Inspiring Your Outdoor Adventures
Its Christmas Eve and I’m sleeping in a tent on the Mera La Glacier at 5400m!!
We left Khare this morning early and the walk up to the edge of the glacier took till lunch – its steep and rocky and in our mountaineering boots was really hardwork. There has been rockfalls in the last year so we had to wind through scree and boulders to reach the glacier rather than take a direct route.
We stayed one more night at Tagnag to allow us to acclimatise – which meant a walk to up a nearby hill top adjacent to the Kusum Kanguru and its glaciers. It was a tough slog up as it was quite steep and at this altitude it felt so much harder. Only two of us managed to get to the top of the hill at 4900m and while I felt ok I was certainly out of breath and as has happened before I had a migraine aura at 4500m (though thankfully no headache).
The view was worth the effort as at 11.30am when we reached the top we had amazing view across the neighbouring mountains and up the valley to our base camp at Khare and the Mera La Glacier. Amazing sunshine but at minus 10 degrees it was really cold and that doesn’t account for the wind chill.
It was freezing last night and while drinking 4 litres of water a day is good to prevent altitude sickness, the downside is numerous trips to the loo in the night. I’ve yet to risk using a pee bottle – it just seems potentially too messy for girls, especially when I’m using a borrowed sleeping bag. And frankly by the time I’ve psyched myself up to leave my sleeping bag, I might as well head outdoors. It was freezing – clear skies full of stars resulted in the water trough for flushing the loo being solid ice.
When morning finally came around I was surprised to find the bottle I was hugging was still full of warm water. I was toasty in my sleeping bag, the downside being getting out for breakfast.
I didn’t sleep well at Thule Kharka, mostly due to my cold, but we were also at 4320m so I think being so high so quick must have had an impact too and my sinuses felt really tight.
The trek to the loo in the night was not only cold but a long walk so I could certainly feel my head throbbing, which meant I hadn’t drunk enough water before going to bed and so the altitude was getting to me. Heading out in the cold was worth it though, the stars in the clear sky were amazing, and I even saw a shooting star. Magical, even with a throbbing head.
We left Thule Kharka at 8.30am with the sun shining, it was like a gorgeous alpine day with the snow on the ground.
Having woken with headache from a cold I acquired in Kathmandu I needed a good dose of decongestants this morning before we headed off. I’m glad I’ve been drinking lots of fluid so its not an altitude headache.
We left Chutanga at 8.30am and slowly headed up the mountain side, stopping at the huts we went to yesterday. We’d been given packed lunches today- boiled eggs, Tibetan bread, biscuits and chocolate – so since we were at 4000m I made sure I stuffed some food in, anticipating little chance to as we headed higher.
There’s no such thing as a rest day when climbing mountains or trekking, especially at altitude. Today has been no exception.
I think I was the first to bed last night at 8.30pm and thankfully only had to get up once for a pee in the night. God it was cold!
Pancakes for breakfast turned out to be just what I needed to get me fuelled for the day – even if it tasted smoky from the fire. I also managed to drink a litre of tea and water before we set off and managed another litre during the day, which has certainly helped today with the altitude.
It was cold and frosty when we left Chutanga, walking half way up and along tomorrow’s route, towards the Zatrwa La pass. It’s been easy going at a nice slow pace and when the sun finally came out we stopped to take off our down jackets and appreciate the warmth.
Trying to describe my planned expedition to climb Mera Peak to family and friends had met with mostly blank faces and noises of ‘good luck’ and ‘enjoy your holiday’. However, when I mentioned I would be flying into Lukla airport, then friends were actually concerned. Its fair to say most of them didn’t really understand the expedition!
Flying into the mountain airport at Lukla, dubbed the most dangerous airport in the world, was certainly a thrill, and it’s easy to see why the short runway is uphill as it comes to an abrupt end with a cliff. I felt like clapping when we landed!
I set off wandering through Thamel to attempt to reach Swoyambuthan temple up in the hill. Armed with a crap map and a good sense of direction I found the tiny signs and meandered out of the back of Thamel towards the temple up on the hillside. It can’t be that hard to get to, as its so visible on the hill top, or so I assumed.
It was nice to wander the back streets through housing areas and local neighbourhoods to see places tourists in Thamel rarely venture through. My sense of direction was a bit off, and while I got there in the end it was certainly not the most direct route.
Of the three Durbar squares in the Kathmandu valley, Bhaktapur seems to have suffered the most from the Earthquake in terms of impact on tourism – the day I visited I was one of only a handful of tourists there. The fuel crisis hasn’t helped – it cost me 4000 rupees or about $40 to get there, so I made the most of the taxi ride to also see Pashupatinath temple and the Boudhanath stupa too as they are on the same side of Kathmandu.
Bhaktapur is a small town with an amazing history and worth a 30 minute taxi ride at any price to be able to escape the pollution of Kathmandu. It’s peaceful and beautiful despite damage from the earthquake and I think that is why it is my favourite place of those I visited.
I intended to walk the 7km to Patan today, but when I negotiated a taxi down to 800 rupees I then realised quite how far it was and I would have got quite lost along the way.
Arriving in Patan I made the mistake of hiring a guide to take me around the Durbar Square, which in hindsight wasn’t necessary as he didn’t give me that much information and the town is easy to navigate. At least I didn’t pay to enter Patan’s Durbar squarem, the only one of the three Durbar Squares in the Kathmandu region which I managed to get in free.
The square has faired well in the earthquake and while a few buildings are propped up with wooden struts not many have significant damage. Of the various buildings only 2 were completely flattened and one statue destroyed.
