Maximum Altitude: 5,357m

The alarm went off at 3:30am and we were away by 4:00am across the stream that feeds the lake and almost immediately upwards. I was wearing my thermal Helly Hansen, both Stellar mid-layers, the Stellar windproof and Stellar Down Jacket plus neck warmer, Russian Hat and Black Diamond gloves - it was a cold one!

As we ascended though, I rapidly overheated so took off the down jacket and stowed in straight into my rucsac, figuring there was no point packing it away as I might need it later. The group rapidly split into several smaller groups and those of us at the front got progressively colder as we waited for the slower ones. We walked for about five minutes, then stopped for five or ten minutes to wait. It did get quite frustrating and cold standing around. Finally common sense prevailed and the agreement came that the quicker ones should continue. I'm all for keeping groups together, but in these kinds of conditions and clear differences in abilities, it makes no sense. We had enough Sherpas to cover the split groups, so why not?

The gear I was wearing was just right, although the Black Diamond gloves didn't feel as warm as I'd hoped. I had to flex my fingers quite a bit to get any warmth and my left index finger felt cold for a long time. To be fair though, once they were warm, my hands stayed warm. Maybe I should pre-warm the gloves before wearing them. For the next cold day I'll add the liners to see if that helps.

As we ascended, the dawn light appeared, actually behind us, and turning around, there were some amazing views - there was no way we would be on the summit for the actual dawn sadly. When we did get there, the views were pretty spectacular and well worth the two hours or so it took to get to 5,357m. After the usual round of photos we began our descent, passing some still going up. Also as it transpired, a few had turned back.

Eventually we all returned to the Lodge and interestingly, no head count was done which has so far been a feature of the morning starts. Quite worrying when it is clear that it was impossible to know where everyone was.

After breakfast (the most awful eggy bread) we left around 9am for the trek to Dragnag which was tough going across the Ngozumba Glacier. There was a slight climb onto it which tested tired legs, then a long steep downhill which was very dusty and slippy onto the glacier itself which comprised very undulating terrain, many frozen pools. loose rocks and some scrambling. Unfortunately Nicola slipped and damaged her ligaments. Apparently she had done it before but still, it was going to be painful! The medical kit came out and she was strapped up.

Eventually we had to climb out which was much easier than the entry and we were soon walking down a much easier trail. Surprisingly quickly the 'village' of Dragnag appeared. It consists of a few Lodges and that's all. Quite why it exists at all is a good question, I guess simply to serve the trekkers that pass from Gokyo over the Cho La pass. I guess it also serves trekkers coming up from Namche on an alternative route to Everest Base Camp.

We soon settled in and sorted our gear. Lunch was rice and chips - interesting. They go in for high carbohydrate diets here. The afternoon was spent with more kit faff, diary writing, having a very cold wash and topping up the Solar battery which is now up to 83%. Also I decided to recharge my headtorch ready for next time.

Over Tea it was announced that it would be a 4:30am breakfast on account of the five hours up and four hours down required to cross the Cho La Pass. There is an additional need for an early start which is that there is a danger of rock fall as the ice melts. I did ask the question whether, given todays experience of group split, that it might be better to split early so that the faster walkers don't spend so much time being cold but I did meet with a rather facetious response that I should dress for it! So, dressing for walking in -15degC and standing still for ten minutes every twenty minutes - it's asking for someone to get hypothermia in my opinion. I think I will walk mid-field to minimize the standing around time.

During the evening I purchased an internet token at Re600 to catch up with home, but the service was so intermittent that saintly patience was required but I did manage to send messages to the important destinations and download all of the junk emails which I actually bothered to look at - shows how quiet the evenings are!

Tonights dinner treat was a tomato pizza plus mushroon soup, both of which were very nice.

Not much to do after dinner and we have an early start so most were in bed by 8pm. I now have a streaming cold and the beginnings of a cough which is keeping me awake. Not ideal with a nine hour trekking day, but what can you do?