High on my list of future hiking destinations is the Indian Himalaya.
Good news on Gadling:
Adventure travelers were given even more incentive to travel to India recently when it was announced that the government would begin allowing access to previously restricted areas in the remote Jammu and Kashmir provinces. …
Backpackers will find plenty to love in this remote and stunningly beautiful region as well. High altitude passes and trails that have previously been off limits are now open to foreign travelers, including a route that leads to the village of Turtuk in the Nubra Valley. …
The author’s favourite trek is Markha Valley in Ladakh. I’d like to do some of the recently opened region on the same trip.
If interested, be sure you get the most recent edition. It’s great to see Lonely Planet updating their excellent trekking guidebooks.
I may even buy, for the first time, the PDF version. You can “Pick & Mix“, buying only the chapters you need. I’d put those on my iTouch for the trek rather than carrying paper.
The PDF version has free samples including the Table of Treks (PDF).
Now … when will independent hiking be allowed in Bhutan?
Jotunheimen (English: The Home of the Giants) is a mountainous area of roughly 3,500 km² in Southern Norway. Jotunheimen is a part of the long Scandinavian Mountains range. The 29 highest mountains in Norway are in Jotunheimen, including the very highest – Galdhøpiggen (2469 m). …
The Jotunheimen area contains the Jotunheimen National Park, ….
Jotunheimen is very popular among hikers and climbers, and the Norwegian Mountain Touring Association maintains a number mountain lodges in the area, as well as marked trails between the lodges and to some of the peaks. …
Hikers normally stay in cabins. Some of the popular trails out of Bessheim:
traildatabase.org - click for larger version
What about nearby Rondane?
Rondane National Park
… Rondane is a typical high mountain area, with large plateaus and a total of ten peaks above 2,000 m (6,560 ft). The highest point is Rondeslottet (“The Rondane Castle”) at an altitude of 2,178 m (7,146 ft). The lowest point is just below the tree line, which is approximately 1,000 to 1,100 m (about 3,300 to 3,600 ft) above sea level. The climate is mild but relatively arid.
Apart from the White Birch trees of the lower areas, the soil and rocks are covered by heather and lichen, since they lack nutrients. The largest mountains are almost entirely barren; above 1,500 m (5,000 ft) nothing but the hardiest lichens grow on the bare stones. …
It would be convenient to hike both these National Parks on one trip.
Wouldn’t it be great to take a long hike with one of the great legends of mountaineering, Sir Chris Bonington?
You can …
ANNAPURNA 2010
THE 50th ANNIVERSARY TRIP with SIR CHRIS BONINGTON
This very special trip is the 50th Anniversary of Sir Chris Bonington’s first ascent of Annapurna II and the 40th Anniversary of his assent of the South Face of Annapurna I. Travelling a very special route, Sir Chris will be joining us for the entire trek.
Trek Leader: Joe Bonington
Duration: 23 days (Kathmandu–Kathmandu)
Departing: 5th May 2010 (Very Limited Places – Enquire)
Price: £5,000
Likely the most expensive Annapurna trek ever sold. I’d LOVE to be there.
Renjo Lashould have been the last high alpine crossing on my Three Passes of Everest trek. … It starts with a steep climb from Gokyo over the ridge (5345m) at the top right corner of this photo:
A particularly grueling 10hr trek to Thame.
… Instead I turned south, deciding to end my trek as quickly as possible. I could make it to Namche from here in a long but easy walking day.
My 3 Passes route became a 2 Passes route. In the end, I did the lollypop loop in orange, skipping the Renja Pass in red.
Highlights of this day included 2nd Lake, Taujung Tsho …
… and the Brahminy ducks on Longponga Tsho, 1st Lake.
Nobody knows why these birds decided to make their home at such high altitude.
Gokyo Trek
Very quickly I left the snow behind.
The trail got busier and dustier as I descended.
I spotted a colourful male Himalayan Monal (Impeyan Pheasant), much less common than the female, it seemed to me.
Finally, large trees started providing some shade.
I awoke to this gorgeous view from Gokyo village 4790m (15,715ft).
The brown hill off to the right (in shadow) is Gokyo Ri (5360m). Famed for its view of four 8000m peaks, including Everest.
Here’s the world’s highest mountain from the top:
That’s not my photo. Actually I did not make the ascent because a guide had told me that the view en route to Renjo La, was identical. Renjo La would be the last alpine crossing on my Three Passes of Everest trek.
Instead I waited for the sun to come out while chatting with guests at Gokyo Resort.
The most interesting and entertaining was Doug Benn, Professor of Glaciology, teaching at University of St Andrews, UK and The University Centre in Svalbard, Norway.
This was Doug’s 6th trip to Gokyo. He and a number of researchers were taking measurements on the Ngozumpa Glacier, the largest in Nepal.
Diplomatically, Doug answered my questions about “Climate Change”. Al Gore is not measuring glacial retreat, Doug is.
Doug confirmed that all glaciers are retreating aside from 4 areas of the world. Climate is changing, as it has been changing since the beginning of the Earth. He wouldn’t speculate as to why. Or what could be done about it.
… Glaciers in many parts of the Himalayas have undergone significant shrinkage in the last century in response to climatic warming, which in some areas is occurring faster than the global average. Some of this warming is part of a natural climatic cycle, although over the last 50 years or so probably about half of the warming is attributable to human sources (greenhouse gases) …
Doug’s research was to get hard data on what is happening. His goal was to help people and nations better prepare for that change. He said that in every climate shift some species in some regions are winners, some are losers.
I took a leisurely off-trail hike along the crumbling moraine ridge north towards Tibet. Up to Thonak Tscho 4870m.
This one way side trip is called The Sacred Lakes of Gokyo. Six lakes are sacred to both Hindus and Buddhists.
The next, Ngozumpa Tscho, was groaning and moaning like some distressed beast. Weird. I tried to capture the sound on video, but it didn’t work. It was the sound of ice freezing.
The highlight of the day wasn’t the lakes, but rather my old friend Cho Oyu, the friendliest 8000+m peak. I got as close as I could.
Eleven years ago we did the same thing, walking towards Cho Oyu from the Tibet side. The summit is on the border. For me it was déjà vu all over again.
Two hikers from the U.K. and I walked as far as possible up the glacier, hoping we might even reach Cho Oyu base camp. That turned out to be impossible. Late in the afternoon, the Brits departed with haste, trying to get back to Gokyo before dark.
I stayed to climb this boulder, the obvious viewpoint at the very end of the normal trail. This was as close as you can get to Tibet without descending down to the glacier.
I left a Summit Stone on top. The next hiker to scramble up would find it.
… All day I’d had a feeling I should end this adventure soon. This seemed a suitable finale.
It was night by the time I got back to Gokyo. But by now I was getting used to stumbling into my lodge in the dark.
There are no tea houses. No restaurants. The Cho La is seriously dangerous. Often a guide, ice axes and ropes are needed. Yaks can only rarely cross.
I may not have been looking better, but I was feeling better after headache and some diarrhea the day before. (All I could stomach was Pringles, the first time I’d ever bought them.)
Actually, I awoke with a very stiff neck, a condition (cause unknown) that lingered for 2wks!
Departing Dzonghla the mountains look impassible.
High, steep and intensely glaciated.
Here’s the crux. Crossing the Cho La Glacier.
I waltzed across like it was a sidewalk.
The astonishing weather had encouraged many guides to bring their groups to cross the Pass today. There must have been 50 people eating lunch at the Cho La.
vista from Cho La (5420m)
The descent is a crappy scree scramble.
Everyone but me stopped in the next village, Tagnag (Dragnag). A charming, clean and well-organized stop.
Having lost a day to illness, I thought I’d push on to Gokyo on the other side of the Ngozumpa Glacier.
… How far could it be?
The torturous and exhausting traverse seemed to take forever. Crossing glaciers is by far the most difficult and dangerous thing hikers do in this region.
It was well after dark when I finally rolled into famed Gokyo 4790m (15,715ft).
After a long, cold night in the tent, I awoke with “mountaineer’s lassitude“:
… reluctance to put one foot in front of the other …
I’d first read of the condition in the mountaineering parody, The Ascent of Rum Doodle (1956), one of my favourite books.
I was sick again. The same stomach ailment I had on the first 2 days of the trek.
That’s the lateral moraine of the Khumbu Glacier. I first needed to trudge down. Then find a safe way across. Others had advised that it was no problem this season, … if the weather is good.
Fortunately, the weather remained perfect. There was not even snow blowing off the highest peaks!
It seemed to take a long time to reach Lobuche.
I stopped for lunch and to recharge my batteries at a restaurant. Then psyched up for the relatively short and easy walk to Dzonghla (Dzongla).
it was a pity I felt rotten. The weather was stupendous. And the scenery even better.
looking back to Ama Dablum
Late afternoon I finally reached the remote village. But I spent less time in the guesthouse restaurant than in here …
I crashed that evening without eating. And did not get up until Noon the next day.
Mid-day there was only myself and the Nepali National bird, the Himalayan Monal, wandering about the courtyard.
Everyone else had departed at first light over the Cho La, the most difficult of the Three Passes route.
I had a forced rest day. Standing around like this guy.
I heard plenty of warnings about the 9hr crossing. But in perfect weather … if you are already acclimatized to altitude, it’s only moderately difficult.
One of two access trails climbs quickly up and away from the Nuptse Glacier. And away from “teahouse trekking”. There are no facilities along the way. This is true high altitude wilderness.
I loved it.
It starts with an easy grassy valley walk. And ends in “… a lunar landscape of icy lakes and frozen ridges …”
Pokhalde Base Camp
I scrambled part way up a ridge of Pokalde Peak 5806m (19,048ft). As you can see, it’s not difficult.
This is not the route used by most trekking peak groups, however. (I didn’t want to get in trouble for not having a “trekking peak permit”.)
What a view from on high!
I lingered long at the pass 5535m (18,159ft), so late that I was the last trekker to cross that day.
The descent from the pass is the most difficult part of Kongma La … scrambling frozen loose scree for 2hrs Yuck.
I could have just barely made it down to the village of Lobuche before dark … but I’d heard bad things about those guest houses. Lobuche is a messy, littered place, the least appealing of any accommodation I saw in the Khumbu region.
besthike.com 