Nepal 2010 Blog: February 2010

February 2010

Emails sent during February 2010

(Les textes français sont ici.)
Mail from 18 Feb 2010: "...hiking like gods across the sky..."
Subject: "...hiking like gods across the sky..."

Date: Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:05:23 +0000
Dear all,

the subject line is a quote out of a novel by Salman Rushdie, "Shalimar
the Clown". A very good read, this one; much better, I think, than his
more acclaimed "Midnight's Children" which I found too artificial, too
much burdened with the rigid structures Rushdie superimposes on that
novel and its poor heroes and villains.

Anyway, this quote struck me as a pretty good description of what we're
looking forward to for the next three months. "Shalimar the Clown" plays
out (mostly) in the Kashmir valley but these Himalayan high valleys are
all magical places alike.

So, the plan is to fly into Kathmandu on the 28th, stay there for a few
days (and steaks, as ever from the venerable Everest Steak House),
mostly to get used to the relative heat (relative to icy Britain, that
is). We'll arrive just in time for a famous spring festival called
Holi... think lots of water being thrown around, with coloured power,
confetti and other bits and pieces. We've been in Nepal once before for
Holi, so we have an idea what to expect.

After the Holi excitement we'll take a "gruelling 20+ hour bus journey"
to a small village in the foot hills called Okhaldhunga (see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okhaldhunga_District ). Okh. is not the
usual starting point for walks to the Everest region, though it is just
a few days straight south from the Solo-Khumbu area. Most people fly in
via Lukla, the few who still walk in do so mostly from Jiri (or
Shivalaya, these days). But we've done that twice before and the walk-in
from Okhaldhunga will add an interesting new facet to our Everest
ramblings.

Well, after that it's the Khumbu all over again. We have about four
weeks to explore all the nooks and crannies in and above Namche Bazaar.
Most we already know, but the scenery up there is so breathtaking
(literally and figuratively) that even after having done it four times
already, we simply have to come back for more.

And there are still a few things we have not yet done, for instance
getting higher up the lower slopes of Ama Dablam (not to the summit,
mind you, just until either we reach ~5900m or our lungs give out). Then
there's the huge ablation valley up to the Nangpa La which we have never
really explored above 4500m. Or the Kongma La from the Chukhung to the
Lobuche valley: the last of the high passes in Khumbu proper we have not
yet crossed.

We'll try to return from the Khumbu via a high pass called Trashi Laptsa
(also Tashi/Teshi La) and further into a pretty unknown region called
Rolwaling (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolwaling_Himal ). The
Trashi Laptsa is a quite difficult pass that normally requires crampons
and ropes, so we would have to organise that plus a few porters in
Namche Bazaar.

In case the direct route doesn't work out, we'll instead head around the
mountains, first south, then west via Junbesi, and then again north, to
do the Rolwaling valley via the "normal" approach, the front-door, so to
speak. This valley is one of those "hidden" Himalayan valleys writers
and explorers talked and dreamed a lot about in the old days, for
instance as James Hilton did with his novel "Lost Horizon" (see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Horizon_%28novel%29 ).

In this case, the "hidden" bit is not entirely hyperbole, as the
Rolwaling valley is nearly as unvisited today as it was 50 or 60 years
ago. The great trekking waves that engulfed the Everest and Annapurna
regions have largely passed this area by -- which is probably a good
thing for us tourists but perhaps not for the inhabitants. Then again,
tourism can be a rather fickle business as many Sherpa lodge owners have
discovered to their cost during the decade-long Maoist insurgency.

Afterwards, it's back to a road and to KTM, further on to Pokhara and
its lake to rest for a few days before we tackle the Annapurna Sanctuary
(see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapurna_Sanctuary ). We've only seen
this once before, in 1995, so we'll certainly enjoy doing that again.
We'll also do some walking up and down the Kali Gandaki river, but with
the road projects currently underway there, this may or may not be to
our liking.

Well, and then it should be end of May and we'll head back to England's
shores. We'll spend a couple of weeks in Britain and then we'll leave
for two or three months on the continent: there are friends and family
we have not seen for four or five years. Shame on us. But as we will
travel around a lot, mostly in France and Germany, we will continue
sending mails from the road.

And of course, even before that, we will keep you up-to-date with our
usual tales from the mountains. Similar to last time in Nepal, there
will be weeks w/o any messages, since the region above Namche is not
exactly overspilling with internet access facilities. But this time we
take (perhaps "schlepp" would be a more appropriate word but never
mind...) anyway, we take a camera with us to the Everest region: first
time for a long period! So we can promise you some breathtaking and
mouthwatering pics and especially panoramas once we're back and had some
time to massage the raw material.

We have also, during the last few weeks, worked on a new website which
is not yet completely online; it will only become fully operational for
our next big trip, a really long journey in 2011/12 (and 13?). Still, we
want to experiment with the setup and we will share most of our new
stuff via this site. (The emails will continue as usual; we will also
put them online as well.)

Simply head over to https://trvl2.com and click around. If you find errors,
omissions or have a suggestion, please, PLEASE, drop us a quick note
(doing this will also get you some serious brownie points;-)).

Here is something for the map lovers among you: a very rough contour map
showing the planned trails on the Everest trek. The sketch is pretty
basic but then again, we have a history of changing plans:
see https://trvl2.com/=nepal10

However, there are other, more detailed maps about the trek we did in
this region during the autumn of 2008. So if you want to delve in
deeper, go to the website and click you way through them:
see https://trvl2.com/Nepal10/background/Trekking_Maps_2008

There are also a few photos and some other bits and pieces already
online and more will follow over time. Explore and send in your
comments, questions and suggestions!

We'll get in touch once we're in Kathmandu.

All the best

Vero and Thomas

PS: To get in touch you can use either vero.thomas@gmail.com
or vero.thomas@trvl2.com. The first account is probably read more
often.
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February 2010

Emails sent during February 2010

Subject: "...hiking like gods across the sky..."
