Part 39 - Camp below Sobshe La; ascent from Tongkyuk

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SUMMARY:
Travel from Tongkyuk up the Sobshe La valley to a camp below the pass, with notes on pine, spruce, Tsuga, Quercus ilex, and a quince-like shrub locally called 'Tingle' (Chaenomeles lagenaria). Reports widespread bamboo die-off mentioned in Kongbo and camping near a clearing with a wooden hut and yak.

CONTENT:
35

L.D. 96 to Sobshe La with thermograph

30th Dec. Camp below Sobshe La. B.P. 190.8° F. = 11424'. We left camp at Tongkyuk at 9.0 and went up stream till about 11.30, when we turned abruptly N, up the Sobshe La valley. Here there is a little cultivation, some huts, not occupied in winter. The forest is pine here, and beside the cultivation are some shrubs, 25-30' high spreading, with a very good looking apple-like fruit on them. Local name 'Tingle' (Chaenomeles lagenaria 12061), a kind of quince, with a very good smell, but very sour. Beyond this the forest is pine & spruce, with some Tsuga & the finest Quercus ilex I've ever seen, dead straight trees, 120-140 ft high & growing just like spruce, amongst which they are. There is some bamboo, but like elsewhere, it all seems to be dead. They said in Kongbo that last year all the bamboo died. The path is narrow, but not bad. There are hardly any openings in the forest at all until one has gone up for about 3 hours, when the valley levels off, the path crosses to the R bank at a clearing where there is a wooden hut & some yak. Here we camped. The hills on either side are steep, but