Dzongla-Gokyo (over Cho La and Ngozumpa) The afternoon sun, unrelenting and pre-monsoon provides no relief. At an altitude higher than the highest point in the lower 48 states back home acclimatization comes as a relief. Standing on the ledge of the moraine no official trails mark the way save for scattered cairns indicating paths scratched on the surface, twisting around large bodies of meltwater and crumbling hillsides of dirt and boulders (in my climbing days this would be teased as “chossy vertical kitty litter”). The hot wind whips at a prayer flag punctuating an otherwise silent moment save for the distant tumbles of boulders on the opposite edge of the moraine. Line of sight indicates that is potentially the only path to Gokyo, past those distant loose boulders. However, before we make it there, loose dirt, loose rocks, and the newness of meltwater in various hues of turquoise need to be navigated. If it weren’t such a drastic scene from the last time I was here, with the knowledge that this is global warming I may consider it beautiful. Perhaps though it is, sublime like the drowning Ophelia [floating in a floral bouquet of death and decay], what a thought! The ironic death of the romantics - here of wilderness instead of Millais or Shakespeare’s Ophelia [and those who made this place what it is in tourism!]. Despite melting, it is dry and dusty pre-monsoon, but certainly far more labyrinthine than my last visit.