Trips to Varingskollen and Rundkollen (hills in our neighbourhood in Nittedal) was the foundation for the challenges waiting for me this autumn. Himalaya!
The walking-group in Nittedaljoggen (local sportsclub) gave me also good exercise. The leader arranged a special “elevationprogramme” for me, we were panting up every hill around Sørli. (Sørli is my village).
This autumn I left for Kathmandu in Nepal together with three other women. The group consisted of Kjersti – my daughter, 32 years old, her friend Randi at same age, Eva 66 years old, and me 62 years old. We were all ready for the great adventure, a trekking throught Annapurna-massive in Himalaya.
Saturday, 3.10. We left Kathmandu together with our guide Puru and the porters, Chandra and Uttam, all of them from the travelagency in Kathmandu. After 5 hours driving we arrived Besisahar, the startingpoint for the trekking. The track follows the river Marsyangdi through a valley north and west through the Annapurna. We started about 700 m, and in the next 11 days we should elevate up to the worlds biggest mountainpass, Thorung La, 5416 m. The very special with this route is that we all the time follow the many centennial old thoroughfare between Nepal, the old kingdom Upper Mustang and Tibet. We should walk through villages and meet people living here. As a supplement to the experience of the nature, we should also get an insight in other cultures and see how people are living under other conditions.
Eva got a push
Sunday, 4.10. We slept in the village Bhulbule. Eva and I shared room, Randi and Kjersti an other. Good beds with foamrubber-madrasses – we brought with us sleepingbags. After a nice trip we reached the next place to sleep. We ate dinner outside in the sunshine. We could choose among several vegetarmeals and soups. Kjersti and Randi choosed as usual Dal Bhat, the national meal in Nepal. The meal consists of rice, a soup of lentils and a bowl of vegetables.
Monday, 5.10. Oatporridge and omelet for breakfast, and after that out on the path again. To day we were meeting caravanes with buffalos and mules, filled up with goods. Suddenly Eva got a push from a buffalo. Puru was quickly there and got her up again. We got instructions to let the animals get room enough when the are passing us, preferably on the outside. Higher up we will meet yaks, and then it is important to take care.
Bad weather and misfortune
Tuesday, 6.10. It was raining, it was not normal for this periode of the year. We were passing a big area of landslide. Large masses of stones had few years ago burried several houses and many people had died. When we went down a steep stairs of stones, Kjersti slided and hit her tail-bone. The pains made it difficult to walk, but willpower and humour helped her to continue. When we came to the next place to sleep, Puru wanted to prevent further accidents. The steep wooden stairs to our rooms was very slippery, and he got some wood and nailed a piece of wood on every step, so we not should slide down the stairs!
Wednesday, 7.10. More rain, extreme rainfall. Not possible to continue, the flood had taken away the bridge we should cross!
More steep hills
Thursday, 8.10. The rain has stopped. Kjersti had prophesied that a new bridge should be fixed just when the rain stopped, everyone here was dependent on the path going through the valley, here is all the traffic of goods and people going on. And Kjersti was right. As soon as the rain stopped, volunteers with simple tools were going out for work. They cut down threes and made a new bridge over the rapid river. A policeman inspected the work, and allready early in the morning the new bridge was sanctioned.
The hills became more steep and the view more fantastic. We passed 2469 m and we told Puru that we just now was at the same level as the highest mountain in Norway.
But more clouds were coming on the sky, and soon the rain was falling again!
Puru was a little anxious about the accomplishing of our trekking. The rain falling down here in the “lowland” fells as snow higher up in the mountains. We met people who had returned from the pass. They had given up to cross the pass because of snow. If the rain not stopped immediately, it could be problems also for us!
Friday, 9.10. Bright sunshine and the giants among us really show their beauty! Wonderful trip up the valley. Warm weather in the morning and forenoon, but cold wind when we arrived Pisang. We got rooms a place there where no one to cook, but it was no problem.
The materials was in the kitchen and Puru made food for us!
Saturday, 10.10. Walking through pinewood and fantastic view to Annapurna II, 7939 m and Annapurna III, 7555 m. Further to Manang, but no room was available. Puru ran up to next village and found rooms for us by a nice woman in Tengu. We had a very good stay in Tengu. We were sitting outside with a cold beer, looking on the sunset over Gangapurna, 7454 m. We got hot water to take a wash, and all four of us arranged on a line, Puru started to wash our hear!
In the evening we were invited to come into the private room. We were sitting by the stove while Didi made vegetablesoup for us. Didi means “sister” and is a petname for kind woman, an expression that you gladly will include her in your family.
We feel the height
Sunday, 11.10. Before we said goodbye to Didi she gave us prayersharfs, it means “good luck”. We could really need good luck, just now when we came closer to the pass!
We arrived 4250 m, and got rooms in “Snowland Hotel”. It was cold, both out and inside. Kjersti and Randi felt a kind of pressure on the head. Was it mountain-illness? Just in case we took two tablettes. Mountain-illness could be dangerous if you not take care of the signals. If you have headache and feel sick, you should go down some hundred meters and use more time to acclimatize. Mountain-illness can involve loss of coordination and death.
In average two persons dies every year on the way over the pass we soon should cross.
Most people get symptomes of mountain-illness. The body is working to tacle the new conditions. We lost the apetite completely. We had problems to sleep, and the heart was beating a little extra.
Monday, 12.10. We should elevate up 600 m to High Camp, the last place to sleep before the pass. Puru ran forward to get room for us, it is only a few rooms for rent here. He managed to get two good rooms, but Puru himself and our porters had to sleep in a sleeping hall, and there were not carpets enough for all…
Over the pass
Tuesday, 13.10. Up 4 o’clock in the morning. No breakfast, but we tried to eat a little bisquit. About 10 minus degrades and dark outside, only the stars and the moon was shining on huge, white mountains. We should elevate up the last 600 m to the pass, Thorung La, the highest point of our trek, 5416 m. We used long time, 20 steps and then taking a break. To get more oxygen, we were walking with open mouth.
And so we were on the top – in the same time as the sun break through and we got a fantastic view over the mountains. On the other side the view of the enormous mountain, Dhalagiri, 8167, came up. We could look to the tibetan plateau and the old kingdom of Upper Mustang, which has been a closed area until few years ago.
We were very happy to reach our goal and took several photos before we started stepping down 1700 m to the town Muktinath, with holy sources and a beautyful temple.
We ended our trekking and drove further with a jeep to Jomsom. In Jomsom we had our last meal with Chandra and Uttam. From Jomsom we took a little plane along all the big mountains we had been walking along, to the city Pokhara, south for the Himalaya mountains.
In Pokhara we said goodbye to Puru, our companion and always helping man. He led us over troubled water, helt our hand if we needed support and told us about his country and his people. He was only 29 years old, but had so much wisdom and so many good human values and attitudes. We wished him good luck, and we hope the best for him, our kind porters and for the hard working and friendly people in Nepal.
Facts about travel in Himalaya
- The best periods for mountaintrekking in Himalaya is oct./nov. and march/april.
- We used to start about 8.00 o’clock and arrived about 15.00 o’clock in the afternoon.
- We used a travelagency in Kathmandu: Explore Alpine Adventure Ltd. www.explorealpinenepal.com
- We used Gulf Air, tur-retur London-Kathmandu, 7000,- Nkr.
- For trekking we paid about 300 Nkr per person per day. The price included place to sleep, food, guide and porters. In addition we paid for water, other things to drink and for the stay in Kathmandu.
