MERA PEAK, NEPAL
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A diary of my trip to Mera Peak, Nepal in 2005 - Days 11 - 13.
(Click on any of the pics to see the full size photograph)
Day 11 - Tuesday 25th October
- No news at dinner last night about today's trek was taken as good news. The
aim today is to cross a ridge and then drop
down into the Hinku valley and make our way up towards Mera base camp over the
next few days. Tonight we are scheduled to stop at Kote which is where we may
meet the Maoist rebels for the first time.
Immediately
behind the camp is the climb, just to loosen us up if we're feeling a bit stiff
from yesterday. Again, head down and keep going - plenty of time for photos at
the top. Actually, we're getting used to this now and it wasn't as bad as it
would have been a week ago. Believe it or not I'm really enjoying myself and the
views are fantastic.
Time for a rest at the top and some pics. There's a nice outcrop - anyone want their photo taken at the end - go on Bob take a look over the edge - no thanks, I prefer to sit down for this one!! The views - once again - are amazing and the Hinku valley is full of cloud at lower levels. We're going to work our way down through the cloud and then go up the valley.
Once
we started to lose height the vegetation changed again from barren open areas to
trees and forest. This time, however, it was
different - not trees with lush thick undergrowth but a damp humid forest with
the trees covered all round with thick moss which was hanging down from the
branches. It was surreal, like being in a Harry Potter scene or a kids fairy
tale nightmare forest. We continued down through this for a couple of hours,
crossed a river on a slippery wooden bridge and then found our lunch tarpaulin
laid out in the forest with the kitchen crew cooking under a mossy rock outcrop.
It wasn't pleasant here as it was very damp and chilly, both the air and
underfoot - keep an eye out for any leeches. The kitchen crew were enjoying
themselves though - laughing and trying to climb the rock outcrop or do fancy
party tricks on it.
Too
chilly to stay here for very long after lunch so off we set over the slippery
path and tree roots. About 15 minutes later a lot of whooping and hollering as
the kitchen crew shot past us - running downhill - in a race - and carrying
their full baskets - maybe a little quicker then I thought, whoops, maybe not.
About an hour later and we reached the Hinku river but we needed to cross over
to the other side so we had to find a bridge that was still there. Not a
problem, just walk along the path above the river until we reach one - up, down,
up, down as we wound our way around and over obstacles like rock outcrops. At
last the bridge - just cross over and then we can work our way up valley through
and over the rocks and debris that are the result of a major flood through here
in 1998.
There are many photographs below and on other pages that show the resultant devastation from 1998 when part of the Sabai Tsho glacier (near Mera base camp) broke off and fell into the Sabai Tsho glacial lake following three earthquakes. The lake burst its natural dam and 25 million cubic metres of water swept down the valley taking everything in its way. The valley sides have been washed away, up to or more than 100ft high in places and 500/600ft or more across, and amazing only 1 or 2 people were killed. The following link gives information and photographs on the disaster - its not mine and I don't know the author so I presume the facts quoted are correct - www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Rapids/9713/lakeng98.htm - enjoy.
Once we'd crossed the river the trek up to Kote was fairly easy compared to last few days and the camp was on us before we realised. We had a brief sit down in a teahouse shortly after arriving but didn't really see any villagers tonight and an early night beckoned.
 Me next to a cairn
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Me next to a cairn
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Lambabu, Dan, Gombu,Grahame,Susmita,Becky & Ewan
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Gombu, Dan, Katrina & Galzin looking up the Hinku valley
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Me with our descent into the Hinku valley behind
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Katrina and me
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My reason for not going to the edge
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 Ewan in the surreal forest
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Lambabu
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Drop into the river
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 Kitchen crew making lunch
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Ewan, Susmita & Grahame - damp and chilly rest time
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 Susmita, Grahame, Becky, me, Dan & Katrina in the teahouse at Kote
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 Camp at Kote looking up the Hinku valley |
Camp at Kote looking down the Hinku valley
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Day 12 - Wednesday 26th October
- We will be trekking up the Hinku valley for the next few days to Mera Peak
base camp and this should be considerably
easier than the ridges we'd been crossing so far. We'd still need to take it
slowly to allow us to get properly acclimatised - the better the acclimatisation
now the less risk of problems higher.
Everything
was going as per normal this morning, tea, wash, pack, breakfast - and then -
"Hang on guys" says Robin "We've got a few visitors who want to talk to us" -
the Maoist rebels had arrived. There were three of them, two were dressed
similar to the porters and villagers but the clothes looked a bit newer, the
third had a smart looking leather biker's jacket on - not what you'd expect to see up
here. He appeared to be the main spokesman. After a bit of debate Robin came
over to tell us that although we had already paid for trekking permits to the
Nepalese authorities the rebels wanted £50 for each westerner to trek up
their valley. They were armed, with guns concealed under their coats.
Robin and Gombu were trying to negotiate a reduction particularly as Robin did
so much good work for the people of Cherem. They eventually agreed not to charge
Robin but the rest of us had to pay. Ok, lets go then - not so quick - they
hadn't finished - they were then trying to persuade Gombu to sign up to their
cause as he was well known in the area and would be a good recruit for them.
Gombu managed to talk his way of it and eventually we set off - not before
Grahame thought he'd get a picture of them - very risky to say the least! I
stood there, Grahame half behind me with his camera peeping over my shoulder -
OK, 1, 2, 3 cough which I did to cover the sound of the shutter - no problem
there other than it was still early morning and overcast so the flash went off -
the rebels' heads spun round - what was that? Luckily they didn't see the camera
- Robin told us afterwards that they'd had taken the camera off us for certain.
I'm not going to get involved in a discussion about the rights or wrongs of the Maoist rebels cause but the National Geographic magazine had a very good article on the Nepalese Maoists in the November 2005 edition. If you click in the link above you can see the article and a multimedia film - it is a slow page to download, even with broadband/ADSL and you may have to try a couple of times (sorry - their website!!).
Soon after paying our dues we set off up the valley, passing the village sawmill - health and safety would have had a field day - a two level wooden framing with a roof and a vertical saw about 8ft long with handles at the top and bottom for the villagers to hold to manually cut any logs. The guy on the lower level must have been covered in sawdust and chippings!!
I've
mentioned the 1998 disaster above but even when you see the destruction caused
to the valley it just isn't possible to imagine the sight of the water
tearing the mountainside to pieces - and all in 5-10 minutes. We picked our way
up valley for the next few hours between the rocks and rubble of all sizes with
the fast flowing Hinku river to our right. On one occasion we had to get around
a huge boulder by walking along a log over the river's edge - not dangerous but
interesting.
Behind us we saw a party of fellow trekkers also making their way up the valley but a bit quicker than us. Eventually they overtook us and they were the first non-Nepalese we'd seen since Lukla, ten days ago. A few pleasantries were exchanged - where you going? when did you set off? which way did you get here? and then they were off - four South Africans (with their sherpas and porters) - who I'll mention later.
A
few hours later and we reached a small teahouse - no time to go in, this is
where we had to leave the river valley and climb up above the swathe of
destruction along the valley bottom. Not too far and the blue tarpaulin was
spotted - lunch. "Did anyone spot the small group of porters at the teahouse?"
someone asked - "Nope". Then either Gombu or Lambabu informed us they'd been
bringing down the body of a dead porter who'd died up near Mera - enjoy your
lunch and relax.
Quite a pleasant trek in the
afternoon, just a gradual incline and nothing unduly strenuous. We stopped
outside a small
teahouse and gompa - a quick break and a few people went to look at the gompa.
Everyone seemed fine but suddenly Grahame was slowing down rapidly and soon
dropping back along our long spread out crocodile of trekkers - he was having
altitude problems and was really struggling - he had no strength and was
disorientated, as if
in a daze. A short stop at another building close to a camp - get some water
drunk and some food, Grahame felt a bit better and we set off for Tagnak getting
there in the late afternoon. Robin was concerned about Grahame and kept a
careful eye on him - do we take him back down now or see how he feels in the
morning? The morning - OK - but watch him during the evening and night - any
deterioration and down he goes, dark or not.
Tagnak
is a small, slightly spread out village and we were the only group staying there
until early evening when a solitary trekker arrived coming down from Mera. He
pitched his tent close to ours and we tried to have a conversation with him
which was extremely difficult. He was Eastern European (I forget which ex
communist bloc country he said he was from - Romania or one of the former Czech
republics) and could speak very little English - we couldn't speak any of his
native language. He did tell us that he'd got as far as high camp and had made
6,000 metres but had to turn back - no strength left to make the summit. The
rest of his group had continued upwards. We thought he looked a hardy soul
cooking his meal on his stove, while we waited for the kitchen crew to shout us
for our meal. A few half hearted comments privately amongst ourselves about
we'll be alright on the day, no problem getting up there etc!!
The cloud had come up the valley in the mid to late afternoon (as would happen on most days) and the views of the adjoining mountains were obscured even more than just by the clouds covering their peaks. I was sat talking to Dan and Katrina when behind Dan the clouds parted and for the first time I could see the full height of the adjoining mountain. "Take a look at that mountain Dan" - "Yeah, I've seen it" - "No, take a look now" - Dan turned round and looked up, then up again and then up yet again - I won't say what he said but the view and the size of the mountain, so close and towering over us, was breathtaking compared to those I'd seen in other countries - and this wasn't even a particularly high one - just a run of the mill peak!!
Grahame meantime was in the tent and didn't want any dinner and the porters were in a cave above the village. Ewan started to have problems with headaches on a number of occasions from here onwards up the valley.
During the night I heard an avalanche for the first time on the trip. From now on this would be a regular occurrence at night.
This is probably an opportune time to mention the problems with altitude and the need for proper acclimatisation. High altitude can bring on many problems from severe headaches, loss of appetite through to a pulmonary edema (fluid on your lungs) and a cerebral edema (swelling of the brain due to fluid leakage), both of which - especially the latter - can be fatal if not treated immediately. The first thing to do is descend. There are also drugs which can assist. I'm not an expert on altitude acclimatisation and the effects but I do know not to take it lightly. Anyone can be affected, no matter how fit you are, and can commonly occur at any height over 2,500 metres (about 8,000ft) or even as low as 1,500 metres (5,000ft). We had all been to our doctors before we left and had each got individual supplies of drugs in case of any problems. Slowly, slowly is the way to acclimatise properly. If you want more information, click on this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altitude_acclimatization.
Another couple of problems with altitude are the need to urinate more, particularly at night, hence the invaluable pee bottles - I'll mention them later - and a phenomenon called Cheyne-Stoking which is where you actually stop breathing when you're asleep. The latter is again a sign of altitude sickness. I experienced it on quite a few nights higher up the valley. You just stop breathing but the need to clear the carbon dioxide from your lungs starts you again. The first breath often can't get enough oxygen in because of the altitude and thin air but you're fine after the next breath and you just go back to sleep again. You do need to listen for your tent partner having this problem. I hope this doesn't panic you about altitude but its something you need to be aware of as you will probably encounter at least one of the symptoms if you go to the altitude we were intending to reach.
Back to lighter things.
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Dan, Katrina, Grahame & Robin
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View up the Hinku valley
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 Me rounding the rock outcrop on the log
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 Clouds coming up the Hinku valley
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Dan, Lambabu & Katrina coming up the Hinku valley
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Lunchtime - Becky, Ewan, Grahame, Katrina & Gombu
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 Lunchtime - Dan
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Teahouse & Gompa - Robin, Gombu, Becky, Lambabu, Katrina & Grahame
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Grahame, Robin & Katrina entering Tagnak
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Camp at Tagnak
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 Camp at Tagnak
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 Avalanche debris at Tagnak |
Day 13 - Thursday 27th October
- Today is another acclimatisation day - no - I didn't say rest day. Grahame was
feeling a lot better today and over
breakfast we discussed the timetable for the day. Robin would stay in the camp
with Grahame and take him for a gentle stroll up the valley to check him
out. Meanwhile, we would go with Gombu and Galzin up to the top of the ridge to
the west of the village - just to keep us in trim. I felt like one of the Grand
Old Duke of York's men with Gombu as the Duke:
The Grand Old Duke of York
he had 10,000 men
he marched them up to the top of the hill
and he marched them down again
- well that was us. Yet again though, fantastic views up and across the valley. We could clearly see where the glacial lake had burst its dam and the line of the destruction. I gather this place is a fairly common stop off and climb for other treks as part of their acclimatisation policies.
We
got back to camp in the early afternoon and were greatly relieved to hear that
Grahame was fine. We had a late lunch and then just lounged around in camp. Dan
went off to find a village loo instead of using the toilet tent and returned a
short while later with a smile on his face and a rather graphic tale about his
experience. Katrina gave him a bit of earache for being too graphic with his
description! I went later in the day and he wasn't exaggerating! Hope that
doesn't put you off too much but village toilets (if you can find one) are
definitely to be avoided if at all possible.
Mid afternoon the rest of the other trekker's party arrived and pitched their tents. I've no idea if they made the summit or not. They all looked weary and unkempt - they probably thought the same about us. They didn't have any porters with them and were carrying all their own gear. They all cooked their own food on small gas stoves and disappeared to bed very early.
 Gombu with the former glacial lake behind |
 View up the Hinku valley |
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Diary Days 1-3 | 4-5 | 6-7 | 8-10 | 14-16 | 17-19 | 20-end
The Cherem Development Project
All contents copyright of Bob Hancock
