Sept. 11, 2008. Crossing the Kang La.

High pass day! Miyar nala! Kang La-5450 meters! We had perfect weather. After another night of fitful (crap) sleep with a few perambulations, at 5050 meters, we were up at 5 AM for a shady, bitterly cold 7 AM start. Second straight night camped on the ice. Everyone was very high energy during the day. One trekker was feeling a little weak but had a normal neurologic exam; they got a pack-carry assist on the uphill, maintained high spirits and did fine. One slight oddity was passing a solitary bone lying high and dry on the snow that did look more than a little like a human radius (lower arm). I was too spooked to really hunker down for a close look. In addition to the "Swedish woman in the crevasse" we had also heard about the "body of a sadhu" supposedly up near the pass somewhere.

The route finding by T. and L.C. was amazing. We covered about 400 meters vertical over about 4 hours on the uphill from camp to the pass. Occasionally we waited a bit while the way was sorted out, but basically we kept moving. The perfect weather helped a lot. Many of our Nepali porters had supposedly been up and over already this season. The porters passed us (the trekkers) about 2/3 of the way up on the ascent. For the lower portion, during which the trekkers were out front, T. was the first route-founder. We wove around crevasse fields and picked our way up looker's right of the glacier to negotiate a lower icefall. In this section, we strayed partially onto rocks where a steep face formed the right margin of the glacier. For the crux (upper) portion, after the porters passed us, L.C. lead out front to guide the porters, while T. stayed with us at the front of the trekking group. The little personal two-way radios that one sees at ski areas, etc. in the US were brought out for really the only time on the trek, and used sparingly by Joel and L.C. to stay in touch. L.C. led the porters on a long leftwards end-run around a crevasse field and then a big right turn to the pass. The trekkers followed shortly thereafter. When we reached the pass we could easily see the porters dropping the north, descending glacier to Zanskar. We stepped over many crevasses. The snow of the last several days ranged from 0 to 6 inches deep. It made everything white and provided good purchase for our boots and shoes; there was little slippage and crampons were not even remotely needed. On the down side, the new snow might have obscured some crevasses. Those that we saw were not tremendously deep or frightening.

Achieving the pass at about 11 AM was a tremendous high point. Hugs and photos all around. The sky was crystal clear and we were surrounded by peaks and glaciers. To the north-west, the glacier (?unnamed) we were to descend dropped steadily into the brownness of Zanskar. Seemingly straight ahead, a very crevassed glacier continued for what seemed like several more kilometers, and at least several hundred meters more vertical rise. A map lists at least one 6200 meter peak in this general area. In reality, the Kang La is kind of a side exit off the Miyar glacier into Zanskar, with the main uphill energy continuing onto this large icefield. No one seemed to know much about the terrain up in that direction. In all, we hung about for about 30 minutes on top. A. as the youngest helped string up some fresh prayer flags.

The upper part of descent, on north-northwest facing slopes, had literally 5-10 inches of light fluffy powder overlying the glacier. A. and myself were lusting for skis. As it was, the snow was deep enough that it was pretty slow going. The risk of crevasses enforced a fairly single-file approach. We finally stopped for lunch about 1:30. By this time, exhaustion was definitely beginning to set in. After lunch, more glacier and more glacier. Finally, we got to the usual terminal moraine, a foreshortened but nonetheless equally complex version of the toe of the Miyar. After leaving the glacier and more descent, we got to the junction of our side valley and the route to the Poat La. Looking up that valley, we saw incredibly jagged snow peaks and no obvious pass. Then we had 2 more hours of mind-numbing yet attention-requiring no-trail descent over boulderfields, wild streams, grassy hillsides, etc. etc. to camp. As we approached camp I felt progressively more and more feverish, and had pretty much melted down by arrival. Blessedly, my tent had been set up by our hardworking staff (L.C., St., and T.). Fortunately, camp was down at 4300 meters. We got into camp at 5 PM, making it a 10 hour day.

Medical note. I did find that clearing a little sputum from deep in the chest on this afternoon was followed by a rapid lysis of the fever. This presaged my recovery from the febrile respiratory syndrome. At most I had a touch of purulent bronchitis, and certainly not pneumonia. For those inclined to clinical medicine, I now believe in the pulmonary phenomenon of "mucous plugging". A small amount of inspisated secretions can block a small/medium airway and lead to downstream atelectasis and inflammation. I don't think that the 3 days of amoxicillin/clavulanate or 5 days of azithromycin that I took really did anything for me. After today, (not before, interestingly) I had a strikingly secretory, localized rhinitis. While the drippiness was inconvenient and embarrasing at times, it was much better to be runny than to be plugged up with a "dehydrated" sinusy head cold. The old surgical saw, "pus must drain", is very true. The respiratory syndrome seemed to move rapidly through the group, effecting some more than others. The hardest hit trekker had a sort throat for literally more than 2 weeks, despite anti-bacterials. Most respiratory infections are spread hand-to-hand, rather than by droplets or aerosols. We really tried with alcohol-based hand cleanser, etc., but many food items were finger food, and the quarters were close.