Great Himalaya Trail: Update 5
Great Himalaya Trail: Update 5
Trail’s end: Dolpa and the Far west
Friday, June 3, 2011
I write this from the comforts of a couch and bowl of fresh fruits and vegetables, back in the United States, nearly a week after finishing up our traverse of the Nepal Himal, along the spine of the Great Himalaya Trail. On May 27th, Trauma and I reached our finishing point in Humla’s district headquarters, the village of Simikot, 1700km and 57 days after beginning our way westward from the village of Taplejung in the far east. Over the course of the next 3 days I found myself on a 40 hours travel marathon to transplant myself from a rural Nepali farm village to the bustling metropolis of San Francisco, and then onward to the solitude of Midpines, CA, just outside of Yosemite National Park. Settled into a ‘home like’ status, everything seems quite surreal at this point as I begin the inevitable readjustment process. Gone are the yaks and buffalos tilling the fields, replaced instead with industrial John Deere varieties. The slow and methodical transport of goods via porter and donkey obscured by the cloud of diesel smoke emitting from semis and box trucks. And lastly, dusty and well trodden thoroughfares paved with tar and oil.
These last two weeks through the high and wild area of Upper Dolpa and the seldom visited quarter of the Far West have been some of hardest hiking miles I’ve ever covered, both mentally and physically. I say physically because of the daily sore throat and bloody sputum of exerting yourself at life over 18,000ft, potentially a sign of early Pulmonary Edema. Facing the ever present reality of needing to gain and lose yet another 4000m over the next 18,000+ft high pass. Stretching 10 days worth of food rations and the necessity to maintain 14-15 hour days and cover 40-50km every day. Day in and day out. No rest for the weary. Post-holing to our waists for hours only to cover a few hundred meters. These things collectively wear away at your psyche as well. We couldn’t even rely on the instant gratification of food bag bliss. Usually on a hike, you’ll get a craving, a yearning, perhaps maybe even a hankering, and you are able to accommodate that desire at the next town stop. This hike has definitely been the epitome of ‘getting no satisfaction’. Between the 2 months of wishful food porn conversations between Trauma and I, the mild nausea of elevation and yet another bag of the ‘same ol’ same ol’’, Trauma and I both lost a lot of weight on this last leg of the journey, hauntingly so. I feared Trauma’s chest was beginning to take on that of ET’s. I joked with him that if I start seeing his hearth beat through his back ribs, I’m calling for an evac.
Conversely, these were also some of the most rewarding miles of the journey. Miles where I feel I could really get a sense and appreciation for the Nepali way of life. Far stretches and the seldom visited villages of Dho Tarap and Pho had that balance of pure wilderness and untouched civilization. Here in the barren and dry hillsides of Dolpa, people have eked out a sustainable life through the use of water diverting irrigation canals, greenhouses, hydro-powered flour mills, yak and donkey beasts of burdens, solar powered panels, and most of all, community. Women sit in circles, chatting away, passing the time, all the while completing the day’s chore. Young boys harness yaks to pull them across their fields while they ‘surf’ on the back of a rake like apparatus. Men break rock for home construction, travel days for lumber and fire wood and load donkeys with wheat and barley for trade in lower elevation villages. Children are boarded and attend one localized school with frequent deliberations for play in the sandy school yard. All of this enveloped to the scenery of the Great Himalaya range. The hills of Dolpa are far different than anywhere else in Nepal. They are reminiscent to the canyon lands of the southwest US. Deeply gorged river valleys, scrub covered hillsides, an array of hues and colors, and yet are backlit to the mystic of the snow blanketed high country. For no matter how frustrating, tedious or exhausting the trail became at times, it only took the rejuvenation of a 360 degree scan to put meaning and context to the situation.
There was one particularly strenuous day where this became all too relevant. A day where by morning we were climbing out of a river valley at 3400m (our lowest point in all of Dolpa), ridge traversing at over 18,000ft to Nyingma Gyanzen La (5563m), scrambling through cliff bluffs to and icy, skin slicing descent, breaking and fueling in light snow squalls in disbelief, following snow leopard tracks to the imposing corniced wall of Yala La (5414m), (a cornice where I was determined to ‘karate chop’ my way through rather than gain an additional 30m to contour around), glissading with glee to false saddles and yet more post holing, and descending to our camp under the last slivers of light in the western skies. Days like that are hard, it’s an emotional roller coaster, but those are the days you tend to remember most. You ask yourself ‘what more can the day throw out to me?’. Nepal never disappoints, it keep dishing it out to you, just like the Dal Bhat. Eat until your hearts content.
Below are the final photos from our trip. They tell the story far better than I. Trauma is off in India at the moment, pushing to make his way ever westward, hopefully to within sight of the final 8000m peaks still looming on the horizon. Check back often for updates on his progress at www.justinlichter.com .
Rime ice and prayer flags enroute to the Nyingma Gyanzen La (5563m), a ridge traverse at over 18,000ft, Dolpa District
(above and left) Changing Landscapes. Upper Dolpa
(left) Morning thaw. Niwas Valley
(above) Exhausted, Tired, Hungry. Loving It!
(left) 1. ‘Steering’ Wheel. 2. Greenhouse. 3. Plow ‘surfing’. 4. Sibling piggy back
(below) 5200m by 6am, 5200m by evening. Nengla La Valley
(left) Map curiosity and local women spinning yak wool. Bhijer.
(above) Traversing the Nyingma Gyanzen ridge at over 18,000ft. (below) Only one way down, better double check the map on last time! (below right) the result on sans pants.
(below) Saldang village girl
(above left) Scouting the glissade potential. Consensus: High! (left) Switching techniques to the boot ski (above) Descending into the last slivers of light. Yala La and Chyargo La Valleys.
(right) Silver Birch bark. Blue eyed buffalo. Nepali hieroglyphics. The most common trail side trash in Nepal? Dead shoes.
(above) Trauma attempting to resole his shoes. Gamgadhi.
(right) One. Two. Three. PUSH!! Nepali trail maintenance. The entire village will come out and lend a hand.
(left) Gamgadhi resupply. Desperate measures. Desperate times.
(left) These guys proceeded to ‘study’ us for 45 minutes while we ate and took break, got bored and promptly fell asleep. (below) Trailside smoke.
(left) It was bound to happen. One of us was going to fall through a suspension bridge. This is what happens when the other side of the board comes back up and smacks you in the face. Notice the eyelid on the wrong side of the lens. Ouch!
(right) Cave bivy. Mugu
(below) Foot powered wood lathe. Simikot
(left and right) Finishing shots. Point me in the direction of the food! Trauma’s chest seems to be caving in on it’s self. Simikot