Nam-tso, Tibet
Wednesday (4 October) morning, Ben, Angela, Julia, and I took a minibus up to Nam-tso (lake) which was about a 4.5-hour drive from Lhasa. The scenery on the drive there was breath taking, passing by a glacier covered mountains. We drove over a 5,150-meter (16,892 feet) pass - Largen-la - before decending down to the lake which sat at 4,718 meters (15,475 feet). It was simply gorgeous. The water was a beautiful turquoise blue and 7,111-meter (23,324 feet) Mt. Nyenchen Tanglha sat on the opposite shore - a long ways away. The down side is it Nam-tso is really touristy - depressingly touristy. At least the small pennisula of land where all the tourist tents and tent-restaurants are. But we managed to escape the crowds by going for a walk around a small hill that sat on a pennisula jutting into the lake. We explored some small caves and had a leisurely walk. Later in the afternoon Ben and I sat up our tents away from all the tourist tents and restaurants. We had a stellar view of the lake and mountains! Angela and Lisa were staying in one of the tourist tents.
After dinner (in one of the tourist 'tent restaurants') as Ben and I were walking back to our tents, it started snowing and didn't stop until we were over the pass the next day. I was interested to see how my tarptent would hold up to a little snow storm after handling the wind and rain surprisely well in Sweden. About the time we got to our tents it started thundering, and then lightning. Yep, thunder and lightning during a snowstorm which I've never experienced before - pretty cool. We could see the short lightning bolts striking the lake in the distance from the low clouds. It was a neat sight.
I was a little worried about spending just my fifth night at 15,500 feet, since I had just four nights at 12,000 feet to acclimatize. But I needn't have worried, I slept as well as expected for being in a 3-season backpacking tent in a snow storm. In fact I only had a slight headache at most the entire time I was there. About 1:30 AM I had to wake up and dump a couple of inches of snow off my tent. My little tarptent surprised me again and I stayed dry through the snow storm.
When we woke up on Thursday (5 October) morning we were treated to a beautiful sight. A light dusting of snow covered the ground as far as the eye could see - which was a ways. The ground wasn't cold enough, yet, for much snow to stick but the snow covered all the rocks, plants, and tents! It just snowed more and more until we left. It was really, really pretty and we had the perfect mixture of weather over the 2 days. The clouds started to lift just before we left so we could see all the mountains with a new coating of snow. It was just an amazing couple of days. Winter was here..... and I was glad to have a down jacket!
The drive back to Lhasa was equally beautiful with many of the mountains enjoying a fresh coating of snow.
After dinner (in one of the tourist 'tent restaurants') as Ben and I were walking back to our tents, it started snowing and didn't stop until we were over the pass the next day. I was interested to see how my tarptent would hold up to a little snow storm after handling the wind and rain surprisely well in Sweden. About the time we got to our tents it started thundering, and then lightning. Yep, thunder and lightning during a snowstorm which I've never experienced before - pretty cool. We could see the short lightning bolts striking the lake in the distance from the low clouds. It was a neat sight.
I was a little worried about spending just my fifth night at 15,500 feet, since I had just four nights at 12,000 feet to acclimatize. But I needn't have worried, I slept as well as expected for being in a 3-season backpacking tent in a snow storm. In fact I only had a slight headache at most the entire time I was there. About 1:30 AM I had to wake up and dump a couple of inches of snow off my tent. My little tarptent surprised me again and I stayed dry through the snow storm.
When we woke up on Thursday (5 October) morning we were treated to a beautiful sight. A light dusting of snow covered the ground as far as the eye could see - which was a ways. The ground wasn't cold enough, yet, for much snow to stick but the snow covered all the rocks, plants, and tents! It just snowed more and more until we left. It was really, really pretty and we had the perfect mixture of weather over the 2 days. The clouds started to lift just before we left so we could see all the mountains with a new coating of snow. It was just an amazing couple of days. Winter was here..... and I was glad to have a down jacket!
The drive back to Lhasa was equally beautiful with many of the mountains enjoying a fresh coating of snow.
posted by Dustin at 1:40 AM
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