Top of the World!

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Top of the World! Jane Loughnan It was a toss-up between Nepal and the West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island to meet an old friend from the UK. Somehow Nepal seemed a lot more exotic and exciting SO that's where we arranged to go trekking. hadl been to Nepal 8 years ago and instead of trekking The next morning we briefly saw the mountains, butt by as planned, I got dengue fever SO I spent 6 weeks in around mid-morning they were clouded over. This was Kathmandu far away from any mountains. The city had quite a big day; we crossedi many: swingbridges that make changed a lot over those 8 years loads more people, the Walls Whare one look like a bambino! Most of the cars, motorbikes, tuk-tuks and Westerners. Nepal has a bridges were actually quite new, but we'd heard travelreally alarming birthrate and that was obvious by the amount lers' tales about yaks andl bridges we were on alert! We ofp poverty that was all around us. Despite this, Nepal is a crossed into thel Everest National Park anditreally seemed wonderful country and almost uniquei in the way twor reli- like we were on our way! At the spot where the guidegions live side by side in harmony some ofits neigh- book said we could see Mt Everest there was only cloud, bours should take note. but there's always tomorrow. Next came the climb into It was a bit of a shock getting to 30° heat in Kathmandu Namche. Now, there are climbs, then there are climbs at after leaving Wellington in about 8°! Not an unpleasant altitude! figuredly was in a reasonable state of fitness but transition though! We weres slightlyinsulatedi from thel heat when you can'tl tbreathe, you just can't breathe! Namche as we stayed at the rather western Kathmandu Guest is about 3,400m and I was glad to get there! My 15kg House more than I would usually pay, but hey, on a pack suddenly felt like 50kg! two-week holiday it wasn't going to break the bank. We spent a couple of days at Namche acclimatising. Kathmandu is chaotic, just like anydeveloping country, The views we got of Everest and Lhotse were spectacular. and the airport was no exception. Thet toilets were about a I think there is something really special about being SO billion times worse than Moa Point ever used to be! close to the world's highest mountain and being a Kiwi Their method of announcing flights was interesting = too, adds something extra. someone would stand at the door andy yell! We did eventu- As Namchei is on a hydro-electricity scheme we weren't ally get they yell I our Royal Nepal Airlines flight to Lukla. as isolated as we might have hoped! They have Sky TV, When thel bus pulled up next tot the plane, after going past solar telephones and pool tables! al helicopter graveyard, we were a bit worried - the 20- The route out of Namche to Gokyo, our ultimate destiseater plane didn'tlookl like it could even take off empty, nation, is pretty much following a river up the valley once let alone with about 13 Western trekkers and their lug- we'd got over the pass at Mong which is about 4,000m gage! On embarking we were: given a lollie and some cot- and one of the many places that wanted to diei in! We'd ton wool. Surprisingly enough we got airborne and the chosen to go this route rather than to Base Camp for a first part of the flight was pretty spectacular; we could few reasons, the most compelling being that it is less finally see those mountains thatv twe'dcome SO fari to see! trekked than the Base Camp side. This proved to be so Above the clouds the peaks twinkled in the sun they we only saw about 4 other trekkers until we got to Gokyo, looked awesome! Then as often happens during the some 4 days later. monsoon the clouds took over and we didn't see a lot of Going up the valley, our main beacon (when we could the mountains after that. The approach to Lukla airport see it!) was Cho Oyu, which is just on the border with can only be described as unbelievable! There was a run- Tibet. It is supposed to be the easiest 8,000m peak to way that was nothing moret than a dirt strip, going up-hill, climb if you'rei into that sort of thing - I'm not! which looked SO small that surely we weren't going to As we climbed higher thel landscape became more barland there? But we did - safely! ren and the temperatures cooler. Its still rained most after- Here wel were in Lukla I let the trekking begin! There noons, but early mornings were stunning and the best are only two ways to get to Lukla: walk or fly, andit was timet for mountain gazing. an interesting feeling of isolation that we felt. I had my didn'tacclimatise all that well and was really grateful new MACPAC Torre pack on, and at 15kg it didn't seem too that the distances between villages weren't great, but the heavy then! Lukla is at 2,800m and you actually have to altitude gain was. We stuck by the 400m rule where we lose altitude to get out of there. I only noticed that we never slept moret than 400m higher than the previous night. droppedout off Lukla on thel last day when wel had to climb This didn'thelp me a lot though, with the constant breaththel hill that never seemed to end. lessness! Wel leftl Lukla ata a veryl leisurely pace. Unfortunately we We walked up to thel head of the valley and over the could only see down the valley as the clouds had really pass. Itwas likel being transported to another planet! The closed in, hiding the mountains from view. The first night terrain up here wasj just rock, snow, water and glacier. I wes spent at Phakding, aj pretty non-descript kind of village am not surel how the yaks found any food to graze on that had a few trekkers there. Ther rain was torrential that it didn'tseem like anything grew up there. The glacial lakes afternoon but we managed to miss it. of Gokyo are a sight to behold; they really are magnificent. Tramping and Mountaineering 1999

But I don't know how cold they are as I wasn't brave The next day we started our journey back down the enough to test them out! valley. We chose to go back the same way we'dcomet up Gokyo is at 4,800m and was not feeling very well at as we'd stayed in some nice lodges that we wanted to reall when we arrived there. Even a bowl of potato soup visit. didn'thelp - finally a diamox did thoughtiwasn'tgoing After we left Namche we encountered hundreds of porto walk for sO many days and miss the most spectacular ters carrying 50kg-plus loads to take to the Saturday marpartof the trip! ket. This form of "slavery" upset me quite a lot, butl had It was bloody freezing in Gokyo. The first night we to consider that at least these men and women got paid spent therei its snowed for their human labour. which didn'ts surprise We both had carried me. As with many faour own packs the mous mountains, the whole way, and I felt guidebooks say you some sense ofs satisfacshould be at the top tion in doing this. for sunrise. I knew The monsoon was that Iwouldn't make almost at an end, it for sunrise and we which also signalled let all the 4.30am startthe start of the trekers go ahead. Wel left king season. On our to walk up Gokyo Ri last 2 days we saw (peak) at about 5am 200-300 trekkers and it was really cold headinginto thel Park. noth helpedt byt freez- Most of them were ing feet that had got part of large trekking wet in the glacial fed groups with porters, stream that we'd guides and yaks. We crossed. It was more were glad to be leavbearable once thes sun ing. had warmed us. I The trip back to wasn't sure howlwas Lukla only took 3 days ever going to make it from Gokyo. Suddenly to the top. Icould see on the second to last where we had to walk day I could walk up a to and it may as well hill ands still be able to have been a million breathe at the same miles away -I didn't time - typical! think I could do it. What we had seen Every 40 steps (yep, I in thel Khumbu Valley counted them!) and was truly special. The sometimes (read of- Sherpa people with ten) less, I had to sit their quiet ways and down andl have a rest. devout Bhuddist cul- I think I had the bigture were pretty spegest battle ever with cial too. The lack of myself about gettingt to trekkers in the valley the top; 99.9% of me Cloud clearing to reveal Mt Everest Jane Loughnan was an added bonus. wanted to turn back The trip back from and the other 0.1% Lukla to Kathmandu was urging me on! was always going to be lam proud to say that sanity won over; I kept going interesting as we both had less than 24 hours before our and made it toi thet topi in about 2 hours that seemedi like a respective connecting flights home! The Royal Nepal Airlifetime. Something inside me kept me going and it was line plane we were: supposed to be on turned back with such a magnificent view that it was all worthwhile. felt "technical difficulties". - don't think the engineers were likel I was standing on top of the world -I could almost working that year in Lukla! We had to buy a ticket on touch Everest! Weweres surrounded: 360 degrees by moun- another airline, and of course ours was the last plane to tains and glaciers. We were treated to a cloud show as get there and we left in extremely marginal conditions well with clouds rolling upthe valley, but we were above it completely surrounded by clouds. Thet flight to Kathmandu at. 5,400m SO only the peaks were visible. After a couple was non-eventful except for the smelly monk behind me! ofhours of gob-smacking views we decided to gobackt to The secondwel landedi in Kathmandui it was back to chaos! Gokyo. slept for the rest of the day andi it was only 10am! The trek was over! Tramping and Mountaineering 1999