Last revised on June 25, 2024

Table of Contents:

• The Day’s Basic Data and Map
• A Preview of the Day’s Walk
• The Hike Up To Tempe La From Tempe Tsho
• Om Tsho and A Nyingma Treasure Trove
• Parallels With Mormonism
• From Om Tsho To The Lower Lake
• Down To the Headwaters of the Nikka Chhu
• A Brief Stop At “The Snowman Shop”
• Coral Campsite At Rerethang

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The Day’s Basic Data and Map

• calendar date: October 19, 2019.
• time: 6 hours, including lunch and a stop at the Snowman Trek store above Rerethang
• distance: 11 km.
• start point altitude: Tampoe Tsho  4323m
• endpoint campsite: Rerethang 3670m
• high pass crossing: Tempe La  4665m
• Maps: Bart Jordans’ Trekking in Bhutan has some useful overview maps of the many possible variations of the Snowman, as well as of other treks.
• See here for a Google Earth view of the day’s walk. It helps to use the Google Chrome browser! The location marker is for Rinchen Zoe La.
• I used a Sony RX100 III to frame most of the images you’ll see below; a fellow trekker’s Huawei P30 captured the others. (Thanks again, O, for letting me use them!)

Previous Post: Day 21 – Tsho Tsho Thampa to Tampoe Tsho

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 21 – Tsho Tsho Tshampa To Tampoe Tsho

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A Preview of the Day’s Walk

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Our last full day of trekking – and a scenic one at that!  On tap was

• our last pass of the trek (it was #11) and then
• a walk along the shores of two lakes, a famous one known as Om Tsho and another one 100 meters below.
• Then a steep descent to the headwaters of the Nikka Chhu, whose course we would follow for the next day.

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The Hike To Tempe La From Tempe Tsho

It started with a walk into the middle of the terrain pictured above and then curled left up to the pass. In an hour, we had ascended about 300 meters on a walkable trail.  I stayed up there for a few minutes but, given the chilling effect of the blowing wind, decided to generate some heat by heading down the other side.

I’d end up lounging about a half-hour down at the bottom of the hill, enjoying the wind-free spot and the sunshine.  The two images below show the actual trail from the pass; it heads diagonally to the left and stays above the rock-strewn valley floor where I was waiting. I’d eventually join the rest of the crew a kilometre further down.

One last look back at Tempe La and then it was time to move forward!

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Om Tsho and A Nyingma Treasure Trove

It would not take us long to come to one of those WOW moments, one of those memorable views. In this case, it was Om Tsho (4322m).

The lake is famous for supposedly yielding Buddhist “treasures” to Pema Lingpa (1450-1521).  He was a Bhutanese-born follower of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism.  Local Buddhists believe they had been put there by the Himalayan Buddha, Guru Rinpoche, some six hundred years previously.  These treasures are known to  Himalayan Buddhists as terma; the one who finds them, thanks to guidance from Guru Rinpoche, is called a terton.

An hour spent reading through The Life and Revelations of Pema Lingpa turned up no mention of Om Tsho and what he found there, nor did another half-hour of internet surfing of other sources.  It is quite likely that what Lingpa is said to have hauled out of the lake included a text. It is believed that the terma texts were written in a Dakini script that only the terton could translate.

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Parallels With Mormonism

All of this brings to mind Joseph Smith, who claimed to have found a similar “treasure” [the Golden Plates] in upper New York State.   The plates would provide the foundation of a religious movement known as the Church of Latter-Day Saints (Mormonism), an offshoot of Christianity. Smith was able to translate them from a language that he did not know thanks to angelic help.  Coincidently, the number of believers is approximately the same – 15 million Mormons and 20 million Himalayan or Vajrayana Buddhists, an offshoot of the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama based on esoteric concepts from a thousand years after his time. Like Mormons to the vast majority of Christians, these Buddhists believe themselves to be the true holders of the Buddha’s teaching.

Om Tsho is the lake pictured below.  I took the photo from the spot indicated by the red circle in the satellite image above.

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From Om Tsho To The Lower Lake

From Om Tsho the trail dips down to cross its outlet stream and then climbs up again to a ridge overlooking a second smaller lake 100 meters below.  In the image below I am looking down at that outlet stream and some of our horses and crew as they cross it and continue upward.

The first of two steep downhills are up next:

• 150 meters down to the lower lake from Om Tsho
• 230 meters down to the broad valley floor and the headwaters of the Nikka Chhu

The trekkers in the two images are starting or are in their descent from Om Tsho to the lower lake.

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Down To the Nikka Chhu Headwaters

When I reached the lower lake, I sat on a rock at the top end of it and looked down at another nice view.  On the left of the image below, you can see the trail and one of my fellow trekkers, who is pushing on to the other end. When I got there, I found a single string of prayer flags draped across the outlet stream of the lake.

And then the second steeper and longer drop in elevation. Here is the Lonely Planet Guide to Bhutan description:

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A Brief Stop At The Snowman Shop

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Corral Campsite At Rerethang

Next Post: Day 23 – Rerethang To Upper Sephu

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 23 – Rerethang To Upper Sephu