Shegar-Geu-la (4 1/2 hours)

Six kilometers west of the Shegar police checkpoint, a small, unmarked road heads south to the village of Chay. After one hour it reaches the Qomolangma Nature Preserve checkpoint on the outskirts of Chay. From Chay there are two passes that cross the range south of the village and drop into the Dzaka valley. The pass furthest west is the Pang-la and is the way the road goes. The shortest and nicest walk is via the eastern pass, the Geu-la. The two routes meet a couple of hours south of the crest.

Follow the road out of Chay for 10 minutes and turn right onto a wide trail. This trail climbs directly up the valley, avoiding the switchbacks in the road. The trail soon fades out across rocky ground but keep heading south towards the switchbacks etched in the side of the ridge. The route crosses the road twice and remains on the west (right) side of the valley. Steadily climb, paralleling the road which is visible travers­ing the ridge to the right. The route keeps to the valley floor, intersecting an older disused road several times. One hour from Chay you'll reach a small, seasonal herders' camp and the valley's small watercourse; this is the last reliable source of water until well over the other side of the pass.

From the camp angle over to the left side of the valley towards the series of switch­backs cut into the slope. Twenty minutes from the herders' camp is the base of the Geu-la. Look for the trail in a gully below the switchbacks and follow it up. The trail climbs steeply crossing over the road twice. If you want to walk via the Pang-la, pursue the road west (right). The route to the Geu-la ascends directly above the road, reaching the crest of the ridge 1 1/4 hours from the herders' camp. It is 30 minutes from here to the pass. Once on top, follow the crest south-west and look for a well defined trail posted with cairns that leaves the ridge line o traverse the south side of the slope over to the pass.

The Geu-la (5170m) is festooned with prayer flags and cairns and presides over a dramatic view of the Himalaya. Before you is a 150km cross section of the Great Hima­layan arc. To the south is Makalu and the unmistakable black pyramidal form of Everest, and in the south-west is Cho Oyu, the big snowy massif, and Shisha Pangma in the far west. Barren brown and purple mountains in the foreground flank the Dzaka valley. In the neighborhood of the Geu-la blue-white gentians bloom in late May and a little further down, purple irises enliven the windswept meadows.

From the pass you can reach the Dzaka valley in 4 l/2 hours. At first the descent is steep but in 30 minutes you reach a high valley floor along a well trodden path. There is a stream and grassy campsites here. Camping B,L,D