Well for anybody that hasn't heard Bangkok is a mess and I'm supposed to be flying there today, right now in fact I should be seated on a Thai Airways flight winging my way towards the "land of smiles." Instead I'm sitting in Thamel doing a blogpost. A few days ago anti-government protestors stormed Bangkok's international airport and closed it down. It's still closed and will remain closed at least through tomorrow. I'm on a waiting list with the airlines for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, on Wednesday I have a confirmed reservation. So I have no idea when I might be getting home. Well at least Kathmandu is a really cheap town to be stuck in.
Yesterday I went to Durbar Square and to Swayambunath (the monkey temple). Durbar Square was interesting, it has some of the oldest building in Kathmandu and a lot of very intricate woodwork. I went up to Swayambunath just before sunset and walked around the stupa and a few of the other shrines. The view from Swayambunath looks out across all of Kathmandu, or at least all of it that can be seen through the smog. Its a beautiful place. The monkeys are pretty entertaining as well. I watched one monkey snatch a candy sucker out of a kids hand before he could even get it to his mouth.
I have no idea how much longer I'll be here, at least through tomorrow. I'm hoping to be back in Anchorage early in the week, but there's really no way to tell right now.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Whitewater Rafting on the Bhote Khosi
We just got back from a two day rafting trip on the Bhote Kosi river. We had a lot of fun. The river has class IV and V rapids on it. Because its late in the season for rafting the water was pretty low and there were a lot of rocks. We left Kathmandu on the first day and drove about three hours to the first put in. We floated down the river and through several class III rapids. The water was not as cold as rafting in Alaska, but it wasn't very much warmer either. We stopped for lunch along the river and shared our lunch spot with a group of curious cows.
After lunch things got more interesting. Coming into one of the bigger rapids on that secton of river our raft went into a rock, got pinned there and flipped over sideways dumping most of us into the water. The current sucked me under the boat and through the wrong side of the rapid. I popped out of the first rapid and floated on downstream through a few other waves. The other boat came floating by upside down. Apparently my boat was still stuck on the rock and the other boat had flipped on another rapid, so there were about a dozen of us floating down the river. The safety kayakers gathered up some folks and the rest of us climbed onto the over-turned boat and paddled it to shore. Eventually they got the boat I was in unstuck and we regrouped on the bank. No big deal, lets keep going. Some of the other folks were pretty shaken up and two dropped out for the following day. I managed to get thrown out of the boat once more that day but after the ride I'd taken earlier it wasn't a big deal.
We spent the night at the Borderlands Resort. It was a nice place right on the river with beautiful waterfalls coming down from high on the mountainsides. We put in on the upper Bhote Kosi aound 10:30 in the morning. The second day runs more challenging sections of the river. There were definitely some nervous faces in the group before we set off. We floated downstream through some pretty good rapids before stopping for lunch. After lunch we got our boat broadsided on a rock maybe 10 yards from the lunch spot. The boat got pinned against the rock and wrapped around it. Brian fell off the front of the boat and got to go down through a few nice waves before one of the kayakers got to him. The rest of us were stuck on the half of the raft that was out of the water, the left side of the raft was totally swamped. The other guides came back up the river bank to us and threw us a couple ropes. We secured the boat with one (although it was pretty secure against that rock) and used the other to get people off the raft. They would slide off the raft and into the water and then the rope would swing them with the current into shore. Everyone else got off the raft but the guide asked if I would stay and help him get the raft unstuck. We tried a few more useless things before breaking out a rope and a few pulleys to set up a hauling system on the bank. Once the guides rigged the ropes and started pulling they managed to tear three of the sewn D rings off the boat. We rerigged the system to try to flip the raft over. After a few tries we managed to flip the raft and the guide and I dove onto the inverted raft as it drifted by. The rope system swung us over to the shore. We packed up the gear and got back on the water. The rest of the trip down was pretty straight forward. Brian managed to get popped out again, we were both sitting up front where there isn't much to hook your feet under to keep you in the boat. The guides took the rafts through two class V rapids, but the clients all had to walk around. The rapids didn't look too bad but a swim in the middle would probably kill you. When the water is higher they can run those rapids because its less likely you would flip with the rocks deeper underwater. We finished off the day with a 3 hour bus ride back to Kathmandu and most of our boat went out to dinner together.
Just a few days left in Kathmandu. I'm trying to see some more of the sights before I leave. I've had a great time over here, but its just about time to be moving on.
After lunch things got more interesting. Coming into one of the bigger rapids on that secton of river our raft went into a rock, got pinned there and flipped over sideways dumping most of us into the water. The current sucked me under the boat and through the wrong side of the rapid. I popped out of the first rapid and floated on downstream through a few other waves. The other boat came floating by upside down. Apparently my boat was still stuck on the rock and the other boat had flipped on another rapid, so there were about a dozen of us floating down the river. The safety kayakers gathered up some folks and the rest of us climbed onto the over-turned boat and paddled it to shore. Eventually they got the boat I was in unstuck and we regrouped on the bank. No big deal, lets keep going. Some of the other folks were pretty shaken up and two dropped out for the following day. I managed to get thrown out of the boat once more that day but after the ride I'd taken earlier it wasn't a big deal.
We spent the night at the Borderlands Resort. It was a nice place right on the river with beautiful waterfalls coming down from high on the mountainsides. We put in on the upper Bhote Kosi aound 10:30 in the morning. The second day runs more challenging sections of the river. There were definitely some nervous faces in the group before we set off. We floated downstream through some pretty good rapids before stopping for lunch. After lunch we got our boat broadsided on a rock maybe 10 yards from the lunch spot. The boat got pinned against the rock and wrapped around it. Brian fell off the front of the boat and got to go down through a few nice waves before one of the kayakers got to him. The rest of us were stuck on the half of the raft that was out of the water, the left side of the raft was totally swamped. The other guides came back up the river bank to us and threw us a couple ropes. We secured the boat with one (although it was pretty secure against that rock) and used the other to get people off the raft. They would slide off the raft and into the water and then the rope would swing them with the current into shore. Everyone else got off the raft but the guide asked if I would stay and help him get the raft unstuck. We tried a few more useless things before breaking out a rope and a few pulleys to set up a hauling system on the bank. Once the guides rigged the ropes and started pulling they managed to tear three of the sewn D rings off the boat. We rerigged the system to try to flip the raft over. After a few tries we managed to flip the raft and the guide and I dove onto the inverted raft as it drifted by. The rope system swung us over to the shore. We packed up the gear and got back on the water. The rest of the trip down was pretty straight forward. Brian managed to get popped out again, we were both sitting up front where there isn't much to hook your feet under to keep you in the boat. The guides took the rafts through two class V rapids, but the clients all had to walk around. The rapids didn't look too bad but a swim in the middle would probably kill you. When the water is higher they can run those rapids because its less likely you would flip with the rocks deeper underwater. We finished off the day with a 3 hour bus ride back to Kathmandu and most of our boat went out to dinner together.
Just a few days left in Kathmandu. I'm trying to see some more of the sights before I leave. I've had a great time over here, but its just about time to be moving on.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
A Bandh in Kathmandu
Brian and I made it back to Kathmandu yesterday morning after wrangling a flight out of Lukla on a different airline than we had tickets on. We landed back in Kathmandu to find the city in upheaval. Apparently two younger guys were killed about a month ago and their bodies just turned up earlier this week. The Maoists are blamed for the killings and since the Maoists control the government, people are blaming the government. So in protest of the lack of investigation into the killings there is a city wide bandh or strike. Nearly all of the shops are closed today. The only place where much of anything is open is the tourist district where I am staying. Its not a dangerous situation just very different from what I'm used to seeing. It took us an hour to get to the guesthouse from the airport because protestors were blocking main roads with burning tires. The ride should have taken 10 or 15 minutes. Because everything is closed a lot of people are out walking the streets, just kind of checking things out. Foreigners and Nepalis are just out for a stroll to see whats going to happen. The atmosphere doesn't feel hostile at all, especially being a foreigner I feel pretty insulated from whats going on.
We were planning on being in Kathmandu for just a day or two but its looking like it may be a bit longer than that depending on how long the strike lasts. I doubt if it will last for more than a few days. I'll probably post again in the next day or two especially if we are stuck in Kathmandu for a few days.
We were planning on being in Kathmandu for just a day or two but its looking like it may be a bit longer than that depending on how long the strike lasts. I doubt if it will last for more than a few days. I'll probably post again in the next day or two especially if we are stuck in Kathmandu for a few days.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Namche Again
I'm back in Namche again, still trying to beat this lousy chest cold I've been fighting. Every time I go back up to altitude it gets worse so I'm hanging out in Namche for a few days until I can get it sorted out. Brian is still up valley in Gokyo and will probably join me here in a day or two.
The trek that we did was pretty impressive. We went up the valley to the west of Namche through Thame. This valley doesn't have any really huge peaks in it so very few trekkers head up there. For us it was great to escape the crowds that flock towards Everest Base Camp. We spent two days hiking up this valley and then crossed over a pass called Renjo La into the Gokyo valley. Climbing up to Renjo La took about six hours and was over 1000m of elevation gain. The trail up to the pass was mostly stone steps, thousands of never ending stone steps. I was exhausted when I finally reached the pass, but the view was incredible. I think that the view of Everest from Renjo La is one of the best anywhere. All of the other views we had gotten of Everest so far were of just the peak barely peaking above the Lhotse face. The view from Renjo La really put the mountain in perspective. From Renjo La we were far enough away from the mountain to really appreciate its immense size. I can't wait to put up the pictures when I get back. The descent down to Gokyo was steep but the views were great the whole way. Gokyo sits right on a beautiful alpine lake. The lake is a bright blue color, just incredible.
I hiked down to Namche from Gokyo yesterday in hopes of finally beating this chest cold. I'm just hanging out in Namche until I get better or Brian arrives and we decide to head down further. This means I've got some time on my hands so I'll try to post again in a day or so.
Hope everyone is doing well. Just a couple weeks until I'm back in Alaska.
The trek that we did was pretty impressive. We went up the valley to the west of Namche through Thame. This valley doesn't have any really huge peaks in it so very few trekkers head up there. For us it was great to escape the crowds that flock towards Everest Base Camp. We spent two days hiking up this valley and then crossed over a pass called Renjo La into the Gokyo valley. Climbing up to Renjo La took about six hours and was over 1000m of elevation gain. The trail up to the pass was mostly stone steps, thousands of never ending stone steps. I was exhausted when I finally reached the pass, but the view was incredible. I think that the view of Everest from Renjo La is one of the best anywhere. All of the other views we had gotten of Everest so far were of just the peak barely peaking above the Lhotse face. The view from Renjo La really put the mountain in perspective. From Renjo La we were far enough away from the mountain to really appreciate its immense size. I can't wait to put up the pictures when I get back. The descent down to Gokyo was steep but the views were great the whole way. Gokyo sits right on a beautiful alpine lake. The lake is a bright blue color, just incredible.
I hiked down to Namche from Gokyo yesterday in hopes of finally beating this chest cold. I'm just hanging out in Namche until I get better or Brian arrives and we decide to head down further. This means I've got some time on my hands so I'll try to post again in a day or so.
Hope everyone is doing well. Just a couple weeks until I'm back in Alaska.
Friday, November 7, 2008
The Biggest Mountains
We arrived back in Namche yesterday afternoon. A lot has happened since I was able to post last, I'll try to back up and at least get all the highlights in.
We left Namche a couple weeks ago and headed up valley toward Tengboche and Island Peak. We stayed the first night in Pangboche and then moved on to Dingboche the next day. The mountain views just got better each day, as we left Namche we had great views of Everest, Lhotse and Ama Dablam. Eventually we passed right below Ama Dablam and up the valley on the north side of the mountain. Island Peak is bordered on the north side by the Lhotse Face, one of the tallest mountain faces in the world and to the south is Ama Dablam. We reached Base Camp in just a few days and took one rest day before attempting the peak. Our acclimatization was good and we didn't have any problems with altitude sickness on the route. It was strange camping on dirt at 17,000 ft. Things are definitely a little different here. The climb was pretty straight forward with minimal technical difficulties. We left camp around 3AM and got to the top about 10AM. I was feeling pretty sick, but it wasn't the altitude. I came down with a pretty bad chest cold that knocked me out for a couple of days. The altitude and cold dry air just seemed to make it even worse. At least I was still able to climb Island Peak. The view from the top was incredible, huge mountains as far as I could see in every direction. I'll post some pictures when I get back to the states.
After Island Peak we descended to Dingboche where I spent a couple of days recovering from my cold. We left Island Peak just in time as large guided groups arrived and quickly over ran the small base camp. I've got a great picture of a dozen yellow tents surrounding my small green tent. They set up so closely that the porter pounding in stakes for one of the tents poked a hole in my tent. I was less than pleased but laughed it off since there wasn't much I could do and we were leaving later that day anyways. After a couple days in Dingboche I was feeling better so we moved up to Lobuche East Basecamp. This camp was much more to our liking since we were the only ones there. We had dragged a bunch of ice climbing gear up the mountain with us but we talked to a couple of guys coming down from the top who told us the summit ridge was extremely loose, unconsolidated snow. So we left the useless ice gear we had lugged halfway around the world in camp. The climbing was more technical than on Island Peak, but not too hard. It started with some fun rock scrambling up through a series of rock bands then onto steeper snow and finally a steep and exposed snow arete. The arete topped out on the summit ridge. The true summit is along the ridge a little ways, across a deep notch and a corniced subsidiary summit. We passed on both of these because of the poor snow conditions and sat on the first summit for over an hour taking in the views. Across the valley loomed Everest, Nuptse, and the Lhotse Face. Up valley was Pumori and further away Cho Oyu. Such incredible mountains, the weather was crystal clear and dead calm so we just sat up there for awhile and tried to soak it all in. Finally we started the descent. Just above the rock bands I saw a couple of other folks down below us, as I got closer I realized it was our porters. Our porters were supposed to be in Dughla, a small village at the foot of the peak. They weren't supposed to come up to our camp until the following day, and they certainly weren't supposed to be at 18,500 ft on the mountain. Apparently they had gotten bored in Dughla and decided to come pay us a visit, finding our camp empty they had headed up the mountain to see how high they could go. No ropes, crampons, ice axes, plastic boots or any other climbing gear, they had my two ski poles between the three of them, thats it. Brian and I gave them our ice axes to help with the descent and by some miracle we made it back to the dirt without any of them taking a major spill. I still get a good laugh thinking about how ridiculous it was, I got some great pictures of that.
We descended to Dughla that night and then got to Namche yesterday. This morning we said goodbye to our porters and sent them on their way. Brian and I are planning to leave on a 10 or 12 day trek tomorrow morning up the Thame valley across Renjo Pass, down to Gokyo and then across Cho La and back into the Khumbu Valley before returning to Namche. It will be nice to hike without all of our climbing gear and without trying to explain to our porters that we don't really have a plan, we're just taking it one day at a time.
I hope everyone is doing well. I'm having an incredible time in Nepal. Hard to believe that my trip is more than half over. Its so great to wake up each morning and know that all I have to do is go hiking or climbing all day. The good life.
We left Namche a couple weeks ago and headed up valley toward Tengboche and Island Peak. We stayed the first night in Pangboche and then moved on to Dingboche the next day. The mountain views just got better each day, as we left Namche we had great views of Everest, Lhotse and Ama Dablam. Eventually we passed right below Ama Dablam and up the valley on the north side of the mountain. Island Peak is bordered on the north side by the Lhotse Face, one of the tallest mountain faces in the world and to the south is Ama Dablam. We reached Base Camp in just a few days and took one rest day before attempting the peak. Our acclimatization was good and we didn't have any problems with altitude sickness on the route. It was strange camping on dirt at 17,000 ft. Things are definitely a little different here. The climb was pretty straight forward with minimal technical difficulties. We left camp around 3AM and got to the top about 10AM. I was feeling pretty sick, but it wasn't the altitude. I came down with a pretty bad chest cold that knocked me out for a couple of days. The altitude and cold dry air just seemed to make it even worse. At least I was still able to climb Island Peak. The view from the top was incredible, huge mountains as far as I could see in every direction. I'll post some pictures when I get back to the states.
After Island Peak we descended to Dingboche where I spent a couple of days recovering from my cold. We left Island Peak just in time as large guided groups arrived and quickly over ran the small base camp. I've got a great picture of a dozen yellow tents surrounding my small green tent. They set up so closely that the porter pounding in stakes for one of the tents poked a hole in my tent. I was less than pleased but laughed it off since there wasn't much I could do and we were leaving later that day anyways. After a couple days in Dingboche I was feeling better so we moved up to Lobuche East Basecamp. This camp was much more to our liking since we were the only ones there. We had dragged a bunch of ice climbing gear up the mountain with us but we talked to a couple of guys coming down from the top who told us the summit ridge was extremely loose, unconsolidated snow. So we left the useless ice gear we had lugged halfway around the world in camp. The climbing was more technical than on Island Peak, but not too hard. It started with some fun rock scrambling up through a series of rock bands then onto steeper snow and finally a steep and exposed snow arete. The arete topped out on the summit ridge. The true summit is along the ridge a little ways, across a deep notch and a corniced subsidiary summit. We passed on both of these because of the poor snow conditions and sat on the first summit for over an hour taking in the views. Across the valley loomed Everest, Nuptse, and the Lhotse Face. Up valley was Pumori and further away Cho Oyu. Such incredible mountains, the weather was crystal clear and dead calm so we just sat up there for awhile and tried to soak it all in. Finally we started the descent. Just above the rock bands I saw a couple of other folks down below us, as I got closer I realized it was our porters. Our porters were supposed to be in Dughla, a small village at the foot of the peak. They weren't supposed to come up to our camp until the following day, and they certainly weren't supposed to be at 18,500 ft on the mountain. Apparently they had gotten bored in Dughla and decided to come pay us a visit, finding our camp empty they had headed up the mountain to see how high they could go. No ropes, crampons, ice axes, plastic boots or any other climbing gear, they had my two ski poles between the three of them, thats it. Brian and I gave them our ice axes to help with the descent and by some miracle we made it back to the dirt without any of them taking a major spill. I still get a good laugh thinking about how ridiculous it was, I got some great pictures of that.
We descended to Dughla that night and then got to Namche yesterday. This morning we said goodbye to our porters and sent them on their way. Brian and I are planning to leave on a 10 or 12 day trek tomorrow morning up the Thame valley across Renjo Pass, down to Gokyo and then across Cho La and back into the Khumbu Valley before returning to Namche. It will be nice to hike without all of our climbing gear and without trying to explain to our porters that we don't really have a plan, we're just taking it one day at a time.
I hope everyone is doing well. I'm having an incredible time in Nepal. Hard to believe that my trip is more than half over. Its so great to wake up each morning and know that all I have to do is go hiking or climbing all day. The good life.
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