Posts

Day 17- The Finish

Image
Our journey involved ten days climbing to a pass then six days descending from it. We seemed to be very lucky to have had perfect conditions on and around the day of the pass as the last week has seen poor visibility and bad weather in the region. Our final day was not a particularly glamorous finish, we first descended on a dusty road to the river where a 900 mega watt hydro scheme is under construction and we walked to the sound of pneumatic drilling and earth moving machines. Eventually the river Arun will be dammed and a new lake created upstream, fortunately most Nepal villages, like Gola, are built on ridges so maybe they won’t be directly affected. After this we then ascended for two hours, with some respite from the sound of building work, to our finish at the rather shabby town of Num. Distance 9km 4hrs Bizarrely, the highlight of the day was the jeep drive to the airport at Tumlingtar to spend the night in a hotel before flying back to Kathmandu. The road was incredible, cut...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 16

Image
Long journeys often need renewed enthusiasm, especially towards the finish, so counting the days to the end is demoralising and one needs a positive approach to each day. This was essential on our five month tour of the coast of Britain but, as we complete our 42nd day in two months of camping and trekking, our ability to take a fresh look at each day is somewhat waning! Our trek notes describes the start of today as a ‘descent on a pleasant trail to a suspension bridge’ in reality this actually involved hobbling over the dump of building rubble left from the road construction (amongst which we had to camp). For the first two hours we trudged along the dusty road but eventually a short excursion on a path took us back up high above the valley where well kept houses and rice terraces belonging to the Gurung people. We had a long lunch stop at the small village of Pathibhara then the the trail continued through agricultural landscape to Gadhi (1170m), which means 'fort' in Ne...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 15

Image
The presentation of the photos went as expected, coincidentally the first person we presented them to happened to be the granddaughter of the woman on the front cover of the book. She was rather taken by surprise and visibly upset by seeing her relative who had died 7 years before and we felt rather foolish presenting these images. One person in the gathering crowd commented ‘why are they giving us photos when we need money’. It may be just as well that Dieter and Inga had not delivered these in person as it may have saddened them. We left Hatiya and finally descended to the Arun River after having remained at several hundred feet above it for some days. After about three hours we arrived at a confluence where the warm brown Arun mixes with the icy blue Barun River. The Barun carries meltwater from the glaciers of Makalu and both rivers have spiritual significance for Buddhist and Hindu people. This is this a place of pilgrimage, but ironically it is also on the new road t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 14

Image
As we left Chyamthang, it was evident that our trail was no longer just for trekkers as it was well constructed and punctuated with regular rest points. These often coincided with a stupa or mani wall, providing platforms for porters to rest their baskets and drink from a pipe with fresh running water. We contoured high on the north bank of the Arun River passing through several villages all set among terraces of millet, the seeds of which are mainly used for alcoholic drinks such as chang and rachshi. Women were out in the fields cutting the head off each plant, tossing it into their head basket at great speed while chatting in hysterics- so maybe they had sampled the fruits of their harvest! All these villages had uniform blue corrugated roofing which in the last four years has replaced the less resilient bamboo. Some new houses were being constructed with perfect walls of dry stone and seeing them topped with wood frames, we pondered what impact chainsaw would have to red...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 13

Image
Still rather damp, we continued through bamboo forests and soon got our first glimpse of the Arun River which will guide us all the way to the finish of our journey in a few days. Crossing the long suspension bridge, we climbed steadily uphill passing through fields of millet as we approached our overnight camp in the Bhotia village of Chyamthang (2250m). Each house had a well kept vegetable garden with beans, tomarillos and marrows growing in every available space. A woman lead us through the village with her herd of goats and most houses had a pig or other livestock in a pen, it was with mixed feelings that in the evening we had pork- our first proper meat on the trek! Chickens foraged on every patch of land and children were out playing games with stones to begin with then later with someone’s smartphone. Our trek team had a break from lentils and rice, joining us with meat and it was time for them to relax as both the Lumba Sumba pass and the ‘mad monkey trail’ were now be...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 12

Image
We woke to a layer of wet snow and low cloud making our route through a steep sided valley very atmospheric but also the wettest day we have ever experienced while trekking in this part of the world. The track contoured high above the river, undulating and winding its way across gullies, landslides and shoulders, before climbing steadily to a pass at about 3370m. Total concentration was needed for the entire day as one lapse in judgement of a foot placement would result in a serious fall. Referred to as the ‘mad monkey trail’, this track is largely used for trekking as villagers such as those in Thudam find it easier to travel to Tibet to buy and sell products. Government funding in recent years has opened up the route which is somewhat overgrown in places and provides a precarious balcony above the Modek Cheheju Khola. The improbable path eventually became less precipitous and we continued to descend whereupon the vegetation became more tropical. At around 2800m we heard the rasp...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 11

Image
Last night, as the sun set on the high mountains, a solitary cloud partially obscured the summit of Makalu giving it the appearance of being on fire. This morning, as if the embers were still alight, it glowed clear and bright in the early morning sun. We crisscrossed the frozen river and, as we descended, the temperature rose from a breakfast low of -5 degrees Celsius to a warm +21 by lunch time. As we had gone an extra hour from the planned camp the night before we arrived at Thudam (3500m) by about 11am. This Bhotia village consists of about 30 houses built entirely of wood including roof planks simply held down by rocks. There is a school of 22 pupils all, apparently, from the village. We couldn’t help feeling that the equivalent settlement in Bhutan would have electricity more substantial houses and the more trees left in the valley- much of the tree felling we witnessed is for fuel in Thudam. We were now very close to the border and this village has strong trade and cultural...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 10

Image
Today is the defining moment of our trek as we walk over the two Lumba Sumba passes. We had another cold night of -9 degrees Celsius, my sleeping bag describes this temperature as the limit of ‘comfort’, I hate to think what discomfort feels like! Unfortunately we have been relying on the  very thin and  poor quality sleeping mat that was issued to us while our highly comfortable and insulating mats remain back in Kathmandu. This was our biggest mistake, contorting ourselves around boulders at the high camps and feeling the heat sapped from our bodies into the ground has left us longing for a bed! We set out just after dawn and although we missed the alpine glow on the summits, the light was perfect and there was not a cloud in the sky. The first pass is at 5150m where we added our prayer flags that were blessed by the monk in Olangchung Gola Gompa, the second pass requires a rocky traverse of half an hour and takes us to the highest part of the Lumba Sumba La at 5180m....
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 9

Image
The temperature dropped to -4 degrees Celsius in the night and Sue’s pants (washed) froze as stiff as a board while hanging in the tent. We continued up the valley in glorious sunshine and by 9am the partially frozen river was already full of melting ice from the glacier above. After the initial steep climb the valley opened out to a wide yak herder pasture. There were now two other groups heading for the pass so although there is a ‘sense of remoteness’, this pass is clearly not, as described in the KE notes, ‘seldom visited’. At the end of the valley our trail climbed up over a black rock band into another smaller valley where we camped at about 4600m. We were now well above the tree line and, while making a short acclimatisation walk on the afternoon, we caught a glimpse of the great peaks towards Kanchenjunga as well as our route up to the Lumbasumba pass. Distance 5km 3hrs
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 8

Image
Turning away from the Tamur River, we followed the Dinsamba Khola in an arc west and then north-west. This route forms a part of one version of the Great Himalaya Trail, has been trekked by very few foreigners and it was the first interesting day as it was away from roads and civilisation. As the valley opened out we looked back and were treated to our first mountain view. First came Jannu (7711m) locally called Khumbhakarna and is a sacred mountain- no permits are given to climb it. As we climbed higher Januu’s perfect triangular summit was joined by the contrasting flat ridge of Kabru (about 7400m) which lies on the boarder with Sikkim in India. We finish our day's trek before lunch and set up our streamside camp at the place called Tangchetar (4200m). This wild valley had a few yaks present, the promise of snow leopards but only a lone lammergeier was spotted. In the afternoon we made a short acclimatisation walk up the hill to gain 200m before returning to camp. Until now ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 7

Image
We set off through the village in the morning sun but, as soon as we got to it’s northern edge, we were horrified to see a road stretching up the valley and into Tibet. I asked Padam (our second guide) if this Chinese built road was going to be good for Nepal. He said 50/50, the trouble with these road developments is they destroy rural communities and increase migration to the cities where life is not always the paradise they hope for. We walked up this bulldozed track beside the Tamur River to its confluence with tributary Dinsamba Khola and crossed it to reach the place known as 'Junction Camp'. Distance 7km 3hrs
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 6

Image
Starting with a late breakfast we began our rest day in Olangchung Gola by visiting a house for salt butter tea then made our way through the village up the hill to the Gompa. Olangchung Gola is the last civilisation we will see until we reach the Arun Valley. It lies little more than a day's walk from the border with Tibet and it’s proximity has caused the area to be off limits to tourists until a few years ago. There are around 45 wooden houses in the village and it is an important trading post for goods coming across the passes from Tibet and up from the plains of India. The 465 year old gompa above the village has 3-storey and is freshly painted in ochre, it is claimed to be one of the oldest in Nepal. Over the next couple of days the gompa is hosting a festival which we unfortunately just missed but were able to witness the dress rehearsal. Returning to our camp for lunch, we were treated to sushi before getting our one and only bucket wash of the trip. In the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 5

Image
Continuing our journey north toward the main chain of the Himalaya we entered  a rhododendron forest and cross ed the Tamur River on a suspension bridge and walked up to the Bhotia settlement of Olangchung Gola (3200m). We pitched our tents on a series of terraces on the edge of the village and enjoyed a pizza and birthday cake for one of our team. Our guide, Gyelgen is a Sherpa from the Solu Khumbu region and has summited Everest 8 times for which the minimum wage is now 10,000 US dollars. We asked him about difficult clients and he told us that a Chinese customer, with lots of money and very little time, repeatedly insists on helicoptering in to about 4000m to climb 6000m peaks. After staggering around like a drunk man due to altitude, he then has to abort the mission. He then repeated the failed process on a 7000m peak the following year! Distance 6km 3hrs
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 4

Image
Still following the Tamur River upstream through dense forest, we passed several high waterfalls and cross the tributary Phedi Khola before pausing for lunch at 10:30! Our pace as a group seems to be too fast for the cook and crew so lunch often takes two hours. We now wind our way up steep sided valleys, the path is generally well made, a constant reconstruction job with so many landslides. We then crossed a second suspension bridge, this time over the main river and continued gradually uphill to our camp at Selep Lharka (2600m). Distance 14km 8hrs
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 3

Image
We continued alongside the Tamur River, passing banks of cardamom and were periodically sprayed by the irrigation pipes which keep them damp in the dry season. After a little more than an hour we came to the larger village of Tapethok (1340m) and a checkpost for the Kangchenjunga Conservation Area. After crossing the Tamur again on a suspension bridge the way immediately became a well constructed path and a welcome change from the dusty roads. Continuing beside the river we saw the Kanchenjunga Basecamp route branch off to the North and East while we continued on to Lelep where we stoped for lunch. We now passed through a mix of dense pine forest as well as fields of cardamom, climbing steadily to Lumthang (1800m) and our camp in a small dusty courtyard at Goatar. Distance 15km 8hr
Post a Comment
Read more