May 24th, 2003
"
Three days ago, I returned from a 29-day hike. Where to begin?
My friend Matt arrived on April 20. A nation-wide strike that day meant no cars
on the roads. Luckily, foreigners are allowed...so I picked him up at the
airport with my motorcycle on traffic-free roads. Next day, up at 4.30am to
catch a flight to Lukla. The flight was spectacular...it flies low to the
ground, right into the
The next three days we spent going up and around Namche
Bazaar, a major trade center way up in the mountains. People hike in from
Spent the next three days slowly ascending (thus avoiding
altitude sickness) to the
Day 7 was awesome. We hiked north of Gokyo to a place called the "5th
Day 8 was the first in a string of bad-weather days. In the morning, I scrambled
up
Next day was a bitch. We were attempting to shortcut a few days over a minor
mountain range separating Gokyo from the immediate Everest region, via the Cho
La Pass, 5420m/17800ft. A fresh snowfall and an early start made the going (and
finding the trail) difficult. We ended up on a wrong trail and ascended to 5300m
before realizing our mistake and retracing our path. Back on track, we climbed
the pass in a minor snowstorm, tagging behind a small climbing expedition also
heading over. It was a very steep ascent, and we were doubly-tired since we had
already ascended a ways on the wrong trail. The view from the pass is supposedly
spectacular, but we could only see snow falling. And it was miserably cold and
windy. Descended the other side and had a Snickers apiece. Matt got a bland
double pancake with chocolate and a lone candle for his birthday.
We continued our descent the next day (Day 10) to Dingboche, a nice village in a
valley. We parted ways the next day, so we celebrated our trip over a 1.5L Coke
and a plate of popcorn.
Matt continued his descent back out of the mountains, while I dove further in. I
reached Chukhung, and the next day the weather finally cleared! So, starting at
4am, I ascended
The views from
From the top, I could see an expedition's base camp to the east, alongside the
glacier, far far below. On my descent I stopped by the camp. It was the
Kammerlander expedition that had been at our lodge in Namche Bazaar. But the
Germans there were pricks, so I quickly moved on and followed the glacier most
of the way back to the
Next day, I combined 2-3 days into one and made it to Gorak Shep, the last
outpost before Everest, at 5180m/17000ft. There, I ate the mac and cheese that
Matt brought (thanks Jess!).
From there, I day-hiked to Everest base camp. Now, everyone says it's a dump and
nothing special. Well, everyone is wrong! First off, the setting is
spectacular...this year there are 33 expeditions spread out over the rubble
adjacent to the glacier. Everest itself is not visible because you're too close,
but you're right next to it! Just beyond camp is a 800-1000m ice fall...the way
up to Camp 1. When I arrived, I could see ant-sized people descending the fall,
returning to base camp.
I talked to a Sherpa for an American expedition to scale Everest, and was
invited to their tent. They gave me great food and drinks. It was a fun
bunch...Gary Guller was the American there, and Nima Dawa was the Sherpa I
talked to. I just checked their website, and they (and three others)
successfully summitted yesterday! If you're interested in the story, check out
http://www.teameverest03.com.
I left base camp, and instead of returning to Gorak Shep, decided it'd be a good
idea to climb Pumori. So I scrambled off the trail and climbed up a few hundred
meters over the next couple hours, getting as far as I could before technical
gear would've been required...I was on the southeast side, well above where the
ice begins on the south side, probably at about 5500-5600m. The views from here
were as great as any I ever saw. On the way down, I saw a few tents by a small
lake: two Pumori expeditions. Had tea with some Swiss and French climbers there
before leaving.
Returned to my lodge and woke up at 4am the next morning to climb Kala Pattar,
about 5500m/18000ft. This is probably where 90% of the photos of Everest are
taken from. I got to the top around 5.30am and enjoyed fantastic views until
6am, when the blinding sun cleared the horizon. It was really cold; at this
point I decided if I climbed Everest, over 3000m higher, it'd be uncomfortably
cold...so I skipped it.
Descended, had a bite to eat, and headed down the valley. Walked almost all day
and lost 1700m elevation as I began to make my way out of the Everest region.
Two more days and I was off the tourist trail completely. En route, I reloaded
my system with baked goods in Namche Bazaar, and bought yak cheese to munch on
the way down. I spent one day on a lesser-hiked trail where instead of droves of
tourists, I saw 6-8. Then I left "civilization" completely on Day 18.
My goal was to do a somewhat remote hike, seeing new scenery, and crossing to
the east nearer
I was not to see a Westerner for 11 straight days. I hiked roughly east,
crossing several north-south ridges. Mostly, I was in the 2000-3000m elevation
range, but each time I crossed a pass, it meant going up to over 3000m, then
dropping down to 1300-2000m again. Rested a day in Najingdingma, a perfect
little hamlet of about 6-10 bamboo houses scattered around on a beautiful hill
above a valley and below a pass.
This was Day 20. Relaxed, read, did laundry for the second time, watched a
semi-crazy woman chase yaks and cows around, and remarked that I picked a good
day to take a break, as it rained all afternoon...An old lady cooked for me, and
taught me to make Tibetan bread. I have attached the recipe here:
=============================================================================
Najingdingma Tibetan Bread
==========================
Take roughly two handfuls of flour and put them in a bowl. Add a sprinkle of
salt and a small palmful of sugar. Go to the big wooden chest on the far side of
the room, and get out a small blue plastic bag. Unwrap it and sprinkle some of
the white powder (baking soda/powder?) into the bowl. Mix, then add water,
enough to make a firm dough, while kneading by hand.
Meanwhile, stoke a wood fire on the big clay fire pit in the unventilated
thatch-roof-and-wall hut. Preheat a 2-ft diameter pitch-black semi-spherical
kettle. Pour about 1/4-1/2 cup of murky liquid (oil) from an old liquor bottle
into the kettle.
Roll 1/2 of the dough into a flat, roughly 10-in diameter pancake. Use a knife
to make a couple slits in the top. Fry the bread in the oil, flipping once,
until both sides are light brown. Makes 2 pieces.
Eat plain, or top with peanut butter, honey, jam, tomato sauce, sugar, or
whatever suits your fancy. Enjoy!
It's very simple. I'm hoping someone tries it and emails me the results...and if
you liked it. It's delicious after a day's hiking! The key is not to simply
grease the pan. You fry it in a large puddle of oil.
=============================================================================
Okay, moving on. Some killer days. The worst one involved a long long hike, that
included 2000m/6600ft elevation gain, and 1800m/5900ft of elevation loss, on a
day that I got chased by a big bull, and had a hot sunny morning and a cold
dreary cloudy afternoon. That day ended in Sanam, a ghetto-ish village
consisting of a single row of houses bracketing a small Tibetan Buddhist
monastery. But things got better, because...
I arrived on the day of Gadami, their monthly lunar festival. I joined the
villagers in the temple, listening to the prayer chanting and drums (which they
did in a somewhat half-assed and fun manner), then ate with them, and topped it
off by sitting in a gazebo at night...with pouring rain outside, juniper-filled
censers smoking like mad inside, and the villagers (including 3 ancient women
and an old dude) got tanked on rakshi (horrible moonshine) and chhang (light
alcoholic drink from corn and millet that's slightly sour, or this stuff was,
anyway).
From here, it was 2-3 days of downhill, all the way down to 300m/1000ft. En
route, before the real descents came, I delivered two letters for Nima Dawa--the
Sherpa I met back at Everest Base Camp--one to his uncle, the other to his mom,
both in tiny villages.
But to the valley...it's hot down there. Bathed in a stream with my clothes
on--Day 23--my first washing of the trip (it's too cold up at high altitude!).
Back to the land of rice terraces and bananas and bamboo huts and the Rai
people--a different ethnic group within
My final five days saw an ascent back up to 3000m/10000ft. The trail was often
difficult to find. Got lost a lot, which isn't a big deal, cause you always find
villagers to ask...crossed fields and fences, you name it. The last ascent day
was 10hrs, going up 1900m/6200ft. This really sucked since I bought 5kg of
brassware and a large knife in the town of
This village, and others en route, were in Maoist territory. Red
hammer-and-sickle flags dotted the villages, usually among a blown-up police
post (from attacks a year ago). I wasn't worried though: I had a Swiss Army
Knife. In Gupha Pokhari, I met two American Peace Corps volunteers, the first
white people since leaving the Everest region 11 days previous.
My final day in the hills coincided with my 1-yr anniversary of being abroad.
The previous week had been consistently cloudy. Even though in theory, I should
have had great views of Makalu and Everest to the northwest, and
I hiked down to Basantpur with the Americans on my 29th day. I had hiked way
across towards India, so it was a long way home...after a night in Basantpur, a
6-hr ride to Dharan, and a 16-hr overnight bus ride to Kathmandu, I was back.
That's almost the end. En route, we hit a heavy rainstorm. Most of the roof of
the bus was watertight. The portion above me wasn't. But what's more, I get to
That's it. First shower in 30 days, visited some embassies, got photos
developed, ate a huge yak steak, and frequented my favorite bakery. This morning
had brilliant buttermilk pancakes topped with homemade Minnesotan maple syrup
(thanks, John!).
It was nice spending so much time out there in the mountains...by far the
longest hike I've ever done. No roads...all supplies are portered in by people
and yaks. Suspension bridges. Rock and dirt trails. No electricity...usually
read and ate by a brass oil lantern. Really peaceful. And simple. Good.
I was bummed that I saw no yeti, though. Several times I heard what may have
been yeti calls. Matt saw a severed antelope leg that was probably due to a yeti
attack. An Italian woman saw me from a distance and said some white animal was
near me for a while. I told her it must've been a yeti. She laughed and passed
this off as a joke, but I don't really see any other logical explanation. So the
facts are there: the yeti exist, I just missed them. I'll be back.
To sum things up, over the course of this hike, I ascended close to 20km/12mi in
elevation (and of course, descended the same amount), and walked around
300/180mi. And lost 4kg/9lbs. And ate loads of rice. It was a good trip.
Leaving
"...we forget the peaceful rhythms of simple country
life, which smiles in the spring, toils in the summer, reaps in autumn, rests in
winter, imitating nature in all her cycles." (-Kahlil Gibran)
Away Awhile is hosted by Josh Trutwin.