nepal. This trip of 17 days began in Lhasa, ancient capital of Tibet, situated at 3,600 m of altitude (11,800 feet). We stayed in Lhasa during 3.5 days for a good acclimatization to altitude before going higher in the tibetan pleteau. During those three days, we visited the Potala Palace (ancient residence of the Dalai Lamas), the Jokhang (most revered religious structure in Tibet), the Norbulingka (summer palace of the Dalai Lamas), and the monasteries of Drepung and Sera.

From Lhasa we went north on a three days trip. During this time we visited the salty Nam-Tso lake, at 4.718 m of altitude (and passing the Largen-la pass, at 5.200 m / 17,000 feet). After sleeping in Damxung, we went to visit the Reting monastery. After that we spent the night in Tidrum, visiting the nunnery. The next day we visited the Drigung Til and Ganden monasteries, to end up in Lhasa at the end of the day.

Next morning we went to Samding monastery, passing first by the Kamba-la pass, at 4.700 m / 15,420 feet. From there we moved to Gyantse, where we spent the night after crossing the Karo-la pass at 5.020 m / 16,470 feet. In Gyantse we spent one whole day, that we used to visit the Tsechen monastery/fortress, the Kumbum (multi-storied aggregate of Buddhist chapels), the Pelkor Chode monastery and the Tibetan market.

Next day we stopped in Shigatse, where we spent the night. The day after we visited the Tashilhunpo monastery and we drove to Sakya, for what we had to cross the Tropu-la pass, at 4.500 m / 14,760 feet. In the afternoon we visited the Sakya monastery and we spent the night there.

The day after we moved to the Everest base camp (5.200 m / 17,000 feet), where we arrived in the afternoon. It was quite far from Sakya, we had to cross the Gyatso-la pass (5.100 m / 16,720 feet), the Pang-la pass (5.050 m / 16,570 feet), and there is also a 4/5 hours drive off road. Once there, time for pictures and spent the night in Rongphu monastery's guesthouse.

From there we moved to Tingri, where we had lunch and continued our way to Zhangmu, the border with Nepal, where we spent the night. In our way, we had extremely nice views of the Shishapangma (8.012 m / 26,286 feet) from one of the mountain passes.

Next day, we did the formalities in Zhangmu (China) and Kodari (Nepal) and we drove to Kathmandu (110 Km in 4.5 hours).

The end of our trip was in Kathmandu, where we stayed 3 days, in Thamel, and we profited to visit Patan, Bhaktapur, Swayambunath, the big stupa of Boudhanath and the Adinath Lokeshwar temple.

You can see the route we followed and marked in our GPS here:

View From Lhasa to Kathmandu in a larger map

In 1992, Pedro Pacheco attempts the Everest

In 1992, Pedro Pacheco became the Portuguese climber who came closer to the summit of the Everest. At 600 meters from the summit, the strong winds prevented his ascent. This is the story of that expedition.

Everest and Shisha Pangma expeditions

Some of you asked me a few days ago what happened to the expeditions I talked about in my previous post. Well, Alberto Iñurrategi, Juan Vallejo and Mikel Zabalza had to turn around in their attempt to crown the Everest in alpine style along the corridor of the Japaneses. Two avalanches on their tents made them rush back to the base camp after losing their tent, a piolet, and spending part of the night huddled into a hole dug in the snow. Yet three days later they wanted to return to attack the summit.

Bivouac in the corridor of the Japanese (source: desnivel.com)

On the other hand, Juanito Oiarzabal made it to the central summit of Shisha Pangma (8,008 m) but not to its main ridge (8,027 m), after three hours trying to equip the 150 meter ridge that separates the two summits. A very complicated pass connected to the bad weather made him turn around. Still, Juanito wants to return to the top, maybe next year, to meet his 2x14 project.

Juanito Oiarzabal (source: desnivel.com)

Finally, Edurne Pasabán's group spent the night in the bivouac Scott, at 6,200 meters, and returned to Shisha Pangma base camp (southwest side). The night was very cold and scary, because it was snowing until 2 or 3 in the morning, which triggered landslides and rock falls very close to where they were. The next morning they decided to terminate their acclimatization, as the snow fell during the night made the ascent route dangerous. They returned to base camp where they rest in hopes of good weather to go to the summit.

Alfaro and Casas in the midst of the snowstorm (source: rtve.es)

Route around Iceland

This entry is just a list of interesting places to visit in Iceland. Their location is roughly this:

View Iceland in a larger map


And some of those points of interest are:

The Blue Lagoon spa/pools



Seljalandsfoss waterfall



Skógafoss waterfall


Black sand beaches at Dyrhólaey


Svartifoss waterfall


Svinafellsjökull (photo) and Skaftafellsjökull glaciers



Dettifoss waterfall


Selfoss Waterfall


Víti crater (part of Krafla caldera)


Around crater Víti


Godafoss waterfall


Glaumbær typical old houses



Strokkur geyser in Haukadalur


Gullfoss waterfalls (also known as Golden Falls)


Landmannalaugar - Thorsmork trekking


Landmannalaugar - Thorsmork trekking


Landmannalaugar - Thorsmork trekking


Landmannalaugar - Thorsmork trekking


Landmannalaugar - Thorsmork trekking


Álftavatn hut between Landmannalaugar - Thorsmork


Landmannalaugar - Thorsmork trekking

Himalayan weekend

This is a very interesting weekend in the Himalayan area. On one hand, Edurne Pasabán, Ferrán Latorre, Asier Izaguirre and Alex Txikon have reached Camp 1 (bivouac Scott, 6,200 m - 20,341 feet) in their way to the summit of Shisha Pangma, the penultimate mountain for Edurne to ascend and become the first woman climbing the 14 eight-thousands on the planet. Along this weekend, they will continue with their acclimatization and preparing their way to the top. They will go up to around 6,700 m (21,980 feet) and then down to the base camp where they will sleep on Sunday night.


Asier and Edurne during their acclimatization in Shisha Pangma at 6,200 m (source: rtve.es)


At the same time, Juanito Oiarzabal, who holds the world record for most ascents of mountains over eight thousand meters, is also currently in Shisha Pangma in its north side, and this weekend will attempt to summit.


Juanito Oiarzabal and Roberto Rojo "Gorri" at the summit of Makalu in 2008 (photo: collection Roberto Rojo)


Moreover, the Naturgas Hornbein'09 expedition attempts Everest in alpine style through the Hornbein corridor. This is probably the most difficult climbing route to the roof of the world. In fact, this route has only had seven ascents and only one in alpine style (the Swiss Erhard Loretan and Jean Troillet in 1986). The other five climbers did it using oxygen and fixed ropes. The members of Naturgas Hornbein'09: Juan Vallejo, Mikel Zabalza and Alberto Iñurrategi have already started the attack to the summit, hoping to reach this point on Sunday.


Video of Alberto Iñurrategi, Juan Vallejo and Mikel Zabalza at 7,500 m in their last outing of acclimatization.

We hope they can all meet their targets and return safely to base camp.