Day 8

Turning away from the Tamur River, we followed the Dinsamba Khola in an arc west and then north-west.

This route forms a part of one version of the Great Himalaya Trail, has been trekked by very few foreigners and it was the first interesting day as it was away from roads and civilisation.

As the valley opened out we looked back and were treated to our first mountain view. First came Jannu (7711m) locally called Khumbhakarna and is a sacred mountain- no permits are given to climb it. As we climbed higher Januu’s perfect triangular summit was joined by the contrasting flat ridge of Kabru (about 7400m) which lies on the boarder with Sikkim in India. We finish our day's trek before lunch and set up our streamside camp at the place called Tangchetar (4200m). This wild valley had a few yaks present, the promise of snow leopards but only a lone lammergeier was spotted. In the afternoon we made a short acclimatisation walk up the hill to gain 200m before returning to camp. Until now the weather pattern has been clear nights sunny mornings then clouding up by midday. The temperature gets to double figures in the sun but falls to just above freezing when we lose the sun so the afternoon activity made a change to huddling in our sleeping bags and waiting for the next meal!
Distance 5km 3hrs



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