Namaste!
I have been thinking about you all throughout my travels in all the places I have been and hope that life is treating you well over on nearly the exact opposite side of the world. Today (11/14) marks my one month in Asia and so I thought it was a fitting time to sit down and write an update and send some photos! I am sitting in a hotel room in Gorkhapur, India a small town in the north of India and am headed to Varanasi tomorrow morning. Please forgive my various misspellings as I am typing this without reference to my trek schedule or access to internet to check myself. Also I have included headings for those not wanting to read what ended up being a book instead of an email ;)
The majority of my trip so far has been a trekking/climbing excursion in the Rolwaling Valley/ Teshi Lapsa Pass / Parcharmo Peak in Sagamartha National Park, Nepal. I had already planned to backpack through Asia when Bill Harrison contacted me regarding the trekking and climbing trip and it was such perfect timing and a perfect opportunity I couldn't refuse. Bill had been to Nepal three times prior and is an experienced climber who had trusted local Nepalese mountain guide contacts from the earlier trips who were putting together this trip. Four other folks from the Boeing Alpine Society were also coming along, all with much more extensive climbing experience than I. One of whom I knew fairly well from my basic climbing course, the others I got to know a bit better over the months preceding the trip.
To say the time leading up to the trip were jam packed is an understatement! I sold my beloved car, either shipped or donated or sold all of my belongings, buttoned up my job in Cargo at Boeing, left my room at my house in Greenlake, did all the preparations necessary to spend 3 weeks in remote and high altitude/cold areas in Nepal and continue on to do one year of traveling, while spending valuable time with as many friends and loved ones in St. Louis and Seattle as I could manage (not enough!!) to last me for potentially one year.
--DEPARTURE FROM SEATTLE--
Oct 13th (the day after turning 29!) I took two giant duffles to Seattle International Airport. I had been up to 3 am with my best friend sorting through a MASSIVE amount of stuff trying to fit it all in the duffles I had. A big thanks to you, Tonya, for being a TRUE friend when you had work the next morning and for all of the help for the past week. I really enjoyed staying with you at your house!
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| Last night in the US with Tonya! |
On to a 12 hour flight to Incheon International Airport, Seoul, South Korea where we had a one night layover and from there a 5 hour flight onto Kathmandu. The KAL experience was amazing--their flight attendants are unlike any I have seen! They are all gorgeous and dressed in a classical and beautiful uniform. They buzz about the flight providing anything you need. Every seat had a touch screen tv and free movies and music for the whole flight!
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| Bill and Sarah at Incheon |
--ARRIVAL IN KATHMANDU--
Bill's friend and the owner of the trekking company (Amici Treks and Expeditions) we would be using, Pasang Tamang greeted us with orange flower necklaces and took us with a full size van to take us to our hotel in the Thamel area of Kathmandu.
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| In the courtyard of the Malla Hotel, Kathmandu with Bill's friend Pasang (center grey shirt, khaki pants owner of Amici Treks and Expeditions) |
Kathmandu is unlike any city I have ever been to! The mixing of people, bikes, cars, and motorcycles in the streets is quite striking. Cars and motorcycles pass each other and pedestrians with often a couple inches to spare and by honking as they approach. It took me several hours to get used to it and not feel as if I were definitely going to get run over. The next thing I noticed is the wires for the city are literally strung like rats nests! While in Kathmandu we visited a hilltop temple ("the Monkey Temple"),
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| A Buddha statue at the Monkey Temple, Kathmandu, Nepal |
ate a cultural dinner at the former palace and watched many wonderful traditional Nepalese dance and music performances, and rented the remainder of our gear for the trek. I roomed with the other female climber in our group and she helped me pare down my gear so that it was more manageable. She teaches a WRFA first aid course and helped me cut down on my unruly and paranoid first aid kit items… Caring for any possible injury from the first day of the trek on required LOTS of bandaids in my newbie brain…
--BUS RIDE FROM KATHMANDU TO SINGATI--
"Day 1" on the trek schedule was an 8 hour bus ride from Kathmandu to the town of Singati. We boarded a rather large and robust looking bus (by the make of "Tata") in the parking lot of the hotel. A peaceful and thoughtful drive out of the city… Once out of the city the peaceful drive turned into me just being happy to arrive in Singati alive. Walking the streets of Kathmandu and riding in the little taxis at relatively slow speeds did nothing to prepare me for riding in the bus! Winding mountain roads with plummeting drop offs and the infamous lack of guardrails and passing other giant vehicles in oncoming lanes with very little forward visibility had me wondering what I had gotten into! The curves were similar to the Pacific Coast Highway and the Tata went full speed around the tight corners by the use of a chortling horn to alert any other oncoming vehicles rather than slowing down. Within the first hour out of the city we passed not one but two (!!!) vehicles which had somehow ended upside down off the side of a drop off down a hill with a gathering crowd on the shoulder…
We stopped for lunch on the side of a mountain in a tiny shack where a women had large pots of Dal Bhat (a traditional Nepalese rice meal) stewing. The 6 of us filled up a small picnic table and our Nepalese crew filled in all of the inches of table around us--the first time I had seen the people we'd be spending the coming weeks with as they had been on the bus behind us. While eating with my utensils I stole glances at the Nepalese with us. They ate their meal without any utensils--just finger tips, the first time I had seen this! They were all lean and strong looking, managing to eat a mostly rice meal with fingers only very efficiently. Their manner of eating was all business and no talking--very different from our American meal mannerisms.
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| Our Tata bus pulled over for lunch at the "restaurant." |
We chugged along through little villages. Groups of school children in their smart little uniforms would pull their shirts over their noses as the bus belched out black exhaust at them. In one town we stopped just for a few seconds and one of the crew on our bus jumped off. Just as we were wondering what was going on we saw a goat being pushed up the ladder to the roof of the bus… We were under the impression that would be dinner and we knew this trip was going to be interesting! The busy road had given way to a bumpy road. At one point I was airborne nearly 6 inches. Bill hit his head on the ceiling of the bus. On one bump I came down with my elbow on the window frame. A few minutes later my coat felt wet inside… The first casualty (and the only casualty of the trip thank goodness) occurred on the bus ride. Watching my friend Jim try to aim the bandaid at my elbow while the bus bounced along may have been the funniest part of the trip. 8 hours later we pulled down an embankment near a small river town and were at our campsite.
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| View of the countryside from the bus. |
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| Chhiring, our sirdar (head guide), overseeing the unloading of the bus. |
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| Jason standing in front of the portion of the town across the river. |
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| Paul is the first to engage the "welcoming committee." |
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| Sarah and Bill in the first minutes off of the bus ride. |
--ARRIVAL IN SINGATI / START OF TREK--
We were two busses and our packs were unloaded for us from ours and the bus was off back to Kathmandu. The second bus had all of the tents and kitchen gear/food and the crew was heaving it off the roof of the bus in a speedy manner. In ten minutes or less curious children began to cautiously filter out of the houses and we realized we had a welcoming committee of sorts. While the Amici crew quickly erected the fanciest camp site I had ever experienced, we enjoyed playing with the children. Singing songs, playing a Nepali game similar to duck duck goose, and I showed them the photos of home and friends I had brought as they nearly piled on top of me with curiousity. A cook tent, dining tent, toilet tent (erected over a small hole dug in the ground complete with toilet paper!!!), and 3 sleeping tents were erected. Tea and cookies were set out in the dining tent for us to enjoy while we recounted the crazy events of the day to ourselves and in our journals.
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| Jim, Jason, and Sarah after our typical dinner on the trek--maps and journals. |
Dinner, desert (a small bowl of fruit), and Amici introductions followed--many names we couldn't understand and would need repeated. Many shy and large smiles quickly ducked into the dim light of our tent and back out. We were all shocked to find out that we had a crew of 23 folks with us for the start of the journey (we would lose 9 porters before the technical portion of the climb began due to reduced food stores). For the trip we had a "sirdar" or head guide and two assistant guides (they referred to themselves as Sherpas which is not correct as that refers to a specific ethnicity). They would hike with us in their packs along the route. We had a cook and kitchen assistants and 16 porters total which would carry the various gear. Each of us had a 40-55 pound duffel bag of gear and we only carried water and things we would need for that days portion of the trek. "Tato pani" (Nepali for "hot water") was made nightly for us with the dual purpose of filling drinking vessels and to stay warm once we got higher.
The first morning we woke up and packed all of our gear up and got ready to go. Our "welcoming committee" took notice that we were leaving and shyly moved in to say goodbye. We set out on the roads and my new friend Ranjita (an 11 year old girl) skipped up to me, stuck out her hand to hold mine and skipped along side me until we passed her house, a truly wonderful and heartwarming way to be welcomed into a country.
The first few days were along a river road and were relatively warm and flat--4-6 hours a day of hiking. Our routine developed and stayed roughly the same the entire trip. In the morning Amici would come around to all the tents cheerily yelling "wake up tea!!!" and would deliver tea and sugar first thing to be followed 5 minutes later by "Washing water!!" (a warm bowl of water for any bathing needs). This was a shockingly fancy way for all of us new trekkers to travel. We began to realize what a vacation climb this might really be. We'd pack our porter bags up so the porters could get off and running right away, clean out the tents, have breakfast in the dining tent or in our tents depending on the camp site--usually eggs, toast and porridge with all the fixings. Then off for that day's hike.
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| The first few days were along a flat river valley and road. |
--NEPALI LANGUAGE--
A notable and largely enjoyable portion of the trip was the delight we took in learning and listening to the crew speak Nepali amongst each other and to us. The Nepali language is spoken rather forcefully most of the time. English in the same enunciation might indicate pushiness or extreme frustration. If we needed more hot water at dinner time we would ask Chhiring ("CHEE ding"), one of the guides for some more "tato pani." He would say something like, "YOU LIKE? OK I BRING!!" and flash a 10 megawatt grin, lean backward and laugh. This was followed by him shutting the tent flap and shouting "TATO PANI!!!" through the valley which would be echoed by what sounded like 5-6 other people in the same volume. Anyone not understanding these words might think something had caught fire in the kitchen…
A particularly endearing point of the language, a good reflection of their culture, is their method of addressing one another. Either family or friend, in speaking consisted of referring to them as big/little sister/brother depending on their age or size in relation to you. Sarah and I were both "Didi" at first (pronounced just like the English name) which meant big sister. The guides (Amrit, Chhiring, and Bit) were very protective of us. They would chase after us yelling "DI DI BE CARE FUL!!" anytime we were in even the most slightly precarious situation (me walking down rocks to do laundry in the river), despite the fact we would be doing roped and unroped climbing later. This phrase made us all laugh to the point they would stop using it, but yelling DIDI became a theme of the trip. Their typical greeting for us was "HEYYY DIDI!!!" to which we would joyfully yell back "HEYYY DAIII/BAIII!! (Dai = big brother, bai = little brother). Jason, the Welshman, was a focal point for jokes with the Amici crew and the youngest-20 years old-and mischievous guide, Amrit began to call him "Bajay." We asked him what that meant to which he replied "uncle." Once we pointed out the word for uncle in our Nepali phrase book didn't match he burst into a fit of high pitch giggles and took off out of the tent… Asking others along the way we realized it was a slightly derogatory word for tourist (maybe similar to Gringo for "white person.") We adopted this goofy little name and it became one more source for laughs and teasing.
This made me curious about the ages of the Nepali and my inquiry resulted in me moving to being "Bahini" or little sister ("BA hee nee"). By the time I had asked though Didi had stuck. I was called both Bahini and Didi equally.
--TYPICAL DAYS--
Around noon we'd stop and have tea while the kitchen crew found a tea house or someone's home (we still don't know how they arranged all of the places we stopped as they showed no indications of being anything but someone's private home) to cook lunch in while we sat outside on a tarp and relaxed. After we didn't encounter tea houses anymore mid day we would have bag lunches made for us which we'd eat en route as we had time.
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| I wish I had a view like this every time I journal... |
For the Rolwaling trek, local Nepali people were the only people we ran into except a German group hiking the same direction, two brave solo hikers, and a couple climbing groups who had been turned around at the pass we would attempt to cross in a few days due to the new snow. We had a few days in which we hoped the sun would melt it and solidify it a bit for traveling.
--SCREE DAY--
There were 2 difficult days leading up to climbing Parcharmo Peak. The first of these days was difficult as the old trail was closed for rock fall. The new "trail" was hiking on sloped (sometimes very steeply) scree (loose rock). This may not sound like an issue, but hours of hiking on loose rock where every couple of steps I took where the loose rock shifted under me wore me down more mentally than physically. I must have outwardly exclaimed my love for my new trekking poles 1000 times that day. When we arrived at where we were supposed to camp it appeared that there were no campsites where expected. Maybe the only thing which is impossible to camp on is scree--people can even camp on vertical rock faces these days, but not scree. So we had to continue on a few more hours. A large disappointment to exhausted and hungry folks on scree.
--TESI LAPSA PASS--
The weather was holding and we were lucky. The next day we would set off for the pass. The first portion was up a fairly steep bit of rock and had some low fifth class moves. I was not used to the exposure as it had been awhile since I had climbed. The guides had fixed a rope and I had a prusik in so that any falls would be protected. I was quite nervous and Chhiring, Amrit and Bit would bound along the side of the rock unroped and help me. They were fearless. Another section of roped climbing and it was nearing lunch time. We were beginning to get curious at what time we would stop and upon asking Chhiring replied 6 or 7 more hours. After the previous day of scree and our exhaustion from that all of our faces grew serious. We didn't realize we would attempt to tackle the rest of the pass in the second day. Most of us didn't have the water or the energy. The Tesi Lapsa pass in my Nepal trekking guide was labeled as one of the most difficult by *Sir Edmund Hillary.* That is the first person to summit Mt. Everest. In the end we made it by 5 pm or so when it is dark at 6 pm. I believe we had gained 3000 ft in 2 days when 1000 ft / day is the rule for acclimatizing. Clouds had rolled in at 3 and snow had started to come down. One foot in front of the other was the mantra in my head. At one point Chhiring offered to take my pack to help me to move faster--I must have looked pretty pitiful. This is a big ego blow for me, but there was no doubt in my mind I really needed the help.
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| Our first snow encounter... Up and up and more up. (Sarah and Chhiring keeping a close eye on the Didi's). |
Another thing always visible to us--no matter how hard our days were, there were porters in sandals and thin jackets carrying 100 lb loads doing the same thing twice as fast as us. We had proper gear and 30 lb packs and were still having a rough time despite being fit by our standards. It made it a little difficult to voice any discontent or hardship as we weren't the ones with a rough time. There was not a moment they didn't have a huge smile on their face despite being awake before and after us and having a substantial amount of work. They never ceased to truly amazing to us.
Sarah Stephan made the last steep stretch of snow a little nicer by getting out some dried mangos and Reece's Pieces cups (which had turned to frozen chocolate crumbs) and sharing them at key spots on the slope. They were delicious. The sight of the prayer flags at the pass was a beautiful one and the sight of the three gold colored tents down about 500 ft on the other side was an incredibly delightful one although I don't remember having the energy to express it outwardly--I had done a 10 hour day on less than 1.5 liters of water. I really don't remember having dinner that night. Once we stopped moving I got very cold and had a hell of a time getting warm to fall asleep--most likely due to my exhaustion and dehydration. I lay next to my tent buddy waving my forearms and shaking my legs for minutes at a time trying unsuccessfully to stop shivering and get warm… I knew I need to drink but having to get out of the tent at night after working so hard to get warm was absolutely the most appealing idea.
--REST DAY--
The next morning the sun was out in force. It was beautiful and Parcharmo stood in all her glory in front of our campsite. I was still exhausted from the night before and made no effort to go down the slope to use the restroom--Sarah and I using the space just behind her tent which was barely hidden from view, a pitiful show by our typical efforts for modesty and privacy thus far in front of the crew. I felt headachy and slightly nauseous with absolutely no appetite at times. This would be a rest day--one of two that were scheduled, the other having been lost in the shuffle somewhere. I felt pretty badly and was not looking forward to the climb the next day. By the end of the day I had lost my desire to climb at best and was not feeling much more rested at all. I was happy to ditch the 2 am wake up time and let the others go without me--I had sincere doubts about my strength levels at that point despite the previous few days having destroyed my desire to be on steep slopes and expend large amounts of energy. In addition I didn't want someone else to have to turn around with me if I didn't make it to the summit.
--SUMMIT DAY--
At 2 am I heard the Amici crew up, shockingly, with wake up tea and bagged lunches. A few shouts from the team hustling to get going by 2:30 and they were off and I was back to sleep. At 7 am I woke up and went to use the restroom, shocked to find Sarah and Jim back at the tent without the rest of the group! I was very worried. In the distance I could see Bill heading down and was even more worried. They weren't due back until at least lunch time. It turns out they were all fine, but Jim's feet had just gotten extremely cold and he doubted the safety of continuing on. Sarah came down with Jim. When Bill arrived, we were glad to hear he was fine, however his hands had gotten so cold that his glove fell off without him noticing. Jason pointed this out and Bill realized it might be time to head down. Paul and Jason remained about halfway up the mountain--visible to us as two little pepper dots on a big white mountain face.
Sarah and I would set up camp on our Thermarest mattresses and watch the climbing "show" for the next couple of hours. We would get excited every time one of the dots would advance up and attempt to ascertain why when they stopped. We had radios and could see some of the features on the mountain and were able to communicate with Jason once although we minimized this to save batteries for an emergency. We had even heard their voices as they yelled to each other which was amazing given the perceived distance. A couple hours later the dot we could tell was Paul made it to the summit from where we could see. The crew let out a bunch of hoots and hollers--which Paul would tell us later that he could shockingly hear from the mountain.
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| Self-portrait @ the Tesi Lapcha Pass on summit day. |
Sarah, Jim, and I climbed the 500 ft back up to the pass to greet and congratulate Jason and Paul on a job well done. Then down for lunch and amazingly, pack up and off down the other side of the pass--an epic day for the rest of the crew who had woken at 2 am.
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| Sarah (right) on the way up to meet Paul and Jason and congratulate on Paul's successful summit. |
--HEADING BACK DOWN--
We roped up a few times and descended a few thousand feet back to a tea house which we arrived at about an hour after dark. Despite not having even attempted the peak I was so exhausted I went to bed after dinner while still needing to use the restroom.
It felt glorious to wake up the next morning to a field full of yaks and sunshine and sit on a tea house patio to eat breakfast--my appetite was returning and the hardest part of the climb was behind us. We were all exhausted but overjoyed that we made it over the pass against the odds. There would be no returning to the awful scree fields. The last few days were easy hiking down along trails to a fantastic little town called Namche Bazaar.
