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Trek to Mt Jhomohari Base Camp - Jangothang, 4010 meters

Jangothang Travel Blog › entry 8 of 13 › view all entries

Trekking in Bhutan was a back-to-basic experience - camping by the river, sleeping in a tent, setting up a fire to keep warm, no Coke or Snicker bars sold along the way (unlike in Nepal). The reason for all the inconveniences and rigourous walking .... to see Bhutan's most sacred summit - Mt Jhomohari.

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Trek to Mt Jhomohari Base Camp - Jangothang, 4010 meters

March 27, 2008

First full glimpse of Mt Jhomohari peak, shortly after leaving Shingkharap campsite

The temperature plummeted at night at 3,500m and the ground was covered with frost early in the morning. Getting out of the warm sleeping bag and getting out into the cold was quite a task. After a nourishing breakfast of warm oatmeal, we started on the trail to Jangothang which was my favourite.

We finally saw the peak of Jhomohari shortly after being on the trail. The scenery changed as we gained altitude. The landscape changed from the alpine forests to the vastness of the highland with sturdy and thorny shrubs, Juniper trees, semi-nomadic settlements and yaks grazing in the open. The trail changed from bumpy rocks to fairly flat terrains, making walking a pleasure.

Vapour evaporating from the cold ground in the warm morning sun

It was very windy out in the vast open without the protection from the dense forests.

We past by several settlements of the nomads who were mostly yak herders. Houses were also sparse at the high altitude, passing through several villages each with only a few houses. We past the second army post and had to be registered again. Because of the strong winds in the vast open, we could not find any suitable places to take a break for hot tea. We ended up having lunch inside an empty shed at the last village before the base camp that was recently used as the voting post.

From the last village to the base camp, we had spectacular view of Jichu Drake, At 6,974m, it is located directly east of Jhomolhari and has a distinctive pyramid-shaped peak composed of razor-sharp ridges.

Jangothang is also known as Land of Ruins as a ruined fortress towered over the campsite from a rocky outcrop with coloured prayer flags spanning its forlorn walls. In the early afternoon, the clouds had already set in and even though our tent was pitched directly in front of Jhomohari, all we could see was a partial view of the glacier with the ruined Dzong in the foreground.