The Other Side Of Everest

I've been looking at some very big mountains again! I told you that I'd seen Mount Everest from Tibet.  Now I've decided it's time to have a look at the world's highest mountain from Nepal (as Everest is in both countries).  First I had to go on a long trek to get there.

I started in the Rolwaling Valley where people were growing lots of millet in the fields.  It was very pretty. 

As I got higher up the valley, the weather got colder.  I camped quite near the beautiful lake in the photo below.  All of the water at the campsite was frozen and I needed something to drink.  I had to cook pans of snow on the camp stove to turn them into water.

It took a long time because even if you cook a big pan of snow, you only get a small amount of water.  This is because most of the snow is actually air and it disappears when you melt it.  Robin, Grace and Adam could try this on the cooker at home (with mum and dad, of course) using ice from the freezer.

After I left the lake, I started climbing onto a glacier.  Glaciers are made of ice all the time.  This is different from patches of snow which melt for part of the year.

It was hard work walking across the glacier because there are lots of big holes in it called crevasses and I didn't want to fall in!  There were also lots of rocks to climb over.

I spent three days on the glacier, camping on the ice every night.  It was very cold and a bit scary!

Eventually I crossed a big mountain pass where I got an awesome view of Mount Everest.  I could see lots of other big mountains as well.

Here's another view of Everest (on the left) and Lhotse (on the right).  Lhotse is the fourth tallest mountain in the world.

On my way back to the village at the end of my trek I met lots of men carrying big pieces of wood on their backs.  They were planning to build a hotel near the Everest viewpoint.  There isn't a road to the viewpoint though so they had to carry all of the building materials on their backs.  It looked like very hard work!

I had a very exciting time looking at Everest from both sides (Tibet and Nepal) but I think it's time to say goodbye to the mountains now.  I've seen a lot of snow in the last few months. Sometimes even stuffed travellers who are wearing fur get cold!

Next time you hear from me, I hope I will be somewhere warmer!