Interlude: The Highlands with Sonam

On Day 3 of our trek (before we departed for Abujee), we arrived at camp by noon, giving us the afternoon off.  Since we were finally above tree line, I asked Sonam if he would take me further up into the mountains for a taste of what was to come.  We traveled to the pass overlooking the lake (see the post below), but just as we reached the pass, high winds blew a storm in, reducing visibility to about ten feet and forcing us to find refuge behind a boulder while we waited for it to pass.  After 15 minutes of waiting and getting soaked, we decided to head down and back.  As we descended out of the cloud and the path of the storm, Sonam pointed out a distant ridge and asked if I'd like to scale it.  He said the views were spectacular. Though we were essentially traveling on exposed yak trails, the vistas that opened up on the other side were breathtaking. Many thanks to Sonam for quite literally going the extra mile to make that day a memorable one. When he told me that he had taken his friends to this spot before, I felt honored to have been led "off the path" in this way.

 Gaining the ridge meant scaling this rock-strewn arm of the mountain.  Not a huge problem, except for the high winds (~40mph) blowing from left to right.

 We would essentially be hiking along the spine that splays out here.  Our original path took us through the valley below to the left.

 Once on the ridge, this view spread out before us.

 Ahead in the distance, Sonam makes his way across the ridge.

  And behind us, the trail and the clouds that chased us off the pass.

 Midway across the ridge, Sonam and I took a break and sat quietly for about a half hour.  As we were leaving, he offered to take my picture.

 We picked our way along the ridge until things got a bit hairy.  We then found a slide made of sand and loose, small rocks and glissaded down to the valley.

 On our way back, Sonam took another detour to the mountain overlooking our campsite.  Far below, you can see the green group tent on the left and the students' orange tents on the right. 

Once back at camp, we settled in for some tea and rest in the hut while the ever-cheerful camp crew started on dinner.