The Everest region has two great valleys, and most trekkers only see one. The Khumbu valley leads to base camp and Kala Patthar and carries almost all of the traffic. The Dudh Koshi valley to the west leads to Gokyo, a cluster of lodges beside a turquoise lake at 4,790 m, under the flank of Cho Oyu, 8,188 m, and beside the longest glacier in Nepal. Between the two valleys lies the Cho La, a 5,420 m pass with a small glacier on its crest. Linking Gokyo and the Khumbu over the Cho La is, in our view, the best way to see the Everest region: it takes only three or four days longer than the standard base camp trek and it changes the whole character of the trip.
Leaving the crowd at Namche
The two routes share the first days from Lukla to Namche Bazaar at 3,440 m and the acclimatization day there. Above Namche, where the base camp trail heads east to Tengboche, the Gokyo trail climbs north over the Mong La at 3,970 m, a small pass with a tea lodge and a fine view of Ama Dablam, and drops steeply to the river at Phortse Tenga. From there it climbs through the last of the forest to Dole at 4,200 m. The change is immediate. The wide, busy path of the main valley becomes a quieter trail through rhododendron and juniper, with musk deer in the trees and Himalayan tahr on the slopes above.
The next day continues to Machhermo at 4,470 m, a short stage kept short on purpose. From Machhermo the trail crosses a rise and enters the upper valley beside the Ngozumpa glacier. The first lake, a small pool called Longpongo, appears at about 4,700 m, the second, Taboche Tsho, soon after, and the third, Dudh Pokhari, is the lake at Gokyo itself. The whole stretch from Namche to Gokyo takes three days, and the sleeping altitude rises by a sensible 400 to 500 m a night.
The lakes and the Ngozumpa glacier
The Gokyo lakes are a chain of six main glacial lakes on the western edge of the Ngozumpa glacier, the largest of them the fifth, Thonak Tsho, at about 4,850 m. They are among the highest freshwater lake systems in the world and have been listed as a wetland of international importance since 2007. They are also sacred to both Hindus and Buddhists, and a festival in August brings pilgrims up the valley to bathe. The colour of the water, an opaque turquoise in the morning that deepens as the light changes, is the thing that people remember.
The Ngozumpa glacier is the other presence. It stretches about 36 km from Cho Oyu down the valley, though what you see from Gokyo is not white ice but a vast trough of grey moraine, hummocked with rubble, dotted with meltwater ponds, and rising a hundred metres or more above the lodges. Walking to the edge and looking down into it is a lesson in what a Himalayan glacier actually is.
Gokyo Ri and the walk to the fifth lake
Gokyo Ri, 5,357 m, is the viewpoint above the village, a steep two to three hour climb up a well-trodden path. The panorama is often described as the best in the Everest region and we would not argue. Four peaks above 8,000 m are in view at once: Everest, 8,849 m, showing more of its summit pyramid than from Kala Patthar; Lhotse, 8,516 m; Makalu, 8,485 m, far to the east; and Cho Oyu, 8,188 m, close at hand to the north. Below, the lake is a green disc and the glacier a grey river. Dawn is the standard time and the cold on the top is fierce, but a late afternoon ascent gives warmer light and fewer people.
A second day at Gokyo is well spent walking up the valley past the fourth lake, Thonak Tsho, to the fifth, Ngozumpa Tsho, at about 4,990 m, some three hours each way. A small rise beside the fifth lake, sometimes called Scoundrel’s Viewpoint, looks straight up the glacier at Cho Oyu and along the Nangpa La towards Tibet, and the view of Everest from here is arguably better than from Gokyo Ri. The sixth lake lies further still and is rarely visited. Two nights at Gokyo also serve the acclimatization needed for the pass.
Crossing the Cho La
The Cho La links Gokyo to the Khumbu valley. From Gokyo the first step is to cross the Ngozumpa glacier on a marked path over the moraine to Dragnag, sometimes written Thagnag, at about 4,700 m, a couple of hours. The pass day starts early from Dragnag. The trail climbs a rocky valley, then a steep, loose boulder slope to the crest, where a small glacier lies on the eastern side of the pass. The ice is gently angled and usually easy in the main seasons, but it can be hard and slick in the morning and hides crevasses under snow; walking poles are essential and micro-spikes are worth carrying. From the pass the route descends over the glacier and a rock band to a broad valley and the lodges at Dzongla, 4,830 m, under the north face of Cholatse, 6,440 m. It is a six to eight hour day. The next morning a level and beautiful traverse brings you to Lobuche and the standard base camp trail in two or three hours.
The pass is closed by heavy snow, and in those conditions the route is not a walk but a mountaineering problem. Ask at Gokyo, and be ready to retreat down the Dudh Koshi to Namche, which loses nothing except the crossing.
Putting the loop together
The full trek fits in 15 to 17 days from Lukla, compared with 12 for the standard base camp route:
- Lukla to Namche and the rest day, three days as usual.
- Dole, Machhermo and Gokyo, three days, then two nights at Gokyo for Gokyo Ri and the fifth lake.
- Dragnag, the Cho La to Dzongla, and Lobuche, three days.
- Gorak Shep, base camp and Kala Patthar, then the descent to Lukla, four to five days.
Those who want more can add the Renjo La, 5,360 m, west of Gokyo, and the Kongma La, 5,535 m, between Lobuche and Chhukung, to make the full Three Passes circuit of about three weeks. But the single crossing of the Cho La is the change that matters. It turns an out-and-back walk into a loop, adds the finest viewpoint in the region, and gives you three or four days in a valley where the trail is quiet enough to hear the glacier move.