April 12, 2000 - Tomgjhung (Australian Camp)We board the bus in Pokhara for one-1/2 hours to Phedi. Our party consists of: guide G.S. Rai, assistant guide: Asman Rai, porter: Pasang Tamang, my friend Ben, my son Greg, and myself. We walked about two hours. One of the first things we noticed was a sign that said that 'this trail is maintained by the elderly women of the village'. We got a big kick out of that, and it became a standing joke: whenever we went up or down the steps on a steep, but well-maintained trail, it was 'thank goodness for those grandmothers'. Later along the way we found some children, ages about 3-6, begging sweets from us. One, we didn't want to encourage them, and two, we didn't have any sweets, so we didn't hand out any. These kids were persistent, but gave up after about a 1/4 mile.
Our porter, Pasang, carries the duffle bags of all three of the 'guests' - all tied together and held up by a tump line around his forehead. He does this 4-6 hours a day, smiling most of the time, uphill and down, across rickety bridges, across the snow and mud of avalanches. The guides carry their own gear, and the guests are supposed to carry their daypacks with water, cameras, rain coats, and jackets. I am suffering from an injury - a muscle in the upper leg torn a month ago, and I am walking with a stick. The guides take turns carrying my daypack on difficult trails - which are most of them.
Our first night was at a lodge called Australian camp. A gorgeous spot - a swale surrounded by rock walls, sitting on a hillside surrounded by sweeping vistas. There were 5 rooms, all separated by thin partitions, and I could hear Ben and Greg in the next room as if there were no wall. There was a cot to sleep on, covered by a 2 inch pad and a clean sheet. You put your sleeping bag on top of the sheet. There was a cooking shed, a privy, and an outdoor spigot for washing dishes. Someone was tent camping in the neighboring yard. Water buffalo were grazing and their calves were bellowing. A basic meal for dinner was ordered about one hour in advance and served in a small dining room. Dal bhat (rice with vegetables accompanied by lentil soup) was to be the staple on this trek, but there were noodles, curry, homemade soups, and other items to choose from. Breads are usually fried - there is Tibetan bread, chipati, and cornbread, plus baking powder 'toast'. We learn to order with 'ali, ali oil' - not too much oil, and 'ali, ali nun' - only a little salt. There was always tea, hot lemon, hot ginger, mint tea, or ginger tea. There were soft drinks but no ice. Our Nepalis usually had dal bhat, and often only two meals a day. A walk about the area showed how the trees had been pruned back to provide cattle fodder and firewood. These would die in a few years. Ben checked out the source of our water supply and pronounced it safe (with the precautionery addition of iodine). We learned to always carry toilet paper to the privy, and to have our flashlights with us at night - there often wasn't electricity.
Most toilets are the Asian type - a porcelain bowl set into the concrete floor, flush with the floor. No problem for regular visits, but hard to deal with when travellers distress leaves one weak and sick.
April 13, 2000 - Landruk 1550m
After breakfast, we start off hiking about 8:00am the next day. On the way to Landruk, we hook up with a young French girl, Oliphile, and her guide, and we travel together for a few days.
The Nepali people on the trails greet us with 'Namaste', which means 'welcome'. Sometimes we are greeted with 'Tashi Delek', which is a Tibetan greeting. The Nepalis that we see in the villages are going about their daily business of farming, inn-keeping, cooking, carrying goods, sheep herding, washing clothes or dishes, or, for children - going to school, getting the water, or minding baby brother or sister.
We encounter a thunderstorm in the afternoon, to be the first of many. Landruk is a large-sized town seemingly perched on a precipice. Before dinner, we sit up on a huge rock, resting from our hike, admiring the view. Small children, even as small as one-1/2 years old, climb up on the rock and climb over us, hanging onto our coats with their grubby little hands or offering to put their snotty faces into our face for a kiss. One or two of them seem to young to be climbing rocks, so we are nervous that they might fall. But this is the way of Nepalis - learn about and respect heights from an early age. A Tibetan man comes and sits up on the rock to sells us various trinkets - I buy some brass salt and pepper shakers.
April 14, 2000 - Chamrong 2050m
We start seeing rhodedendrons, cobra plants, magnolias, some monkeys, mountain goats, and lots of waterfalls. On the route to Chamrong, we came to Jhimu, where there was a hot spring about 1/2 mile out of our way. Our Nepalis don't seem to like hot water, or perhaps they don't like semi-nudity, but the rest of us - Greg, Oliphile, Ben and I - take off down the path, led by Ben, and Asman comes along to make sure we don't get lost. The hot springs are located along a swift river. The water is quite warm, but not too hot, so we have a good long soak. But our side trip has made a long day of it, and it begins to rain and we get cold. The distance from Landruk to Chamrong is quite long. We arrive in Chamrong at dusk. Greg, Oliphile, our porter, and Oliphile's guide are nowhere to be seen. Chamrong is a very large sprawling town with 2,075 steps from one end to another. Ben and I are exhausted, so Asman and G.S. go looking for the others, who are finally located on the opposite side of the town. There had been a mixup in communication between G.S. and the other guide as to where we were going to stay that night. It is dark and the steps are slippery as we head to the other lodge. The lodge is very basic. No electricity - only candles. The staff goes to bed after serving our supper.
April 15 - Bamboo 2400m
Oliphile decides to leave us and press on to ABC at her own faster pace. Ben and I are moving fairly slow and my leg is bothering me. At first we had planned to stay an extra day in Chamrong, but for some reason we go up to Bamboo. I thought we were going to be able to give my leg a rest in Bamboo, but we also moved on the next day.
Working our way up the canyon - it rains every day in the afternoon. The monsoons are starting early this year. The views of Machupuchare (fishtail mountain) are great when the clouds lift, especially in the morning.
Along the way we see some unsustainable practices. Agricultural burning of trees to clear the land for farming and grazing, and the chopping of leaves and small branches from the trees for cattle fodder and firewood. Many trees are mutilated, and eventually die. Few young trees are evident and big trees are gone. The terracing expands from one year to the next. Sheep who supply the wool for Tibetan carpets, eat the grasses, roots and all, so the soil no longer holds. As trees and grasses go, mudslides occur during the rainy season. Nepal loses more topsoil every year than any other country. The rivers, which are often in deep gorges, are often dammed by landslides until a new channel is carved by the water flow. Until we reach the Annapurna Conservation Area, the cooking fires are fueled by wood, including the fires that cook the meals of tourists in the teahouse lodges. No toilet paper is supplied. Visitors are supposed to use the Asian method of using water and their hand, or else use toilet paper that they bring themselves and dispose of it in the wastebaskets - from there it is burned by the innkeeper. All waste goes down the hill - even if there is a sewer system, and often ends up in the river.
In the conservation areas, fuel must be carried into the area by porters. There are no roads, no cars or trucks. No ponies or donkeys are allowed in the conservation areas. The trails are heavily trafficked by people carrying goods. Women, too, sometimes do some of the hauling. Sometimes travel on the trails seems worse than rush hour traffic.
April 16 - Himalaya 2900m (9,000 ft)
In the morning we discover that Asman has been suffering with bad diarrhea. Ben and I had bought some various antibiotics in a Kathmandu pharmacy, so G.S., practicing his trail medicine, makes a diagnosis of bacterial-caused diarrhea; Ben is able to supply the medicine; and Asman makes a fast recovery. Asman admits that it is probably from drinking some bad homemade brew before the trek started.
We cross many creeks and several avalanche paths. Snow and mud falls down from the mountains above, into the semi-tropical climate below. The trails across the avalanches are slippery, muddy, and sometimes full of holes left by melting ice and snow. Trekkers need to rush across in case another avalanche should fall, and travelling should be before the afternoon to minimize the danger. At 11:30am we come across a couple of lodges in a town called Himalaya. It looks as if they were narrowly missed by an avalanche, and we wonder if we should stay here. But the rains come early this day, and to move on is treacherous, so here we stay.
At this lodge and the one at Bamboo, there are large tables with blankets hanging from the sides. Under the table is a heater - often propane or kerosene. Here trekkers and Nepalis share the table. Last night I was at the table with 15 men, five of them in our trekking party, and the rest Nepalis. Two groups are playing a lively game of cards, laughing and joking amongst each other. One man is playing with a baby. Greg is learning Nepali from Asman.
It is cold here. We are at the start of the snowline. Rain is pouring. We sit outside, hoping for the sun to come out, but at 3:30pm, we give up hope and move into the dining hall where it is too early to light the heater, but still warmer than outside. This is the same room where the guides and porter will sleep - we are using their beds for a bench. So G.S. naps outside leaning his head on a table as a pillow.
At night, with the avalanche so close by, the thunder roars. Laying there, half asleep, it's hard not to think: oh-oh! avalanche!
MBC - Machupuchare Base Camp - 3700m (11,470 ft.)
We were told by G.S. that this would be as easy a hike as yesterday. Not so. Snow and mud made for a messy trail. We climed 2,400 ft at a higher altitude. But the scenery is striking. We left the rhododendron forest. We started seeing paper trees with small pink flower clusters, and stunted birches with reddish bark. For a while the river valley flattened out and we travelled along the rocks and gravels of the river. But the gorge continued to narrow until we finally we went up a narrow slot. At times the river submerged under huge avalanche paths of snow. In the end we crossed many avalanches, sometimes over water. The last several miles became difficult because of the altitude and stops were frequent. Finally we approached a lodge at MBC. Unfortunately it was full, and we had to go another 1/4 mile to the next lodge. There are 6 rooms here and the guests are stacked 3-4 to a room.
The views are awesome, the landscape stark. The sun comes out for a while, causing us to remove our heavy jackets. Damp clothes are put on the clothesline and muddy clothes were washed. Great pictures are of Machupuchare are taken. Then the clouds came in and it was time for a nap. It's cold without the sun, but the lodge has a common room with a big table warmed underneath. Twenty people are in the room, over half Nepali. Card games are played. Beer or roxie is being drunk. The windows are all around, so if the clouds clear, the views will be tremendous. But the kitchen and the heater are run on kerosene or some other carbon fuel, and the air is close. So we retreat to the outdoors with warm clothes on and a sleeping bag for a shawl.
In the evening, Machupuchare is glorious above us. We see hints of the moon rising over the fishtail, but then the clouds come and obscure it.
April 18 ABC - Annapurna Base Camp - 4130m - 12,803 ft
Last night it was difficult sleeping. I am allergic to something - it could be that the fumes of Kathmandu or the dust in Pokhara were still bothering me. Or there is something in the rooms - maybe mortar. Plus three in a room, plus a room full of Japanese men next door, separated by only a thin wall. No one dared snore or cough. But I was congested and choking. It was hard to get up this morning and hard to start hiking un the rarified air.
But we did it!! 1400 ft gain, slowly, step by careful step. Most of it was in the snow. We covered up and put on sunscreen for the glaring sun. To move around very swiftly leaves me light-headed.
The climb is well worth it. We are surrounded by glorious mountains. On the way up into the bowl, the sun was shining and all the surrounding moutains were showing in all their glory. Then the clouds came in, but we have intermittant blue sky above. We are staying in the Annapurna Guest House. Three to a room again. Again a similar set-up with the dining room. At 5:45 pm, there are only our people and a German couple here. They are fun to talk to even though their English is limited.
From here mountain climbers slowly ascend Annapurna (24,000 feet), ascending and descending between the various camps while becoming acclimatized to the altitude.
There are lots of avalanches here that we can watch happen - loose rock or snow falls every 10 minutes or so. We walk over to a glacial valley - hills and vales of rocks and gravel left behind after the glacier retreated. The glaciers have receeded up the mountain; there are three of them draining into the moraine valley on the other side of the hill.
Asman is sunburned. He didn't bring either hat or sunglasses. In the dining room he is studying a textbook on the political science of France, UK, China, and USA.
Greg and G.S. are playing solitaire. Earlier Ben explained to us how to build a hydro-ram to pump water up the hill - which would work well in this place.
April 19 Himalaya - the return trip
What a night! My nose dripped and my eyes teared and I coughed all night. At least I had a room to myself. Ben was sick - vomiting and diarrhea, plus breathing problems at the high altitude while sleeping. Greg had diarrhea, too. I didn't get any sleep. Ben was weak in the morning, but some Sprite helped get him going.
We did make progress today - we dropped 1200 meters or 3,720 feet! In one day we back-tracked the same distance we covered in two days going up to ABC. The hardest part was going back over or around the avalanche paths. One was over 200 yards long. There is a danger of slipping on the ice, down, down to the cold river, the Modi Khola. At one point we had to cross the swollen river twice on precarious log bridges in order to go around an avalanche path. It rained in the afternoon and we finished our walk in the rain.
I'm still coughing - I think a decongestant or antihistimine would be good tonight. Once more, we are sitting in a lodge dining room with the heater under the table. Hack-hack.