19th day, crossing into Nepal
We start the day with a huge breakfast, never seen bigger pancakes then these ( we name them YETI pancakes).
20 meters form the hotel is the Chinese Custom gate, nobody bother checking us…we keep riding down the switchback the number of queuing trucks increase till about 2km form the boarder where is just a solid line, makes it even difficult for bikes to get through. Once at the boarder check point we unload the all support car, and we start to take everything close to the gate. clouds of Nepalese porters and beggars surround us. I start negotiating a support car for the other side. I manage to get a good deal, 8000 Nepalese rupee for 2 days for the 4 of us. And 4 porters help us make the crossing. Once on the other side we fill in the entry form and get a Nepalese visa real fast, we change clothes the day is starting to get real hot.
We finally can ride again in shorts and t-shirt. the scenery is amazing as usual but green and lush now. Nepali colorful culture awaken us to a all new experience.
18th day, Down hill to the boarder, Zhangmu
The beginning of the day is freezing as usual, we are still on the plateau and the climate is harsh. We experience a bit of traffic on the way due to herds of yaks cruising the road. Its scary to ride among this huge animals, and they get nervous too. We have lunch in Nylam and from there the fun really begin, the longest down hill in the world take us trough a variety of ecological environment, starting from the arid plateau, then alpine forests and finally tropical vegetation. The smell is awaken again after weeks of aseptic Tibetan air. Also the colors come alive all of a sudden. Waterfalls drop in the narrow valley from everywhere.
17th Day, Over Dong Ba and Lung la pass..the last climbs!!!
Today we are at a turning point….the last 2 passes of the all trip, no matter how hard is going to be the thought of not having to climb anymore give us an exciting kick. We cross Lung la pass in good time and descend over 1000 meters to a farming village, where we spend the night in a tea house.
16th day, Tingri to Dongba
This is a really easy ride…on the paper. But as usual the freezing weather makes it real tough on us, we stop a few times on the way just to warm up our feet and hands. and spend overnight in a tea house.
Rombruk to Tingri
The plan is to ride trough the shortcut and arrive in Tingri. But after 25 km the snow prevail and our support veicle can not continue anymore. We could keep riding our bikes and meet up with them in Tingri, but that would mean riding without back up gear and in this snow we decide not to risk it. So we load all the bikes on the car and backtrack trough Gula pass back to the friendship highway and arrive in Tingri around 5pm.
14th Day, ride up to Everest Base camp and return
This is an easy 8km ride, up to base camp, the scenery is amazing, feels like riding on the moon. The weather turns form good to extremely cold and windy in a few hrs. fortunately we are back to our guest house in time to avoid the worst of it.
13th day, uphill to Rombruk and finally Everest!
As expected the morning is brutal and freezing. riding on washboard uphill at this altitude is a real test of endurance. We go from a wide riverbed valley into what it once was Everest longest glacier, now a arid and cold valley. Everest summit looks closer and closer until finally after a few switchbacks the view open up and HE is there, so close it looks we almost can touch it. The highest mountain in the world give us a majestic show of all its beauty and power. In the next 48 hrs we will experience how Everest can transform this valley in a matter of minutes. considering we are standing at 5000 meters we have in front of us more then 3000 meters of almost vertical Ice wall, and the force it can deliver on the surrounding environment is intimidating.
wheelswarriors 