PRIOR EXPEDITION, FALL 2007 LANGTANG - HELAMBHU TREK and YALA PEAK CLIMB
Our group
of 9 members and support staff of 25 successfully completed a trek through the
Helambu and Langtang districts of northeast Nepal. Many in our group enjoyed
sightseeing in and around Kathmandu before the expedition, visiting the temples
and palaces of Bodnath, Swayambodh, Pashaputnah, and Bakhtapuhr. We experienced
the rich, and strange to Westerners, culture, history and Hindhu-Buddhist
religions of the Kathmandu Valley.
Our group consisted of five members of the Central Indiana Wilderness Club (Tim,
Jim, Cindy, Nina and me), my friend from previous expeditions, Jay of LA, my old
college and Rugby mate, Elliot, from South Africa, and his friend Hector, also
from South Africa, and Elliot's camp counselor pal, Diane from Tampa. We brought
diverse interests, personalities and styles to the group. Yet, we all
appreciated the magnificent beauty of the Himalayas and were extremely impressed
with the considerate treatment we received from the staff of Adventure Geo
Treks, most especially our superhuman sirdar, Ganesh.
We spent most of the first day on winding mountain roads riding in a bus from
Kathmandu to the landslide that blocks the road outside the village of Dunche.
Gear was transported by our porters from the bus across the wet mess of the
landslide to another bus, while we walked the two miles to a lodge in Dunche. It
was the last time we slept under a roof until we reached the end of the trek.
The first few days established the weather pattern we experienced most of the 16
days on the trails, beautiful clear, blue skies in the morning, cloudy
afternoons, and then a huge clear, starry sky at night. We camped above the
sacred lakes of Gosainkunda, and hiked around the lakes and pilgrim shelters.
The following day we were drenched with rain on the trail to Gopte. A Korean
trekker informed us that "our culture is too loud," while we huddled around a
stove at lunchtime in a crowed teahouse. I managed to do myself proud by falling
and bruising a shoulder muscle, after losing the trail in the rain. Jim became
the most popular man in Helambu and Langtang. He not only gave out school
supplies (as did several in our group), but gave stuffed animals to every child
we met.
We discovered (or they discovered us) the dreaded bloodsucking leeches of
Tarkeghyang in a second day of rain, as we trekked through a "sky forest." But
then we gained altitude and left villages and all other trekking groups behind
as we crossed the mountain ridge dividing Helambu from Langtang.
Our greatest challenge of the trek was getting all of us, our staff and gear
over the 17,000 ft. Ganja La. We knew the pass was very high and snow-covered
requiring ropes to cross. However, the two days of rain meant two days of snow
building on top of the pass. It took several hours for Ganesh to figure out how
to fix enough rope to get everyone over the pass, and the temperature was
dropping, so frostbite was becoming a concern. After we glissade down the last
drop over the pass, Ram, our cook and I struck out in thigh-deep snow to find a
campsite. We were unable to find one until after dark, and we were all exhausted
and cold by the time tents were set up and we could crawl into our sleeping
bags. Amazingly, Ram managed to brew tea and boil soup for everyone.
We had a second day in deep snow, and Ganesh had to fix ropes again to get
everyone down a lesser pass, which was also quite steep with thigh-deep snow.
Elliot, Ram and I post-holed out front to break trail, while Ganesh made sure
everyone made it over the second pass. Despite working much harder than anyone
else, post-holing up and down the sheer passes to fix rope for the others,
Ganesh always smiled, laughed and encouraged the rest of us to keep our spirits
up.
Kyanjin Gompa is a Sherpa-Tibetan settlement just south of the border with
Tibet, and the north terminal point of the trek. Four of our members, without a
rest day, hiked up the 16,000 ft. Chergori from Kyanjin. The next day they
summitted 19,000 ft. Yala Peak, led by Ganesh and climbing guide Doma Sherpa.
The other five rested, visited the Gompa (monastery), shopped with the Tibetan
traders and took day hikes around Kyanjin. I was glad for the opportunity to
rest, as I had climbed Yala in 2004, and enjoyed one of the most fun hikes of my
life with Tim up to Kyanjin Glacier.
We had easy down hikes the next two days to Langtang Village and then Ghora
Tabela. In Langtang Village we had a traditional end-of-trek party with our
staff. Ram slaughtered a ram for its meat and made stew, as part of a five
course meal. He made us celebratory cakes several times, of which Jay usually
ate half. I distributed the tips our group generously gave to the staff, after
which there was much singing, dancing, and drinking of rakshi (local fire
water).
From Ghora Tabela we flew a helicopter back to Kathmandu for last views of the
highest mountains and deepest valleys in the world. We all had a couple days of
shopping in Kathmandu to buy the typical Nepali presents for friends and family
-- kukri knives, prayer wheels, embroidered T-shirts, jewelry, pash mina,
thangkas, etc. Niru Rai, the owner of Adventure Geo Treks, hosted our entire
group at his home for a 7-course feast. Many toasts were offered, especially to
Ganesh for serving us so well and to Niru for being such a splendid host and
putting together all the pieces which gave us such a wonderful experience.
Tim and I ended the adventure with a night in Bangkok at a 5-star hotel
overlooking the Cho Prahya River. We had dinner at a local restaurant where
nerdy Thai college students got hammered and sang American rock and roll.
I
My photo album from this expedition
Namaste,
Jeff Rasley
jrasley@juno.com
Click here to see Prior Expedition 2006