An instrumental music piece inspired by the mightiest mountain in the world.
Illusion
Watch “Gosaikunda.” An instrumental piece from the Himalayas.
Gokyo
Being a Nepali citizen we are all proud of many things but one thing we do boast about is the highest peak in the world, the Sagarmatha, but few of us actually have had the opportunity to view this mountain up close. We too were amongst the unfortunate to not have witnessed the beauty of the Khumbu region up until the autumn of 2020 when one of our friends suggested we plan a trip to the gokyo lakes in the Everest region. The sound of that itself raised many questions as a couple of our friends involved had never been on a trek, and their first would be to the highest region in the world. WOW! Recalling this trip all I think about is to visit there again. No place in Nepal has such huge ice capped peaks at any direction you look. Everest, Nuptse, Lhotse, Cho-yu, Kongde, and amongst many more, the most picturesque of them all Amadablam.
We took the road route from kathmandu to Salleri from where we switched to a local jeep that took us upto Kamedada. From there we began our trek as we walked on through the lush green forests stopping at villages for water, food and lodging. It is a total different experience once you start walking into the lap of the himalayas leaving the hustle bustle of the cities and go into the quiet, peaceful, and naturality of mother nature. While we usually walked during the day time through the hills, uphill and downhill, along the rivers we were able to see different landscapes, snowcapped peaks, waterfalls, some of which were frozen, and valleys and gorges. We even saw few birds we couldnt identify and different indegenous animals as well. During the evenings we would settle down at a hotel, listening to the local myths of yetis and other folklore, ther unique culture and traditions passed down generations in time shared by our caring hosts as we spent time warming ourselves in the cosy heated dining rooms.
Up until Namche we saw few peaks like Kongde amongst others but then as we walked towards HEV we got our first up close glimpse of Everest. Ama dablam looked beautiful, even more so than in the pictures I’d seen of it before. We identified Nuptse, Lhotse, Cho-yu amongst others as we were surrounded on all sides by the largest mountains in the world. We found this grassland and we took a break capturing in the moment as well as taking few pictures. A herd of Himalayan Thar happened to pass us by while we were there as they mesmerized us with their huge horns and mane.
The air kept growing thinner, smaller flowing streams and waterfalls started to freeze as we ascended towards the Gokyo lakes. It was evening when we made it to the lake, it was all cloudy and visibility was limited but still the three gokyo lakes had not lost its charm. We were excited to see the edges of the lakes frozen and there we even saw a couple of ducks swimming on the opposite edge of the cold gokyo waters. We were supposed to climb the gokyo ri the next morning so we had early dinner and tried to get some sleep. It was difficult to sleep in the thin air and the extreme cold but we were none the less excited to get to our summit and climb the gokyo ri.
We woke up early, couple of hours before dawn so that we could try and reach our destination at sunrise. But soon we found out as we began walking that steep uphill mountain with a tired body and thin air, it would take us more than 3 hours. We settled watching the sunrise as we took breaks while ascending the final climb. It took quite a toll on us but we were determined to get to the top. When we finally made it to the top it was all ecstatic and pure joy. Cold wind blowing, standing on the summit of the mountain, peaks on all sides, Cho-yu looking beautiful, Everest standing tall behing Nuptse, a wide Ngzongpa glacier running across the valley, the three Gokyo lakes in perfect blend with the mountains behind it which looked like a throne of the Gods. It was heavenly.
ankit 