The AC Series: day 11

Date: Friday, June 29, 2012
Location: Larjung
Elevation: 2550m

looking backward from the pass

Peter and I saw some amazing mountains standing majestically above the clouds once we neared the top of the pass. He kept saying, "Come on, big money!" when cresting a hill, hoping that it was the top of the pass. I asked him to stop counting the number of false zeniths because it made the trek seem longer. Finally, after crossing rocky, hilly fields for a half hour I spot many prayer flags. That was it! We could see the highest point in the pass! I was breathing hard because of the very thin air and walking extremely slowly. Still, by our account, we were an hour faster than the expected three to the top.

Come on, big money!

At about 5400m, a mere 16m from the flags, I started to get a splitting headache. For someone who rarely gets them, it was an off and painful experience. It was the AMS [acute mountain sickness] kicking in. At least a headache was my only symptom -- no purple face, no slurred speech, no drunken walk. At that point it was better to sit, rest a minute, then continue over the pass than to return the way we came (the only cure for AMS is to descend to a lower altitude). We spent about 30 minutes taking photos, eating Snickers, taking photos for two schoolteachers from Colorado who had a guide and porter with them, and Peter doing handstand photos. I met a Nepalese guy going over the pass in the opposite direction with just a backpack and Converse high tops. He's a TV repairman who started out from Mukinath at 3am to make it over the pass during daylight. Crazy.

I half expected a welcoming committee to cheer us on at the top but it was just windy and quiet. A peak flanked both the north and south sides of the pass. We were were only able to get a view westward, with clouds blocking the eastern view behind us. There were many fenceposts covered in prayer flags and a locked hut. The sun shone brightly but it was cold, as to be expected at 3 1/3 miles into the atmosphere. We saw clouds below us that we had to descend into. It was a cool feeling to be at the highest elevation I'll probably ever stand at in my life, unless I return to tackle the EBC [Everest Base Camp] trail. I would've stayed up there all day if not for the headache and for fast-paced Peter urging me to get a move on. The way down was just shale-like rock for an hour with black poles marking the way. It's weird to think that there are feet and feet of snow in the winter so that trekkers need to use these distantly-spaced poles as their trail markers. Halfway down the mountain I started experiencing a new sensation: pain in my knees and quadriceps. Having hiked upward for so many days, these muscles did not have much use until the 1,600m altitude descent that day.

looking down from the pass into the clouds

We saw Dhaulagiri for the first time. It's perhaps the tallest mountain I'll ever lay eyes upon. SO MANY SUPERLATIVES.

At 12:30pm we walked into Mukinath, exhausted and sore from the long downhill. We stayed at the Bob Marley Hotel and feasted on bruschetta (tomatoes!) and yak meat sizzlers, with a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. The big day was over and I felt like the whole trek was finished. P had to remind me that we were only halfway there.

underneath the clouds again

Forgot to mention: two donkeys ran into me on the way down. Again. P's keeping count because these run-ins are absolutely hilarious to him. I don't get it.

donkeys

We slept in yesterday (Thursday) with the new problem of having too much time to kill and needing slow down our itinerary. We need to take it slowly or else we'll have too much time in Pokhara or Kathmandu at the end of our trip. We decided to hike from Mukinath to Jomsom instead of taking a Jeep, which it sounds like many people do. Off we went, taking the side trail to Lupra instead of the longer, drier, seemingly more arduous route through Kagbeni. The 200m uphill felt like nothing to our acclimated lungs and strong legs. Great views from the top of the ridge, including more of Dhaulagiri! The downhill to Lupra, we thought, would be easy going but it ended up being just like the descent from the day before: steep, slippery, long. I slipped twice in two minutes and scraped my palms.

Dhaulagiri

Near the bottom of the mountain we had to go over a riverbed and river. At any other time of the year the water would've been low but it was high enough to necessitate going barefoot through the water. P had the brilliant idea of throwing his shoes across the river before wading to the other side. One landed in the river; fortunately it was in a little gully and right side up, or else it would have floated down the rapids. Sometimes brilliant people are absolutely dumb. What would he have done if he lost that shoe? Doesn't common sense dictate that one carries his shoes in or on his backpack while walking across? I spent a lot of time peeling the toe socks from my blisters then drying my feet in the sun on the other side before re-shoeing.

In Lupra, P convinced me that it was a good idea to just eat a power bar and continue walking to Jomsom because "it's just an hour away." My ass it is. For the next four hours we crossed the river again, made our own trail up a mountainside, paralleled the riverbed on more anxiety-provoking landslide areas (I almost cried. Peter: "You're like a 'Nam vet with PTSD!"), nearly got blown over in 60+ mph winds at the bottom of the world's deepest valley, get sand blown into our faces, ford a few more rivers, hike in flop flops because I got tired of of taking my shoes on and off over my blisters, turned around and retraced the route for a few kilometers when found an impassable river flowing over the road...it was 5pm by the time we reached Jomsom. We stayed the Jimi Hendrix Hotel in the room that the man himself supposedly signed.

valley of hell

Wonder of wonders... Mike and Rob were there too! They crossed the pass that morning and took a Jeep to Jomsom. We haven't seen them since the Tilicho fiasco! Funny how coincidental things like that happen. Now I have their email addresses so we can meet up in Pokhara and/or Kathmandu for some adventure sporting.

Last night I checked my email and FB for the first time in nearly two weeks. It was a jolt back into the real world that I wans't ready for. It was nice, though, to brag a bit about doing Thorong La.

This morning P and I took longer to get ready and split up from the guys again. I was so tired from having an hour in the middle of the night of wakefulness, despite having slept for 9 or 10 hours anyway. We were uncomfortably hot while hiking for the first time in a week. We ran short on drinking water and P kept pushing until the next town instead of backtracking 30 minutes for a safe water station. We had lunch at a Tibetan refugee camp. We hiked up a 100m plateau to see a small town. We oohed and aahed at Nilgiri's peaks. We were intimidated by the dark clouds ahead (south) that look like the end of the world. We walked across the longest suspension bridge ever with dangerously high winds threatening to throw us pover the cables. Now we're at a B&B-esque teahouse in Larjung, awaiting another day.