We got up early in Ranipauwa to hike the 15 minutes back up to Muktinath, to have a look about. I must say the first thing that hit me about Muktinath... was that it was as littered as everywhere else! I guess I assumed that it being a sacred place to both Hindus and Buddhists that firstly; people wouldn't drop their litter there, and secondly; that somebody would have picked it up if they had. But there were the boxes from incense just dropped after the incense was removed to burn at one of the temples by some devout pilgrim, there were food and candy wrappers, thrown into the bushes, and all the other general rubbish left everywhere else. There is a very different view of rubbish in Nepal than back home!
Anyway, aside from that, Muktinath was fascinating. One location believed sacred for several reasons to both Hindus and Buddhists, and both religions have their temples side by side inside the outer wall. Saw temples to many different gods, and a number of temples to the same gods. The fountains, 108 spouts with water from a spring, pilgrims bathe in each spout or at least splash water over their head from each. Also saw the temple built over a natural gas vent that bubbles up through water. It's a sacred eternal flame over water.
We grabbed breakfast back in Ranipauwa on our way down the valley. As we walked down towards Marpha we saw lots of sheep on the hillsides, they have long spiralling horns. When we turned the corner into the Kali Gandaki valley we encountered an increasingly strong headwind. At times gusts would set me back a step!
We stopped for lunch in Jomsom where it was nice to get out of the wind for a bit. There are loads of pilgrims along the road now, this side of the circuit has a very different feel than the other side before the pass. The villages in the Kali Gandaki are beautiful as they are surrounded by lush orchards. They really stand out on this dry, windswept valley floor! Marpha is especially beautiful as they pride themselves in being a very clean community. It was by far the cleanest village I went through on the circuit. The streets are paved with large flagstones, and each house in the community is required to have new whitewash once a year.
I did some laundry (much needed) and watched the procession of several hundred people accompanying a wedding from the roof of our lodge. There was music following the procession, drums and something that reminded me of bagpipes and then the occasional loud blast of horns that didn't seem to blend or fit with the rest of the music at all. The horns reminded me of being at a hockey game in Canada!
That night in our tea house I met an Irish couple, Paul and Brona. They were great fun and we visited till quite late... almost 9:30pm!!!
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
The Pass! (17,770ft) and motor noise already!
We left from Letdar the next morning around 5:30am. Had a quick cup of tea and we were off! Arrived in Thorong Phedi for breakfast at 7:00am. After breakfast we headed out around 8 just behind an Austrian couple with mountain bikes. They had been riding the whole circuit! I didn't envy them this morning, but I figured that afternoon I might be thinking of their bicycles quite differently. We stopped for tea at a tea house just before the top of the pass, played a round of a card game similar to Rummi with the guy running the shop. Then continued on... about 10 min out of the tea house we caught up with the main rush of people heading over the pass! Passed probably 20 people before the top of the pass. We made it from Letdar to the top of pass in just over four hours traveling time!
It was a beautiful view from the summit of the pass. Everything with a fresh covering of snow! The trail had probably 4 or 5 inches of fresh snow, and the mountains around had lovely clean capes! Gorgeous and sunny and only a slight breeze! Island Peak was great acclimatization for Thorong La! lol Felt the altitude only slightly in increased rate of breathing near the top, but that could have been fixed if I'd slowed down. We made a really good pace and whenever we'd stop my breathing rate would return to normal within a half a minute or less. Never once felt so much as a hint of a headache!
At the summit we at my last two snickers from home in celebration.
Arrived down the other side in Ranipauwa next to Muktinath around 2pm. Showered and then just chilled that afternoon. Visited briefly with an older couple from Idaho who were just returning from a circuit trek up into the Upper Mustang, sounded pretty cool. Much less tourists and they compared it to a small grand canyon as far as terrain. Many ancient villages still lived in. Maybe next time I'll have to save up for that trek! It costs more because of being a limited access area.
I was very disappointed when we arrived in Muktinath to first hear and then see motorbikes and jeeps up there! I knew the road came up to Jomson, but I didn't realize it came all the way up to Muktinath... rather distracting after several days of wilderness to have the roar of engines again...
It was a beautiful view from the summit of the pass. Everything with a fresh covering of snow! The trail had probably 4 or 5 inches of fresh snow, and the mountains around had lovely clean capes! Gorgeous and sunny and only a slight breeze! Island Peak was great acclimatization for Thorong La! lol Felt the altitude only slightly in increased rate of breathing near the top, but that could have been fixed if I'd slowed down. We made a really good pace and whenever we'd stop my breathing rate would return to normal within a half a minute or less. Never once felt so much as a hint of a headache!
At the summit we at my last two snickers from home in celebration.
Arrived down the other side in Ranipauwa next to Muktinath around 2pm. Showered and then just chilled that afternoon. Visited briefly with an older couple from Idaho who were just returning from a circuit trek up into the Upper Mustang, sounded pretty cool. Much less tourists and they compared it to a small grand canyon as far as terrain. Many ancient villages still lived in. Maybe next time I'll have to save up for that trek! It costs more because of being a limited access area.
I was very disappointed when we arrived in Muktinath to first hear and then see motorbikes and jeeps up there! I knew the road came up to Jomson, but I didn't realize it came all the way up to Muktinath... rather distracting after several days of wilderness to have the roar of engines again...
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Rain, friends and fireballs!
We'd planned to leave Braga early the next morning so we could make it to Thorong Phedi... but awoke to continued rain. It had been raining most of the night. So, back to bed I went and didn't get up for a couple more hours, ended up leaving Braga around 10am.
That morning we caught up to and then hiked with an American couple from Gunsang to Yak Kharka. NP visited with their guide and I talked with Jeremy and Julianne. They were from the West Coast and on their way to work in Hong Kong for a while.
In Yak Kharka we stopped for lunch and caught up with the six guys from Braga. Ate and visited with them. They had come up from Manang that morning and were planning to stay there. NP and I decided to keep going and see where we could get to that afternoon. Bid the international crew farewell, and off we went. Our decision was made easy as it started to snow just before we reached Letdar, so that was where we stayed! It was a nice quiet little guest house with fantastic views later that night when it cleared. The snow covered mountains under full moon-light were spectacular! It was just a father and son running the guest house. We all sat around the small stove and visited... well they visited and I mostly listened and observed. I picked up a few words I knew... unfortunately those are numbers so all I knew is they were discussing prices of 250-300 rupees... not terribly informative. While we were all huddled around the stove the wind caught and blew down the chimney... with a WHOOSH! flames followed by smoke shot out the front of the stove and we all had a good jump away from the "explosion"! We all looked around at each other and cracked up! This proceeded to happen several more times throughout the evening, each time surprising us, and each time we all had a good laugh at our reactions!
That morning we caught up to and then hiked with an American couple from Gunsang to Yak Kharka. NP visited with their guide and I talked with Jeremy and Julianne. They were from the West Coast and on their way to work in Hong Kong for a while.
In Yak Kharka we stopped for lunch and caught up with the six guys from Braga. Ate and visited with them. They had come up from Manang that morning and were planning to stay there. NP and I decided to keep going and see where we could get to that afternoon. Bid the international crew farewell, and off we went. Our decision was made easy as it started to snow just before we reached Letdar, so that was where we stayed! It was a nice quiet little guest house with fantastic views later that night when it cleared. The snow covered mountains under full moon-light were spectacular! It was just a father and son running the guest house. We all sat around the small stove and visited... well they visited and I mostly listened and observed. I picked up a few words I knew... unfortunately those are numbers so all I knew is they were discussing prices of 250-300 rupees... not terribly informative. While we were all huddled around the stove the wind caught and blew down the chimney... with a WHOOSH! flames followed by smoke shot out the front of the stove and we all had a good jump away from the "explosion"! We all looked around at each other and cracked up! This proceeded to happen several more times throughout the evening, each time surprising us, and each time we all had a good laugh at our reactions!
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Mountains, kids, bugs and fungus!
In Pisang we got our first views of the old villages that have been lived in for centuries! Very cool, the old towns still feel very medieval. Narrow little streets winding up the hillside, ancient stone buildings that lean and twist! Very cool, I came back with probably too many pictures of the towns that will look the same... but I'll be able to thin those down to the best ones:D
When I woke up in Pisang, after the rain of the night I got my first views of the mountains! Pisang Peak behind, and Annapurnas II, IV, III and Gangapurna in front! WOW! It was good to be back in the mountains! That day we took the high trail from Pisang, a very steep climb up to Gyaru and then a lovely walk across through Ngawal to Braga. The upper trail's views were spectacular, looking right across the valley as the mountains seemed to grow the higher we got! I felt sorry for anyone who took the low trail... they missed so much.
Just before we reached Braga where we stayed the night, we passed through the village of Mungji, there were dozens... maybe up to 50 baby pygmy goats! They were so cute, spread out all over a large pasture area, didn't see any adults, just the babies an they were adorable! Bounding around, nibbling on the grass or bushes, walking among the horses and mules also grazing there. Many a little bleat or bah, so funny to watch. The antics of goat kids are so entertaining!
That night at Braga met a group of six guys also staying there. They had all met up along the way of their various travels. Two British guys, one has been biking around India and Nepal for about 5 months, two Spaniards (brothers), one Dutch, and one Israeli. Cool guys, it would have been fun to travel with them, but we had a different pace, lol. (I ended up meeting up with them a couple times after, and then I've run into two of them here in Pokhara and hung out a little)
After the first night in Braga, NP and I climbed up to the Ice Lake (at 15,000ft), a nice Sabbath afternoon hike of about 4,000 vertical feet from Braga. The views were awesome, and up at the top we walked up and talked with some of the people who were up in the hills hunting for some insect that they will sell down in the valley for good money. They do this every two years, the season lasts about a month and a half and there were dozens of people that come up for the season. The bug looks like a caterpillar, about 1 1/2 - 2 inches long an at the tail it looks like a plant shoot, that's all that sticks out of the ground and apparently one to two of these a day is pretty good hunting! Wikipedia calls these "caterpillar fungus" and if you want to know more you can look it up there. But a brief overview is that they are a moth larvae which gets invaded with a fungus that eventually kills the larvae and grows out of them into a sort of mushroom that is able to release it's spores to continue the life cycle. Strange!
When we returned to Braga that afternoon for lunch we decided to spend another night there before heading on as the weather wasn't looking too promising and it's encouraged to spend two nights at Braga or Manang for acclimatization. We didn't think we probably had to worry about that, but weren't in a huge hurry and liked the people at the guest house there. That afternoon I did wander up to Manang to have a look around, it's about a 20 min walk between the two towns. The old part of Manang was very cool, another medieval town with many winding passages and alleyways. I wandered and hoped I wouldn't get lost or end up someplace I wasn't supposed to be, but it all turned out well :D I definitely felt like I got a little off the main tourist track as the locals seemed to watch me curiously, which doesn't really happen on the main paths. But nonone looked angry or upset so I continued my meandering until I had made a circuit through the village that if tracked probably looked something like the trails of Billy from the cartoon "Family Circus".
That night back in Braga I played dice with NP... he wanted to play for money, so we set the stakes at 5 ruppees a game. I ended up winning three times in a row, we'll play again later and see if he can win it back!
When I woke up in Pisang, after the rain of the night I got my first views of the mountains! Pisang Peak behind, and Annapurnas II, IV, III and Gangapurna in front! WOW! It was good to be back in the mountains! That day we took the high trail from Pisang, a very steep climb up to Gyaru and then a lovely walk across through Ngawal to Braga. The upper trail's views were spectacular, looking right across the valley as the mountains seemed to grow the higher we got! I felt sorry for anyone who took the low trail... they missed so much.
Just before we reached Braga where we stayed the night, we passed through the village of Mungji, there were dozens... maybe up to 50 baby pygmy goats! They were so cute, spread out all over a large pasture area, didn't see any adults, just the babies an they were adorable! Bounding around, nibbling on the grass or bushes, walking among the horses and mules also grazing there. Many a little bleat or bah, so funny to watch. The antics of goat kids are so entertaining!
That night at Braga met a group of six guys also staying there. They had all met up along the way of their various travels. Two British guys, one has been biking around India and Nepal for about 5 months, two Spaniards (brothers), one Dutch, and one Israeli. Cool guys, it would have been fun to travel with them, but we had a different pace, lol. (I ended up meeting up with them a couple times after, and then I've run into two of them here in Pokhara and hung out a little)
After the first night in Braga, NP and I climbed up to the Ice Lake (at 15,000ft), a nice Sabbath afternoon hike of about 4,000 vertical feet from Braga. The views were awesome, and up at the top we walked up and talked with some of the people who were up in the hills hunting for some insect that they will sell down in the valley for good money. They do this every two years, the season lasts about a month and a half and there were dozens of people that come up for the season. The bug looks like a caterpillar, about 1 1/2 - 2 inches long an at the tail it looks like a plant shoot, that's all that sticks out of the ground and apparently one to two of these a day is pretty good hunting! Wikipedia calls these "caterpillar fungus" and if you want to know more you can look it up there. But a brief overview is that they are a moth larvae which gets invaded with a fungus that eventually kills the larvae and grows out of them into a sort of mushroom that is able to release it's spores to continue the life cycle. Strange!
When we returned to Braga that afternoon for lunch we decided to spend another night there before heading on as the weather wasn't looking too promising and it's encouraged to spend two nights at Braga or Manang for acclimatization. We didn't think we probably had to worry about that, but weren't in a huge hurry and liked the people at the guest house there. That afternoon I did wander up to Manang to have a look around, it's about a 20 min walk between the two towns. The old part of Manang was very cool, another medieval town with many winding passages and alleyways. I wandered and hoped I wouldn't get lost or end up someplace I wasn't supposed to be, but it all turned out well :D I definitely felt like I got a little off the main tourist track as the locals seemed to watch me curiously, which doesn't really happen on the main paths. But nonone looked angry or upset so I continued my meandering until I had made a circuit through the village that if tracked probably looked something like the trails of Billy from the cartoon "Family Circus".
That night back in Braga I played dice with NP... he wanted to play for money, so we set the stakes at 5 ruppees a game. I ended up winning three times in a row, we'll play again later and see if he can win it back!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
The start of Annapurna... THE TREK! (Kathmandu to Pisang)
So early on the morning of the 27th of April, I bid my companions of the previous three weeks farewell and headed down to the lobby where NP met me and we caught a taxi to the bus station to catch our bus to BesiSahar at the beginning of the Annapurna Circuit. It was a mostly uneventful ride. Two stops early on, breakfast around 8am and then another stop at 10:30. NP suggested we get lunch, I said it was too early and he said it was the last stop before we would arrive at the end... around 3pm. So lunch was early and boy was I glad too! We did end up with one more quick stop, to repair a flat tire.
During the tire stop I met the one other non-Nepali on the bus, a girl from Israel named Or. She was also headed to hike the circuit. By the time we arrived at our end destination of Bhulbule (one town beyond BesiSahar) we had packed full, we had a goat, some chickens, numerous bags of rice and various staples in the aisles and we had picked up the school children on their way from BesiSahar to Bhulbule, I got one on my lap and two more in the seat next to me:D They were real cute!
In Bhulbule NP must have picked the "solo hotel" all the guests there were solo trekkers. We all had guides but each just one trekker and one guide. There was another guy from California named Hector, a girl from France (with a name I had trouble pronouncing and consequently don't remember), Rebbecca from Australia with a woman guide and woman porter, Or stayed there and so did I.
Next morning we headed on, I think NP and I were the last to leave the guest house, but we've just finished 18 days trekking in the Khumbu region and we soon over took each of the friends from the night before. It was hot trekking at near 2300ft after the previous trek being almost entirely above 9000ft! We stopped several times for tea and once for lunch before making it to Jagat that evening. Not much in the way of mountain views... might be a little low, but it was also quite hazy.
From Jagat we headed on, that day stopping occasionally to watch the consequences of the work on the road project on the opposite side of the valley. They were clearing out a ledge for the road, so large rocks were getting pushed down the slope. There were some awesome rock slides created, and we watched when there was a large crash to see the stones hurtling down to the valley floor! I think that day I maybe didn't stay quite as well hydrated in the afternoon as I should have. I was feeling pretty good and then BAM! I hit the wall... about 40 min from our end destination in Temang, and all up a pretty steep hill. Made it fine, but I definitely slowed down at the end. NP shared some peanuts with me, and that seemed to help. We stayed at a lovely little guest house, quite new. NP stayed there in October and they didn't have the privy finished... but now they did. Had a wonderfully hot bucket shower and ended up being the only guest there that night. There was a wonderful view around the guest house as it was on the top of a hill. Down below were terraces of grass with many mules and horses grazing. Beyond at the edge of the trees were monkeys swinging in the branches. Quite picturesque!
Next morning we started out and followed a mule train for two hours. More crashes from across the valley, though we were often in trees or otherwise out of view and only heard the boom of rocks colliding and breaking apart. At our lunch stop I met a trio from Bristol, they were having a quick chocolate break and were giving self congratulations for their pace, naming each group they had overtaken: "team Isreal" (the three Isreali girls they has stayed with the night before), "team Germany" (two German guys), "team France" (another solo French girl), and they affectionately referred to themselves as "Team Bristol", when they called me "team America" I requested that I represent my state rather than my country as there were other Americans on the trail... (besides I wanted to distance myself from the link to the group in the movie Team American: World Police). I must say, I felt pretty good myself, listening to their self congratulations at their progress since I had started at the same time that morning, but from a town an hour lower down the trail! Shortly after lunch we stopped for about 10 mins to watch the road workers, (we were now walking on the new road) working to push a boulder half the size of a small car over the edge. It was great! The boulder rolled and bounded down the hill barely missing two trees as it scored a fieldgoal! Fun to watch! (though the whole road project seems like a disaster... why would you put a road halfway around one of the worlds most famous treks? What is that going to do to tourism which the people make a living from?! But that's another discussion for another time...)
We made it to Pisang that evening, again I was the only guest. It's starting to get late in the trekking season, and NP likes to pick the quieter places, which was alright by me. It was fun to be the only guest as I got treated slightly more like a local. I would be invited into the kitchen sometimes and I would get complimentary cups of tea when I just sat and observed NP and the owners visit. That evening there was thunder in the distance... beautiful to hear the thunder rolling through the valley. While we slept it rained some as well. Made for beautiful views in the morning as the rain brought down the haze! Amazing views of the snow covered peaks next morning... first of the trek!
During the tire stop I met the one other non-Nepali on the bus, a girl from Israel named Or. She was also headed to hike the circuit. By the time we arrived at our end destination of Bhulbule (one town beyond BesiSahar) we had packed full, we had a goat, some chickens, numerous bags of rice and various staples in the aisles and we had picked up the school children on their way from BesiSahar to Bhulbule, I got one on my lap and two more in the seat next to me:D They were real cute!
In Bhulbule NP must have picked the "solo hotel" all the guests there were solo trekkers. We all had guides but each just one trekker and one guide. There was another guy from California named Hector, a girl from France (with a name I had trouble pronouncing and consequently don't remember), Rebbecca from Australia with a woman guide and woman porter, Or stayed there and so did I.
Next morning we headed on, I think NP and I were the last to leave the guest house, but we've just finished 18 days trekking in the Khumbu region and we soon over took each of the friends from the night before. It was hot trekking at near 2300ft after the previous trek being almost entirely above 9000ft! We stopped several times for tea and once for lunch before making it to Jagat that evening. Not much in the way of mountain views... might be a little low, but it was also quite hazy.
From Jagat we headed on, that day stopping occasionally to watch the consequences of the work on the road project on the opposite side of the valley. They were clearing out a ledge for the road, so large rocks were getting pushed down the slope. There were some awesome rock slides created, and we watched when there was a large crash to see the stones hurtling down to the valley floor! I think that day I maybe didn't stay quite as well hydrated in the afternoon as I should have. I was feeling pretty good and then BAM! I hit the wall... about 40 min from our end destination in Temang, and all up a pretty steep hill. Made it fine, but I definitely slowed down at the end. NP shared some peanuts with me, and that seemed to help. We stayed at a lovely little guest house, quite new. NP stayed there in October and they didn't have the privy finished... but now they did. Had a wonderfully hot bucket shower and ended up being the only guest there that night. There was a wonderful view around the guest house as it was on the top of a hill. Down below were terraces of grass with many mules and horses grazing. Beyond at the edge of the trees were monkeys swinging in the branches. Quite picturesque!
Next morning we started out and followed a mule train for two hours. More crashes from across the valley, though we were often in trees or otherwise out of view and only heard the boom of rocks colliding and breaking apart. At our lunch stop I met a trio from Bristol, they were having a quick chocolate break and were giving self congratulations for their pace, naming each group they had overtaken: "team Isreal" (the three Isreali girls they has stayed with the night before), "team Germany" (two German guys), "team France" (another solo French girl), and they affectionately referred to themselves as "Team Bristol", when they called me "team America" I requested that I represent my state rather than my country as there were other Americans on the trail... (besides I wanted to distance myself from the link to the group in the movie Team American: World Police). I must say, I felt pretty good myself, listening to their self congratulations at their progress since I had started at the same time that morning, but from a town an hour lower down the trail! Shortly after lunch we stopped for about 10 mins to watch the road workers, (we were now walking on the new road) working to push a boulder half the size of a small car over the edge. It was great! The boulder rolled and bounded down the hill barely missing two trees as it scored a fieldgoal! Fun to watch! (though the whole road project seems like a disaster... why would you put a road halfway around one of the worlds most famous treks? What is that going to do to tourism which the people make a living from?! But that's another discussion for another time...)
We made it to Pisang that evening, again I was the only guest. It's starting to get late in the trekking season, and NP likes to pick the quieter places, which was alright by me. It was fun to be the only guest as I got treated slightly more like a local. I would be invited into the kitchen sometimes and I would get complimentary cups of tea when I just sat and observed NP and the owners visit. That evening there was thunder in the distance... beautiful to hear the thunder rolling through the valley. While we slept it rained some as well. Made for beautiful views in the morning as the rain brought down the haze! Amazing views of the snow covered peaks next morning... first of the trek!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
And out...
Well, it took almost two weeks to hike in to Island Peak, to acclimatize appropriately, so it seemed very strange to hike out from basecamp all the way to Lukla in only three days! The hike out was nice, felt so healthy and strong after dealing with high elevation and thin air for so long! Saw two guys hauling huge loads of empty water bottles up the trail. Apparently there's a plant up in the mountains somewhere where they refill the bottles then haul them down to sell them. But the guys were carrying such enormous loads, about the size of a Mini Cooper strapped to their back! Granted they were empty bottles, but still there were a lot of them!
One of the places we stopped for lunch one day I got to feed a potato to a yak... he slobbered all over my hand! And I was shocked his tongue was as rough as a big cat! Found out he'd been retired for about 7 years, now he just hangs out and begs food at that little village! Not a bad life after 18 years of hard labor hauling loads up and down the valley.
One morning we got up early and hiked up from Deboche where we were staying up to Tengboche to the monastery where we were able to sit in for the morning meditation. We got up their early and Jagat asked them if we could film, he got the ok and we also got invited into the kitchen for some masala tea while we waited. We later found out that was quite an honor as no one but the cooks and the monks are normally allowed into the kitchen! The meditation was quite an experience, for over an hour the monks read, or chanted, and prayed. All together some times, and all separately at others. There were times when it would become silent, but most of the time they were chanting and singing. We met with the acting head lama or teacher at the end. The actual head lama of the monastery was in Kathmandu for a while and was due back that day or the next. The acting head lama told us that the morning meditation and prayers are usually for peace and health for all people and animals. After the morning meditation the monks have breakfast and then do private devotions and meditation throughout the day. Jon interviewed a couple younger monks who were cleaning moss off some stone tablets outside. Monks may join the monastery anytime after they are able to walk, some join very young and some join much later in life.
When we got back to Lukla, the night before we flew out in the morning, we had a big dinner and celebration with all our guides and porters. They sang some local folk songs (very cool!) And we all shared a meal together. In the end we had four guides and eight porters in total. Two guides and three porters accompanied us throughout the entire trek: Guides: Chet and NP and Porters: Sirime, Santosh, and Ram Shingh. Then Jagat met us in Dingboche with our mountain guide: Lal and five more porters with the mountain and base camp gear: Ganga, Purna, Jangbu, Lhakpa, and Bishnu. They were all great!
Just before we flew out in the morning we watched a flight coming in that looked way too high! As he dove towards the runway hi just looked off, he got closer and was adjusting when he finally veered off up the valley to try again. It must have been quite the ride to have been on, the valley isn't terribly wide and we weren't sure where he'd be able to turn around, he came back and again seemed hi, but he dropped very quickly and made the landing! I was wishing I could have talked to some of the people on board! It looked safe the whole time, and he pulled out with plenty of space, but it must have been an exciting flight none the less! Our flight out was very smooth and uneventful.
Rick and Ann were able to get their tickets changed and flew out that night. We also met up with Shannon and Steve Gibb and planned to have dinner with them and their crew that night. Now we have several days here in Kathmandu. Les and Jon fly out on Monday, Brian on Wednesday and I will head out to Annapurna on Monday. Should be fun! I am going with NP one of our guides from the Island Peak trek, so that will take some of the stress out of finding places to stay, and it will be fun to have a companion on the trail! NP is lots of fun and I'm looking forward to the trip!
Hope I'm able to update on the trail... otherwise it will just be another monster update at the end. Cheers!
One of the places we stopped for lunch one day I got to feed a potato to a yak... he slobbered all over my hand! And I was shocked his tongue was as rough as a big cat! Found out he'd been retired for about 7 years, now he just hangs out and begs food at that little village! Not a bad life after 18 years of hard labor hauling loads up and down the valley.
One morning we got up early and hiked up from Deboche where we were staying up to Tengboche to the monastery where we were able to sit in for the morning meditation. We got up their early and Jagat asked them if we could film, he got the ok and we also got invited into the kitchen for some masala tea while we waited. We later found out that was quite an honor as no one but the cooks and the monks are normally allowed into the kitchen! The meditation was quite an experience, for over an hour the monks read, or chanted, and prayed. All together some times, and all separately at others. There were times when it would become silent, but most of the time they were chanting and singing. We met with the acting head lama or teacher at the end. The actual head lama of the monastery was in Kathmandu for a while and was due back that day or the next. The acting head lama told us that the morning meditation and prayers are usually for peace and health for all people and animals. After the morning meditation the monks have breakfast and then do private devotions and meditation throughout the day. Jon interviewed a couple younger monks who were cleaning moss off some stone tablets outside. Monks may join the monastery anytime after they are able to walk, some join very young and some join much later in life.
When we got back to Lukla, the night before we flew out in the morning, we had a big dinner and celebration with all our guides and porters. They sang some local folk songs (very cool!) And we all shared a meal together. In the end we had four guides and eight porters in total. Two guides and three porters accompanied us throughout the entire trek: Guides: Chet and NP and Porters: Sirime, Santosh, and Ram Shingh. Then Jagat met us in Dingboche with our mountain guide: Lal and five more porters with the mountain and base camp gear: Ganga, Purna, Jangbu, Lhakpa, and Bishnu. They were all great!
Just before we flew out in the morning we watched a flight coming in that looked way too high! As he dove towards the runway hi just looked off, he got closer and was adjusting when he finally veered off up the valley to try again. It must have been quite the ride to have been on, the valley isn't terribly wide and we weren't sure where he'd be able to turn around, he came back and again seemed hi, but he dropped very quickly and made the landing! I was wishing I could have talked to some of the people on board! It looked safe the whole time, and he pulled out with plenty of space, but it must have been an exciting flight none the less! Our flight out was very smooth and uneventful.
Rick and Ann were able to get their tickets changed and flew out that night. We also met up with Shannon and Steve Gibb and planned to have dinner with them and their crew that night. Now we have several days here in Kathmandu. Les and Jon fly out on Monday, Brian on Wednesday and I will head out to Annapurna on Monday. Should be fun! I am going with NP one of our guides from the Island Peak trek, so that will take some of the stress out of finding places to stay, and it will be fun to have a companion on the trail! NP is lots of fun and I'm looking forward to the trip!
Hope I'm able to update on the trail... otherwise it will just be another monster update at the end. Cheers!
Friday, April 24, 2009
Summit and beyond...
Alright... so it's been a few days since I last posted on here. We had a nice hike up from Dingboche, where we met up with Jagat and 5 more porters with our mountain gear and all the gear to set up and maintain basecamp. We then stayed a night in Chukung and continued on up to Imja Tse basecamp. We talked with quite a few people on their way down off Island peak and decided to get started plenty early the next morning for our climb. The people we talked to had not summitted because there had been a bottleneck up at the headwall, 600 vertical feet from the summit and they weren't able to make it past in time. So we decided to head out around midnight, rather than our planned 1am.
We packed up our bags, grabbed a quick supper and went to bed around 7:30pm planning to get up at 11pm to eat and get ready to head out by midnight. I had planned ahead and inserted my earplugs to help me get to sleep while there was still much activity going on in camp... well that only succeeded in helping me lay there in silence and listen to my own thoughts for the next few hours. I'm not sure if I was able to doze off for a few minutes here and there over the next 4 hours, but it didn't feel like it. When Jagat finally came over to the tent to wake us up I was stoked, FINALLY I could get up! We rose, geared up, ate and started off with Lal, our mountain guide, in the lead and two porters following along carrying the ropes, crampons, double walled boots, and our other glacier and ice gear.
The first three hours or so were hard on me, I don't particularly like hiking in the dark up mountains in the middle of the night. It's boring and seems like I'm not making any progress. After a while, 3 or 4 hours, we got above the fog/clouds in the valley and were able to see the stars! That helped my attitude a lot. It was absolutely stunning! To see the stars so brilliantly, and the huge mountains silhouetted against the shimmering fabric of the night sky was glorious. We hiked another hour or two before we reached the edge of the glacier just as the edge of the sky was beginning to lighten.
When we stopped hiking to gear up, change boots and don crampons for the glacier it was frigid! It was great to have down pants and a nice heavy down parka and gloves. When we were all ready and roped up we headed out onto the glacier as daylight spread across the sky. What an amazing glacier, bowls and ridges it was a smooth but rolling and tumbling mass. Much more exciting than the glaciers I've traversed in the northwest. We had to jump two crevasses and were overtaken at this point by another team that was out of control! I'm not sure why they were roped up at all. They all were holding loops of the slack between them and traveling as a mob. When they crossed the crevasses, I saw the rope stepped on with crampons at least a dozen times, no one even seemed to care that that was their lifeline they were puncturing! Well we made it up the glacier to the bottom of the headwall and the sun was full on, it was hot! All the snow and ice of the glacier acted as a giant oven! Whew!
The other team had left their fixed line on the headwall... but after seeing how they treated their other rope, we requested that Lal fix our rope for us rather than using the rope already set. (in the Himalayas it is quite common and acceptable to share fixed lines once set)
We made it slowly up the headwall (nearly 20,000ft makes all work harder). At the top of the headwall there was a small flat spot and then a ridgewalk 60 ft to the summit. At the top of the headwall on of our members got quite sick, after a quick dash to the summit I took over from Les and began down with our sick teammate. Rappelled down the headwall side by side until we reached the glacier, where we waited for the rest of the team to catch up. It was a long and slow process down from there, but we made it. Once off the glacier Les and I worked our way down, Les leading and me with a shortrope attached to our teammates harness. We would stop every 20 minutes for them to rest. One of our porters, Ram Shingh had headed down ahead of us with a gear bag, dropped off his load and ran back up the mountain to help us. He then carried our friend when the trail was smooth enough and helped me guide them when it was too rocky, just before we reached the flat, NP, Jagat and Chet also reached us as they had been alerted of our situation. Then NP and Ram Shingh took turns carrying our friend back to camp. Once in camp we let them rest for a few minutes while we decided whether to continue down to Chukung or not as it was now almost 6pm and would be getting dark soon. After 15 minutes rest we woke them and did a simple test to see how they were doing. They were able to walk a straight line heal-to-toe and were very oriented, just exhausted now so we decided to stay. The rest of us ate some food prepared for us and we all turned in. What a long day! 18 hours on the mountain and we were all beat!
Slept incredibly well, but for the first time since entering the mountains I didn't wake up once to pee... I had drank almost a liter and a half before bed but I'd let myself get a little dehydrated over the course of the climb. Woke up to a very cold morning, but nearly 12 hours of sleep had worked wonders and felt great!
We packed up our bags, grabbed a quick supper and went to bed around 7:30pm planning to get up at 11pm to eat and get ready to head out by midnight. I had planned ahead and inserted my earplugs to help me get to sleep while there was still much activity going on in camp... well that only succeeded in helping me lay there in silence and listen to my own thoughts for the next few hours. I'm not sure if I was able to doze off for a few minutes here and there over the next 4 hours, but it didn't feel like it. When Jagat finally came over to the tent to wake us up I was stoked, FINALLY I could get up! We rose, geared up, ate and started off with Lal, our mountain guide, in the lead and two porters following along carrying the ropes, crampons, double walled boots, and our other glacier and ice gear.
The first three hours or so were hard on me, I don't particularly like hiking in the dark up mountains in the middle of the night. It's boring and seems like I'm not making any progress. After a while, 3 or 4 hours, we got above the fog/clouds in the valley and were able to see the stars! That helped my attitude a lot. It was absolutely stunning! To see the stars so brilliantly, and the huge mountains silhouetted against the shimmering fabric of the night sky was glorious. We hiked another hour or two before we reached the edge of the glacier just as the edge of the sky was beginning to lighten.
When we stopped hiking to gear up, change boots and don crampons for the glacier it was frigid! It was great to have down pants and a nice heavy down parka and gloves. When we were all ready and roped up we headed out onto the glacier as daylight spread across the sky. What an amazing glacier, bowls and ridges it was a smooth but rolling and tumbling mass. Much more exciting than the glaciers I've traversed in the northwest. We had to jump two crevasses and were overtaken at this point by another team that was out of control! I'm not sure why they were roped up at all. They all were holding loops of the slack between them and traveling as a mob. When they crossed the crevasses, I saw the rope stepped on with crampons at least a dozen times, no one even seemed to care that that was their lifeline they were puncturing! Well we made it up the glacier to the bottom of the headwall and the sun was full on, it was hot! All the snow and ice of the glacier acted as a giant oven! Whew!
The other team had left their fixed line on the headwall... but after seeing how they treated their other rope, we requested that Lal fix our rope for us rather than using the rope already set. (in the Himalayas it is quite common and acceptable to share fixed lines once set)
We made it slowly up the headwall (nearly 20,000ft makes all work harder). At the top of the headwall there was a small flat spot and then a ridgewalk 60 ft to the summit. At the top of the headwall on of our members got quite sick, after a quick dash to the summit I took over from Les and began down with our sick teammate. Rappelled down the headwall side by side until we reached the glacier, where we waited for the rest of the team to catch up. It was a long and slow process down from there, but we made it. Once off the glacier Les and I worked our way down, Les leading and me with a shortrope attached to our teammates harness. We would stop every 20 minutes for them to rest. One of our porters, Ram Shingh had headed down ahead of us with a gear bag, dropped off his load and ran back up the mountain to help us. He then carried our friend when the trail was smooth enough and helped me guide them when it was too rocky, just before we reached the flat, NP, Jagat and Chet also reached us as they had been alerted of our situation. Then NP and Ram Shingh took turns carrying our friend back to camp. Once in camp we let them rest for a few minutes while we decided whether to continue down to Chukung or not as it was now almost 6pm and would be getting dark soon. After 15 minutes rest we woke them and did a simple test to see how they were doing. They were able to walk a straight line heal-to-toe and were very oriented, just exhausted now so we decided to stay. The rest of us ate some food prepared for us and we all turned in. What a long day! 18 hours on the mountain and we were all beat!
Slept incredibly well, but for the first time since entering the mountains I didn't wake up once to pee... I had drank almost a liter and a half before bed but I'd let myself get a little dehydrated over the course of the climb. Woke up to a very cold morning, but nearly 12 hours of sleep had worked wonders and felt great!
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