To walk around Mt. Kailas was to be the goal and culmination of our journey, alas, I was found too heavy to ride a yak and too weak to do it on foot. Despite my begging him, he never took the time to write an account of these three days. Therefore, these are Cornelius' pictures. Each shows an aspect of the superlative scenery. They were lucky, the previous party had got into a snowstorm on Dölma La and had returned utterly exhausted.

Buddhist think that you can obtain the same merit by performing a sacred pilgrimage in your mind as by doing it physically. Preparing these pictures was for me another walk around the mountain.....

The Kailas Khorlam (Map 7)

The Yarboche Flag Pole marks the Buddhist starting point of the Khorlam—the Bönpa walk in the opposite direction. 

The western valley seen from the cemetery 

Many Westerners are horrified by this place: "a dump of trash left behind by tourists," where in fact it is one of the most sacred cemeteries of Tibet. The dead of Tibet are given a "sky-burial"— the corpse is fed to the vultures. There are no tangible remains but the shoes and clothes of the deceased, which are carried here by their pious relatives. 

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Chukhu Gompa lies across the valley. Cornelius, Peter, and Pujung made this strenuous side tour.  

A family of pilgrims was circumambulating the gompa. Pujung with backpack.

 The dog who followed Cornelius and Peter from Darchen. If he has followed others before he must have accumulated enough merit to be reborn with only two legs. Unfortunately he did not know that and abandoned his circumambulation in the cold night to come.

Peter, Pujung — and the dog in the late afternoon trying to catch up with the others.

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The steep northwestern corner of the Mountain

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Peter's view of Kailas

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 The North Face emerging

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Kailas in U, Peter's most spectacular shot of the mountain

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 Cornelius under the Kailas North Face.  

 The yaks carrying the loads, tents and kitchen at the first campsite near Dirapuk Gompa

Bart's Birthday fell on that night. Besides a can of sprite and a bar of Belgian chocolate from Monique, they had brought many candles and Cornelius had borrowed a Mani Stone from nearby.

 The final ascent to Dölma La Pass

 Dölma La (5686 m or 18600 ft)

 Cornelius left a trinket from a Tibetan friend at Yale on the Dölma Lhato.

 A frozen lake on the descent from Dölma La (according to Cornelius not lake Chuck Chenpo Tso where the Hindu yogi bathe in August).

The East Valley is less spectacular than the west-side of Kailas.

Bart and Monique in upper Eastern Valley. The group has strung out, everyone fighting his own fatigue. Somewhere near here they camped the second night.

Without a saddle Jeroen had not been able to hold on to the back of his erratic yak and finally struggled along with the help of his PLA walking-stick!— Bart, Jeroen, Katrina, Marc, Monique, Peter scrambling over the rocks, and two Tibetans — one prostrating himself....  

 A rest-stop near the end. Katrina, Cornelius, and a bottle of water.