We cross many steel cable suspension bridges as we hike to Namche Bazaar, a famous Sherpa village, the last big town before Everest Base Camp. The trail climbs 2000 feet in the last mile before the town. There is a lookout on the trail from which you can see Everest (and is my first glimpse of Everest here in Nepal). We also walk past piles of Mani Stones, which have prayers carved on them. The trail typically splits and passes on both sides of the Mani Stone piles. Buddhists always walk past the stones on the left (ie, keeping the stones to their right).
 |
| Benkar to Lobuche |
From Namche, I hike to Syangboche airport, which is a grass strip considerably higher than Lukla. They had a couple crashes a few years ago and there are no more commercial flights into this strip. I've included a picture for those pilots in the audience. Airport elevation is 3700 meters.
I meet a journalist here who is following the Chinese attempt to take the Olympic torch up to the top of Everest. According to this journalist, the Chinese are carrying the torch up Everest from the Tibet side, then they will carry it down the same way. They are paranoid that someone will get to the top of Everest and protest the way the Chinese have been handling things in Tibet, thus screwing up what is sure to be good footage for their Olympic run-up. The Chinese made a "soft" loan (whatever that means) to Nepal and in return, Nepal is cracking down on protesters, even when peaceful. They have stated that no satellite phones are allowed on the Nepal side of the mountain until the torch is safely down. They have also banned cameras from all the Everest expeditions.
I have no idea if this is all true, but will ask around when I'm at the base camp and try to find out the facts (and report them here, not quite live, that is, about a week after the info is current).
-----------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday April 23 - Namche Bazaar to Deboche
Up before dawn to hike to a viewpoint which Lal tells me about. The viewpoint is located on an army base 600 feet above Namche. The viewpoint is like a small island in the middle of a military complex. You must walk along a small path that winds through razor-wire, ditches and land mines to reach the small island at the top of a hill. Lal explains that it did not used to be this protected but several bases were attacked by Maoists in the past and these precautions were put in place. I suppose that with the Maoists in power, they could remove this stuff?
The view to the west is superb, with Nupla, Shar and Lho all illuminated by the early sun. Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse are all visible to the north east while Thamserku and Kangtega, closeby to the south east receive enough sun to light up. We spend an hour taking photos before returning to Namche for breakfast. It is surprising to me that with a couple hundred tourists in town, we are the only ones watching the beautiful show as the sun comes up. Lal says that more folks would be up here in the fall, when the tourist load is heavier and the visibility is better.
I have a friend, Niall Battson, who creates a beer calendar every year. This is not your average beer calendar, but rather, as Niall travels the world, he visits many famous sights and monuments, taking a local bottle of beer with him. He takes pictures of the local beer with the local sight in the background. I've helped Niall with the printing of the calendars and they look great. I figure that being close to Mt. Everest, there ought to be a beer that I can use to augment his collection. Indeed, in addition to Carlsberg and several other European beers, Nepal has Nepal Ice and Everest beer.
My plan was to buy a bottle of Everest beer in Namche, carry it up close to Everest and get my picture. Unbeknownst to me, Sagamartha National Park (the park in which Everest lies), has a rule that no glass beer bottles are allowed. Neither Everest or Nepal Ice are available in cans, so I cannot get either of these beers! I'm in despair until another guide with whom I share my dilema suggests that I send Bhim, our porter, three miles down the mountain, outside the entrance of the park, where he can get the correct bottled beer. I discuss with Lal, my guide and he says we can talk to Bhim and see if he will do this.
I offer Bhim an extra day's wages (400Rs, about $10 (You owe me Niall!)) if he will go down the mountain, find a bottle of beer and bring it back. He agrees and we meet him in Deboche, our stop for the night, with a bottle of Nepal Ice. I would have prefered Everest beer for obvious reasons, but I think Niall with be happy with the Nepal Ice. In order to ensure that the bottle did not break, I end up carrying around this bottle for the next week. This is no thin budweiser bottle either, it is 650ml (about the size of a wine bottle) of thick, resusable glass. (Niall, you owe me again!)
We reach Tengboche around 1PM in the afternoon. Anyone who knows anything about Everest has heard of Tengboche. This is one of the highest Buddhist monasteries in the world. All of the early Everest expeditions, including Hillary and Norgay in 1953, have gone to the Tengboche Monastery to get blessed before climbing the mountain. Norgay's son, Jamling, in his book, does a beautiful job of explaining the importance of getting the green light from the monks in Tengboche. The majority of high altitude porters are Sherpa and almost all of them are relatively devout Buddhist. No green light, no climb.
I am surprised therefore when I am the only trekker exploring this monastery between 1PM and 2PM. During this time, between 50 and 100 trekkers pass by the monastery without entering. My guide, Lal, utilizes the opportunity to the fullest by prostrating his body at the front of the Buddhist prayer hall.
Our original goal is to stay at Tengboche but we are so early Lal decides to continue to Deboche, the next settlement on the trail.
-----------------------------------------------------
Thursday April 24 - Deboche to Pheriche
We are soooo close to Ama Dablam, one of the best known and most beautiful mountains in Nepal, but early morning fog has obscured it. I've heard at least three different meanings for the name. Lal tells me the name means, "Mother and Son". In this case, the main mountain is mother while the son is a smaller mountain off to the side. Wikipedia says the name means "Mother and Pearl Necklace" (the perennial hanging glacier is thought of as the pearl). The interpretation I had previously heard was, "Mother's Jewel Box". Dablam means charm box, a special pendent worn by elder Sherpa women that holds precious items. The mountain has a hanging glacier that resembles a dablam and the two extending ridges are outstretched like a maternal embrace. In any case, the mountain is very picturesque when you can see it.
The first part of our hike is through pine forest which gives way to open valleys as we move higher in elevation.
Sherpa stew is my new favorite food these days. It's made from anything and everything available. Rice, lentils, vegetables and if meat is available, it will be added as well. Very hearty. Lal and I arrange to have tchang at 5PM today. It is the local alcoholic brew but it does not come in a bottle. Millet is fermented in large plastic barrels and when someone (me) wants a drink, they pour hot water into the barrel and then push a burlap sack down into the mush. The liquid seeps through the burlap and is ladled off the top and into a jug for the consumer.
The Himalayan Rescue Association in Periche runs the only medical clinic above Namche. The clinic only has two or three beds, but this is sufficient to treat both climbers and the local population. They run a daily lecture at 3PM covering high altitude sickness, which I attend. Their bottom line message is simple, "If you feel crappy, stop ascending. If you feel really crappy, descend, immediately." They have a pulse-oximeter and I measure my hemoglobin to be 95. I'm stoked since they told us that non-Sherpas rarely get above 90. It says my body is adjusting well to the altitude and bodes well for the Island Peak Climb.
One trekker goes to the clinic later in the day, and they tell him to get lower, immediately, but he is too sick to walk himself. Three porters, including Bhim, our porter, carry the patient down the mountain. They put the patient in a large basket with leg holes and carry him on their backs using a tump line. One porter carries at a time and they rotate every 10 minutes or so.
Our tchang comes and I'm blown away by the size of the jug. I'm used to the tongba in Sikkim and worry that this will be as strong, Lal will drink me under the table and tomorrow will be a write off. As it turns out, the brew is strong enough to give me a buzz but weak enough that when consumed over the evening, it does not affect me adversely. In fact, it lubricates the conversation between Lal and myself.
He tells me a bit about himself. Lal is married, age 46, has a 12 year old son and has been a climbing guide for 5 years. Prior to that he was a trekking guide and before that he was a cook. He still keeps his hand in cooking by going to Tibet during the monsoon and teaching at a school for trekking cooks. As the evening wears on and gets colder, we and a half dozen other trekkers and guides gather ever closer to the heater in the center of the room. I'm still amazed by the fact that yak dung provides most of the heat in this part of the world.
----------------------------------------------------------
Friday April 25 - Pheriche to Lobuche
The trail from Pheriche to Thokla goes down the center of a broad valley, with mountains on either side. After Thokla, we gain altitude and cross the Thokla pass at 16,000 feet. This location is significant as memorials to the climbers and Sherpas who have perished on Everest are erected here. It is a sobering experience because of the sheer number of cairns (50-ish).
From this point, a long ridge of rock and gravel about 200 feet high, marks the edge of the famous Khumbu Glacier. I climb the moraine and see what looks to be a gravel pit, but I know that a thin layer of debris is on top of the glacier and I'm really looking down on ice which is hundreds of feet thick.
We arrive in Lobuche before noon. It is a cheerless place of about a dozen buildings, surrounded by rock without much vegetation. The rooms have been getting more and more spartan as we head higher into the mountains. Prices for food have been escalating as well. It is interesting to note that although rooms are a rather consistent 200-300Rs per night ($5-$7), the food is where these lodges make their money. Each meal is typically between 200-300Rs and trekkers will typically eat dinner and breakfast. Beers are an additional 200-300Rs each and although one beer goes much further in the mountains, it is nice after a hot day in the sun to have at least one.
There is no electric power beyond Namche so the lodges will typically have a small solar system charging a battery to provide power for a few low wattage electric lights in the evening. They can charge small electronic appliances like ipods and the cost of doing this is 150-300Rs. Although I've been using local water treated with my iodine tablets, most trekkers buy bottled water at 100-200Rs per liter. You can see how the lodges make their money. To be fair, EVERYTHING must be hauled in to these lodges on the backs of porters, hence prices must be quite a bit higher than in Kathmandu.
An old Swiss gentleman entertains us at dinner with his stories. He tells us how he and his wife worked for 5 years after completing their education, saved every cent and then bought a VW camper and drove through Asia and Africa for the next 27 months. He recalls they climbed Kilimanjaro in 1974 for a total cost to them of $76. Earlier this year his wife gave him a surprise present for his 60th birthday. He learned only as they were boarding the plane that they were headed back to Kilimanjaro, this time the total cost was $3200 to climb the mountain.
------------------------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment