Day 13 - Back to Kathmandu

Up early to finish the walk back to the road head which we manage by about 10am and then start back to Kathmandu at about 11am.

The team setting off for the last time on this section of the expedition

Following the river back down the valley

Last time over one of these bridges

The roads are full and there are quite a few sets of roadworks (some even have people working on them!) so it is a long, bumpy and dusty journey getting in at about 18:30.

I am feeling pretty rotten again having felt travel sick for much of the journey and just go to bed when we get there. The others head out for a meal which (I learn when Gus stumbles in at 5am!) turns into an all singing and dancing night out.

Day 12 - Down to Bamboo (2,000m)

Today we are going to trek pretty much all the way back to the road head leaving only an hour or two to finish off tomorrow before driving back to Kathmandu. The weather is great and we make good time. I am in fact coming down at about the same speed as I went up. Quite a bit of the descent is steep and covered in loose gravel which makes for prime slipping terrain so I am being very cautious.

Team getting ready for another day on the trail

 

 

Passing through the high altitude villages

Back over the suspension bridges

Back down to tree level

The cascading river near Bamboo



A (well earned) beer at sunset

A stomach bug seems to have been doing the rounds in the group but I seem to have avoided it so far however as the afternoon wears on I am starting to feel the tell-tale strains - we'll have to see where this one goes.

We get to our destination 'Bamboo' which is a small group of teahouses perched on a plateau next to the river which has a great view down the river. We only have an hour or so tomorrow and as a reward for the past few days have a beer as the sun sets - it is all very pleasant but this seems to be the final straw for me and soon I have a fever and an acrobatic stomach and so head for an early bed. I don't have any clean clothes left so decide to take a rather large dose of Imodium to get me through the night.

Day 11 - Back to the Valley

Next morning we wake to blue skies and sunshine which helps somewhat to deal with the disappointment of not being able to make a summit bid. A huge amount of snow has fallen over night and this is bound to make the descent tricky as a few inches of soft, wet snow mask what is underneath and is also slippery in its own right.

This leads to a fairly ungainly descent by everyone - porters and Sherpas included. Being a bit heavier than the rest I struggle more than the others as I continue to break through the thin crust of snow / ice. This comes to a head on a steep section when I take a small ice shelf together with the rocks in it with me and inland awkwardly on my right foot which then folds pitching me headfirst down the slope. I don't go far as the soft snow cushions my fall but I have twisted and hurt my ankle pretty badly. Once we get back to Kathmandu there are a few rest days before we start doing much on Everest but we are at 4,500m and it is a long way down so a long way over which I need to protect my ankle.

The next couple of hours are pretty fraught as the going remains very slippery and I descend very slowly, doing everything possible to avoid a big slip leading to a wrench on my ankle which could be pretty terminal for my summit chances this year. But eventually I make it back to Kanjin Gumpa where we decide to rest for the remainder of the day before heading back down the valley over the next couple of days.

I have also (and perhaps rather less unsurprisingly that my ankle injury) managed to sunburn my lower lip which means that soon it will be a bit scabby and rather unattractive. I thought I had been being careful with the sun up in the mountain but the sun has been so strong there that it was obviously not enough - not exactly what you need just before some R&R in Kathmandu!

Day 10 - Move to High Camp (4,800m)

Today we are pushing for High Camp from where we will head to the summit in the early hours of tomorrow morning. We head up the steep slope out of camp and the snow is worryingly soft. By the time that we have got to the top of the main slope up to BC I have joined the lead Sherpa and the porters and we have what should be a fairly easy stroll along some rolling slopes before a final steep slope onto the HC plateau.

However, it soon becomes apparent that things aren't going to be so easy. There is only a very thin crust of snow on top of deep, soft snow so we are continually punching through which makes the going pretty slow. In addition the snow is on top of a boulder field so there are a number of invisible, big holes in between the boulders which we drop into as well. The lead Sherpa is pretty light so makes fairly decent progress along the ridges. I come next frequently punching through his footsteps and then convert the mess that I have made into solid footsteps for the porters coming behind me.

This makes for an interesting and different challenge to what I have dealt with before but very tiring and slow. I struggle to see how we can make the summit unless conditions are pretty different higher up. The last team before us came down a couple of days ago for this very reason.

The final straw seems to be the steep slope up to our planned High Camp. We come across a series of the deep holes and finally get to a point where we can't find a way forward - I am now up to my chest in snow and even then falling down at times in holes between boulders! The rest of the group has now caught up and we decide to find somewhere to set up camp. We actually get a pretty picturesque spot in the end.

Our ultimately failed attempt up the slop

Heading back to a sheltered spot with solid snow on the ground for our High Camp

High Camp

High Camp with our failed route and the summit in the background

 

The Summit but it may well not be possible to get there

After a spot of lunch, the Sherpas are going to have another look to see if they can find some better conditions round here and if so have a look at conditions higher up the mountain as if they do not improve there isn't going to be much point in setting out.

We retreat to our tents in the afternoon to rest and get out of the weather. It is either very hot when the sun is shining as it reflects off the slopes around us as well or very cold when the sun goes behind a cloud. We have also got a 1am start ahead of us so it is important to recuperate and rehydrate.

At about 3pm the weather closes in and it starts to snow pretty hard for the next few hours. At about 5 the Sherpas return having had a pretty tough time repeatedly falling through holes and generally walking in deep snow much as we experienced in the morning. That pretty much does it for our chances of a summit attempt - but at least we are going to get a night sleeping at just under 5,000m which is very useful.

The snow starts to fall harder and soon we are in the midst of a thunder and lightning storm with avalanches being triggered which is all rather exciting given that we are perched on the side of a mountain and our tents have the only source of metal in the area!

 

Snow falling heavily at High Camp - little chance of going anywhere now!

The evening is spent very amusingly with all of us in one tent playing name that tune with my collections of 80s hits and power ballads.

Day 9 - Move to Base Camp (4,300m)

Today is probably a short day of about 3 hours walking so we have a fairly relaxed morning.

The team gathering in the morning

After crossing the valley floor, the walk out of it is fairly gentle and at first we are going through woods and rhododendron bushes but there is not the beauty of Autumn here as everything is pretty brown.

Interesting lakes on the valley floor

Coming out of the woods

View back across the valley

After that we have some rolling but ascending slopes until we get to one final steep and snow covered slope that takes us up to BC. Luckily there are some decent footsteps already in the slope so we don't need to change from our trekking to mountaineering footwear.

 

Heading up the slope

View from the top of the slope

BC is on a small plateau with superb views back over the valley. On arrival our cook team excel themselves providing us with superb soup and a dining table and chairs to really enjoy the view.

 

Dining table

The view

Base Camp

 

Day 8 - Rest Day

We wake to blue skies and sunshine and so have a late breakfast with a superb view in what is sort of the village square.

We stay there for the rest of the morning chatting, reading etc. and taking the opportunity to have a bit of a wash. There are a few options in the village and mine probably comes in the middle of the range - I have a proper shower but there is not much water pressure, the room is very cold and the drain seems to be blocked.

The afternoon is as relaxed as the morning with a bit of time spent getting ready for heading up the mountain.

 

Relaxing in the sun

 

Testing our equipment



Supervising the testing



Enjoying the view



Day 7 - Tsergo Ri (4,900m)

Today we are doing our acclimatisation trek for this section. The peak is pretty popular as it is a reasonable challenge and has a great view of the higher mountains surrounding it. We are very lucky with the weather with clear blue sky replacing yesterday's snow storm. The trek is fairly straightforward, but also a great mix of scrambling over rocks and moving over snow and ice.

 

The team about to set off

After walking up the valley for a bit we head up the spine of the mountain until we hit the snow line ridge that leads up to the summit. As we gain altitude we lose protection from the wind provided by the surrounding mountains and take shelter in a small depression whilst waiting for the rest of the group to catch up. As we are now in the snow, the strong sun is reflecting from all around us so a chance to rest in the shade is very welcome.

Spine up from the valley

Not far to the summit

We stay at the top for about 45 mins to have lunch and help with our acclimatisation.

Lunch at the summit

Prayer flag arrangement on the summit




View back down to the valley



Heading back down

On the way back down we come across a group of Japanese tourists who are riddled with altitude sickness. We offer to help, but the group leader politely declines, saying that they are fine. It doesn't really look it as one man can barely stand so a couple of us hang back for a bit to make sure that he does not deteriorate significantly. Soon he is hauled to his feet and a couple of small Nepalese boys take him down the mountain. One gets the feeling that they do this quite often as they are pretty competent and laughing and joking as they move.

We get back down for mid afternoon and have tea and biscuits as the sun slowly descends behind the neighbouring mountains.

There is a change to the itinerary to help some people recover from the trek and instead of heading up to BC today we are going to have a rest day here. Flushed with our summit success today and given the rest day tomorrow, we stay up a bit later than normal playing some rather boisterous card games.

Day 6 - Langtang to Kyanjin Gumpa

We start off as usual in good sunshine and the route is mostly a pretty gentle gradient which brings us to the end of the treeline and the valley has become much more barren and rocky.

By about 10 it starts to get very windy and a low cloud settles in so we take refuge at a little hut whilst the group recombines. After a quick hot lemon tea, we set off for KG only to get caught in a snow storm as we arrive. The rest of the day is spent in the common room - chatting, reading, tea, supper etc.

An increasingly common sight - the group relaxing in warm clothes in a teahouse common room 

The weather in the afternoon remains pretty poor with quite a bit of snow falling which raises a bit of concern for our summit tomorrow. This is heightened when people arrive back from the trek with a range of horror stories about the weather and the conditions on the mountain - but its a fairly easy walk so we should be able to cope with it.

Day 5 - Lama Hotel to Langtang Village

There are a few steeper bits on the trek today as we start to rise up the valley. There isn't much to see as we are still walking amongst the trees. This is a much less busy route than the trek up the Khumbu valley towards Everest Base Camp and as such is in many ways a better one.

 

 

Preparing to set off in the morning

 

Clearly an amusing joke

Lunch stop photography

 



View up the valley



And back down the valley

Day 4 - Up the Langtang Valley to Lama Hotel

Up early to head up into the Langtang Valley. We are walking alongside the river all the way up the valley and it is fairly wooded as we start off. The trek is meant to be 5 hours today but that is probably at a very leisurely pace.

 





Walk up from the roadhead



One of the many vertigo inducing bridges we have to cross - I have seen a few of these at the bottom of ravines so their safety is far from assured

 

We end up having a few breaks on the way up and then a two hour stop for lunch so we actually take quite a bit longer overall.



The first of many breaks

As we round a bend and cross the river we get our first view up the valley

I have ended up a bit ahead of the rest of the group and come across a cluster of teahouses the first of which is called the Lama Hotel so I take my pack off and start talking to an Aussie chap who is trying to get a cold beer from the teahouse.

Lama Hotel

Whilst chatting I glance at another teahouse and see that it is also called Lama Hotel, and then another - this is most confusing! I ask the lady running the teahouse which is the Lama Hotel and she says here. I then ask pointing to the next one if that is the Lama Hotel; yes, she says. Same, same teahouse I ask; no, she responds. That one (pointing to the next building up) Lama Hotel, I ask. Yes, she says smiling. I give up trying to work this out, smile and say thank you and continue chatting to the other trekkers who have found the whole thing highly amusing. A bit later on, the rest of the group arrives and we go to the next building up - it turns out that for some reason the whole area is called Lama Hotel - and all the teahouses have almost identical names.

Still energised by an excellent first day on the trail we head out for a beer with the people I was talking to earlier. A beer unsurprisingly turns into several until it gets too cold to stay outside which coincides with supper being ready. We do become the centre of attention over supper as the rather more than planned beers have their usual impact. After supper we have an initial discussion about altitude sickness which I can't say was necessarily treated with the right degree of seriousness by all of us.

We will be eating at the various tea houses along the way and the food is pretty much the same in all of them - the valley is vegetarian so there is no meat, but tinned tuna will be available intermittently. The food is pretty hearty up here and will consist roughly of:

Breakfast: porridge, bread and eggs
Lunch and dinner: soup then noodles or rice with curry, fried vegetables and cheese. There are good apples here so we will get fresh apples as well as apple pie.