CLOUDS SWALLOW THE HIMALAYAS

Watch clouds engulf Lobuche's 20,000-ft peak.

The Himalayas tower far above everything. Even clouds often struggle to reach the summits of the world's tallest mountains. 

Yet, in the right conditions, a quick-moving storm can engulf the highest of Himalayas in a matter of seconds, as seen in the time lapse series of images above.

One of the images from the time lapse video showing Lobuche 

It was sometime before midnight on a blustery night two days' trek from Everest Base Camp. Bundled in all our clothes, we hiked a few minutes from camp to check out the stars before bedtime. Here above 16,000 feet, the wind chill was near zero. The cold, thin air made breathing difficult. 

After watching a cloud bank crawl slowly through a nearby valley, we set up the camera to try out time-lapse photography. Every 30 seconds for 15 minutes, we took a photo of the scene above, as clouds engulfed a pair of 20,000+ peaks before our eyes. 

Pros typically use a tripod and a remote control for time lapse shots...we used a pile of rocks, a wool hat, and a frost-bitten finger. The results, while not exactly pro-quality, we felt were worth posting anyway.

Hope you enjoy.

If you like this one, here are a few others (taken by pros) that are way better: time lapse nature photography. 

PHOTO FRIDAY: STARRY NIGHT IN TIBET

Above, a night view of Mt. Cho Oyu (26,906 feet) and the Himalayas from a frontier town in southern Tibet called Tingri. 

We'd like to say the summit you're seeing is Mt. Everest, which is clearly visible from where this photo was shot. However, in a typical moment of Liz & Kip travel brilliance, we realized at 4 am in the freezing cold on a tiny bridge just outside of town, that we didn't know which of the surrounding snow-capped peaks was the largest in the world.

Sadly, the world's highest mountain is about half-an-inch beyond the left edge of the frame of this shot. 

It looked real nice. Really, it did.

Yes, after six months, we're still the clueless travelers we were when we started.