there's an easy way up...

... and a hard way!

The Drolma La forms the high point of the Kora both spiritually and physically. The final stretch was hard going at the high (5600m) altitude, and even locals seemed to be having a hard time of it. Of course, there's always the yak-back tour, which makes things a little easier!

Prayerflags on the Phawang Mebar

A huge glacier overlooks pilgrims making the final ascent, struggling up the path it hew over the centuries. In the midst of its moraine, a huge cubic rock known as Phawang Mebar is festooned with prayer flags. Pilgrims let out cries and whoops of delight as they come into sight of it. Passing through the flags is believed - by Buddhist pilgrims - to mark the transition from this life to the next, erasing the sins of this life, and leaving the pilgrim unblemished by their past - though still unfortunately susceptible to their future.

Drolma La

As we arrived, the pass was basking in midday sun, though the weather is always unpredictable and often bitter. Everywhere were pilgrims: monks reading mantras at the sacred point; lay-pilgrims gathering stones to take back, and leaving items as offerings - hair, shoes, a lost tooth; others just celebrating their achievement. Paper-printed Windhorses cast into the air by pilgrims upwind fluttered past on the breeze, taking the benefits of the prayer into the air, and scattering it on the land below. Groups of people gathered for group photographs, food was shared, addresses given, languages overcome, promises made. Seemingly every rock, every stone had been carved with a mantra. The views off the pass were equally spectacular - from 5636m, the landscape both below and above was awesome.