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space.gif The Fifth Lake and Gokyo Ri: Day 18 -19

Oct 25 - Nov 15, 1998

Surrounding the Gokyo(4800m) area are 6 large, beautiful turquoise green glacial lakes that are connected by a flowing river and surrounded by more beautiful mountains. On our first full day in Gokyo we decided to walk to the fifth lake(5000m), which was about a three hour gradual walk up from our resort. The Fifth lake provides an extensive panoramic view the overlooks the Ngozumpa Glacier and offers a view of Everest called the "scoundrels view" because this exceptional view of Everest doesn’t require a exhausting 3 hour climb up, but it was a long day none-the-less. On the way back we paused by the fourth lake and sat and relaxed by this enormous pool surrounded by huge shards of rock and boulders.

The following day Mike woke up feeling inspired, Jeff woke with a sore back. But after some convincing we knew it was our day to summit Gokyo Ri(peak). The walk was straight up not unlike Kala Pattar the difference was we were much stronger(but we were still dying by the end) and better acclimated. At the top we strung up some prayer flags which are a string of colorful squares of cloth with Nepalese prayers and holy symbols on them. Then we found possibly the only non-windy spot on the top to the peak and we sat in the sun and looked at the 360 degree panorama, we saw Everest(which was further away then the view from Kala Pattar but more of the mountain is visible) and Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Gyachung Kang, Cholatse and Tawachee. While we sat we met a guy from the west coast of America(Jon Cheeba) who told us of Jesse "the body" Ventura who was the new governor of Minnesota. How odd sitting there and enjoying the pleasantries and having some guy tell you a wrestler became the governor of your home state! We snacked on Kitkats and snapped some photos and headed down, ate lunch, packed our bags and walked with Josh and Deb all the way back to Machermo(4470m).