Nepal Trekking

Trekking in Nepal Himalaya ( 17 Feb ~ 8 Mar 2009)

http://picasaweb.google.com.tw/cshum2009/Everest#
http://picasaweb.google.com.tw/cshum2009/Everest2#

Introduction

It was the second time to go to Nepal while the first time was in 2002. You might be invited by your friends to hike / walk in the countryside. However, it would never use the word "trek" in the countryside. Trek was usually translated as "健行". The translation was very good. It was a healthy walk. In fact, the trek was normally in the high altitude (3000~5000m) without help of any technically equipment such as crampon, ice-axe and harness. Nepal was famous for tea house trekking.

I was fond of hiking / trekking. Nepal was my dream destination and wanted to go for a long time. The Everest base camp trek took at least 14 days and the trekking season was from Oct to April. It meant that I could not do it in any school holiday. Therefore, the passion was hidden in my heart for a long time.

I could do nothing, but only read books, magazine and blog. I was envious to others' sharing. The more I read, the more passion was developed in my heart.

The dream came true in Feb, 2009. I had chosen the route called "Everest Base Camp, Chola Pass & Gokyo". It was a 17-day trek and the highest point was Kalapather at 5545m. The highlight were Kalapather and Gokyo Ri (5357m). I could see panoramic view of the Everest (8844m) from these two different places.

Tea house trek

Normally, I waked up at 6:30 a.m. and took breakfast at 7:00 a.m. The trek was started at 7:30 a.m. The average trekking hours was about 7~8 hours each day. Lunch and dinner were taken at local family run tea house. The menu was simple and similar among various tea houses. They include fried rice, spaghetti, pizza & tea... The pizza was very small and was just enough for one person. The cost of a cup of tea was from $4 to $7. The higher the tea house was the higher the price. The price of main course was from $30 to $50. I stayed in the tea house which was built by stone with elegant look. The room was made by wood and the room charge was $10~$30. The cost of living was about $US 20 per day in the mountain.



The toughest day

It was date 11 and waked up at 7:00 a.m. I waked up my personal guide. However, he was sick and I myself decided to go to Kalapather(5545m) from Gorak Shep(5140m). It was only 400 m hike uphill.

After started to climb for a few minutes, I felt fatigue! I did not know why!! It was just the beginning! There was a long way to go. But I could not forgive and had to continue as I waited for more than 10 years to come and had already walked for 10 days to come there.

It took me an hour for the first slope. I stopped between every 5 minutes. The second slope was less steep and easy to walk. It would be warmed up already. The trail was passed though the back side of the hill and I could see the top of Kalapather. As the weather was very good ( Sunny day with a little bit windy, the temperature was about -5oC), I could also see Mehra Peak (5820m), Nuptse(7864m) & Pumo Ri (7165m). The Everest (8844m) was also in my sight. These mountains formed an ice-filled curtain in front of me. The Tibet was behind the curtain and seemed to be within touch. I could see better view when I hiked higher in the mountain. The more fantastic view of the Everest came into my sight.

After hiking three hours and passed through the gentle slope, the last part was steep climb. I needed to stop for breathing for very few steps. I had thought to abort and return. But I had not made the summit in recent trips. It seemed that instead of acclimatization in the past few days, I had weakened my body. However, I must finish it and used almost very once of energy to reach the summit. Although the temperature was about -5oC, I did feel cold as it was sunny and cloudless. I took 360o view of picture in the Kala-pather. The downhill took about 1hr and 30 minutes. I was nearly collapsed when I came back Gorak Shep.

The trek took about 6 hours while it was only 4 hours two days before. However, the weather was excellent and the scenery was stunning. It was worthy of hiking up there again to take the picture.


The longest day

Dzonglha (4830m) > 6hr > Chola Pass (5330m) > 5hr > Thangnag

The guide told me that it was the longest and toughest day. The pass was not easy and its height was 5330m. I did not know the difficulty before the trip. I had already weakened my body in climbing the Kala-pather. I needed to walk 8 hours and arrived at Dzonglha at 4:00 p.m. the day before. Even it was snowing that night, I had a good sleep as I was very tired.

The toilet was outside the tea house. It was freezing cold to go toilet at mid-night. I waked up at 5:20 a.m. and found that the water of my water bottle was frozen. I started at 6:20 a.m.

The first part from Dzonglha to Chola pass was gentle and easy to walk. Although it was only 4800m, I was weak and reluctant to move. But, there was no retreat and I had to move forward. It was a steeper slope later and I needed to cross glacier river. I did not remember how many rests when I walked upward. It was awesome when I looked upward. There were beautiful mountain and glacier but I needed to climb the steep slope, it was more appropriate to use the word "VERTICAL".

My guide waited me at the bottom of the cliff. Well! It was a cliff not a slope. Was it kidding? I came there for trekking, not for rock climbing! I needed to rock climbing at 5000m altitude! The cliff was easy for me in Hong Kong. Now, I just crawled and climbed step by step.
People said that "粒粒皆辛苦"，now it was "步步羅我命".
I needed to cross the glacier after climbing up the cliff. The view of glacier was breathing-taking in the shadow of blue sky. I walked on the moraine at the rim of the glacier. However, I needed to walk across it later. It was crazy to walk on icy surface without crampon. I paid extreme care in every step. The same word was in my mind : "Only forward and no return".

Finally I passed through the risky Chola pass after 6 hours walking at 12:20a.m. I took my lunch at the rim of glacier and took some photos. The descend was not easy one. It was a 70~80 degree screed slope. It took another hour to reach the bottom. When I look forward and upward, my guide told me that we needed to climb the hill and downhill. Ha! It was another hiking up after 7 hours-walking.

Help! Help! Help!

I crawled up to the pass and saw a road sign to Dragnag Friendship Lodge. I could not see the guide at this junction. Someone whistled to me from the valley below. But I could not recognize he was my guide. The time was 3:30 p.m. I read the map and decided to go toward the top of the hill and thought that the direction was correct. I myself arrived at the top at 4:00p.m. I could not meet the guide or see the destination. Anyway, I walked along the trail and found out that it was seldom walked by people. I saw the village Dzonglha (4830m) in the bottom of the valley at 4:30p.m.

However, I checked my altitude was 5100m. It meant that I needed to descend 300m. There was no path to go down and I tried to find a less steep slope to descend. It was already 10 hours walking. The descend was tedious and tiring. I cut back to the right path after an hour. The altitude was 4900m and I thought I could arrive at Dzonglha within an hour. I met my guide after half an hour. He had come from the Dzonglha with bare hand. He just said o.k. Slowly! Slowly! He then turned back himself without helping me to take the backpack!!!

As a rescue procedure, he must take some water and food to me. He also needed to go with me together to the lodge. I was very angry but without strength. Finally, I arrived at the lodge at 6:10 p.m. after 12 hours. I only ate a simple bread and one sticker after breakfast. All my drinking water was only 1.5 litre in the past 12 hours. I was totally exhausted! Dehydrated!

Conclusion

If you were generally fit and had some hiking experience in Hong Kong, you can handle the trekking in Nepal without much difficulty. However, the altitude was needed to concern. I spent most of the time above 4000m. Normally, people would have mountain sickness over 3000m.

The local people were kind to tourist. House keepers were undergone some training in tourism. Most of them could speak good English. The food was reasonably good. The night sky was extremely clear.

The most memorable experience was that I had not taken shower for 12 days and taken an hour-long shower!


17天行程如下:

Day 1 – KTM > 26min > Lukla (2800m) > 5hr>Manjo (2835m)
Day 2 –Manjo > 3.5hr > Namche Bazar (3450m)
Day 3 –Namche Bazar > 5hr > Tengboche (3860m) > 1hr > Deboche (3820m)
Day 4 –Deboche > 6hr > Dingboche ( 4410m)
Day 5 –Dingboche > 3hr > Chhuknung (4243m) > 2 hr > Dingboche
Day 6 –Dingboche > 5 hr > Lobuje (4930m)
Day 7 –Lobuje > 4 hr > Gorakshep (5140m) > 4 hr <> Kalapattar (5545m)
Day 8 –Gorakshep > 6hr <>Everest Base Camp (5364m)
Day 9 – Gorakshep >5hr <> Kalapattar (5545m)
Day 10 - Gorakshep > 7hr > Dzonglha ( 4830m)
Day 11 – Dzonglha (4830m) > 6hr > Chola Pass (5330m) > 5hr > Thangnag
Day 12 – Thangnag(5369m) > 4hr > Gokyo (4790m)
Day 13 - Gokyo > 5hr <> Gokyo Ri ( 5357m) > 3hr > Machherma (4470m)
Day 14 –Machherma > 9hr > Namche Bazar
Day 15 –Namche Bazar > 5hr > Phakding
Day 16 - Phakding > 3hr > Lukla
Day 17 – Lukla > KTM