This quick one minute slide show was shot during our last morning in the valley at the end of an attempt on 20,290′ Kyajo Ri in the Solukhumbu region of Nepal, about 26 miles as the crow flies from Mt. Everest. Most of our mornings were like this, clear before the sun came up with clouds down the valley. Once the sun dropped its rays into our valley things warmed up and more clouds formed. Sometimes it snowed, sometimes it hailed and some days were just flat out sunny.
At an altitude of 4500m (14,500′), this is the lower of the three valleys on the way to Kyajo Ri. The second is 500m higher and the last is another 400m, containing the bulk of the Kyajo Glacier which must be crossed on the way to the summit. Looking down the valley in the video you can see the lower flanks of the sacred Sherpa peak Khumbi Yul Lha (spelled differently on each map, it seems). The water in this area is clean enough to be drank straight from the stream, although only one member of our team was brave enough to do this.
Click on the map for a full size image of the valley. The pen indicates where we were camped.
Morning Comes To The Kyajo Ri Valley from Peter West Carey on Vimeo.