They say that Cho-Oyu is translated as the goddess of turquoise. This stone is highly revered in the Tibet. There is a 8000 m mountain with the same name, too. To be precise, its height is 8201 m. During this trip one does not get to the Tibet at ones. At first, you get to Kathmandu (capital of Nepal). Before, this used to be a kingdom with palaces, kings and plots. Explosions and riots were rather regular in Nepal. It was not easy getting through the entire country to the Chinese border where Tibet begins. The roads were blocked by the rebels on a regular basis. They threw grenades at our car. A friend of my removed a fragment of such a grenade only a year ago. When I was in the country, it was rather peaceful. We visited Kathmandu and took a mountain road through the entire Nepal. As they say in discovery films, the life there stopped 100 years ago. In Nepal, they still make sacrifices in temples and cover everything in blood. During harvest, day soldiers cut the heads of 300 rams off almost at the same time with special Nepal knives. A horrible sight. Also, they select a live goddess, Kumari. The live goddess Kumari is worshipped until she is 13, and after that she is banished. They have a City of the Dead, ascetics and dervishes. Everything has mixed up in Nepal – Buddhism and Hinduism, myths, legends and truth.
After that, there was Tibet. A mysterious and legendary place. A large plateau at the height of 4000-5000 meters above sea level. During the 1950-s Tibet was conquered by our Chinese comrades. They destroyed the monasteries and killed the monks. The remaining monks are still killed to this day. This seems savage now. But remember, when we were comrades we used to do the same. Some monasteries were lucky and were overlooked, and they stand atop mountains. In spite of all this, it is all very beautiful and enigmatic. This is how we got to the base camp. Technically, it was all as usual, five camps. The mountain is easy. In two spots, there was an almost vertical climb, but only some 15-20 meters long. It was the end of season and everyone was descending. They were not lucky, the weather had been bad and storm had broken their high altitude camps and scattered the products and equipment hundreds of meters wide. This happens. Many of these people will give it another try next year. We were lucky. We did it. Having started the climb at four A.M., at 9 A.M. we reached the top. Everest was right on course (20 km). It did not seem so inaccessible then. From 8.201 m we started descent at 10 A.M. The descent to the 5000 m camp took us the entire day. Even longer, for we reached it at 1 A.M. Imagine how romantic is the walk in the night and complete darkness trying to stick to the path winding between the boulders. It was then that I understood why they place “turiki” there (small stone pyramids) (there is a photo). They make pathfinding at night easier. No compass would help – what difference would it make amidst hugу boulders? One can hardly endure this obstacle course. And don’t forget all the impressions along the road from the border to the Tibet. There is a passage, which is called “Gates to Tibet” (There is a photo). A holy place. And the road leading to it is just like a fairytale - to the left bordered by a steep mountain and to the right by a precipice, which makes it look like a serpentine. The road is narrow; only one can car can pass at a time, with small turn-outs. Due to some road works, the road is passable only at night. It has permanent jams. Back home I would still be stuck there. But it all ended well. When our plane took off from Kathmandu and flew along the Himalayan Ridge, I knew well why people do the mountain climbing!