On the dotted line, the route of approach followed to reach basecamp on Cho-Oyu.
Flags of prayers waving on a Buddhist pagoda, called chorten in Tibetan.

Approach

     After the bitter experience of Mt Annapurna, we went to Kathmandu to negotiate the permit to face a new summit. We also waited for some money to be sent from Galicia, so that we could go on. As long as money did not arrive, Álex and Jesús went forward to Lukla and climbed up to Namche Bazar (3500m) with the porters. Together with a yak caravan, we moved then up to Thane (4100m), Chola and, finally, the basecamp (5500m).

     A little bit further up was the Nangpa-La pass (5900m), the border of Tibet and Nepal. We passed yak caravans of Tibetan traders and thousands of Buddhist pilgrims who went along this route to visit the Dalai Lama, exiled in India. Famine, freezing and blindness attack are normal symptoms of a penitence which usually has a sad end on the mountains.