Climbing around the world

Although our materials have arrived, they are not being transported to MBC yet. It seems that the earliest possibility to transport it will be tomorrow. This implies we stay 2 more days in Samagaon.
Today, Pemba and I hiked up to Pungen to acclimatise. There is a pretty steep path next to a spectacular river/water fall, that we climbed at 400+ m/h, leading to a vast plain at ~ 4050 m.

There were semi-wild horses, yaks and eagles. At the end of the plain there is a monastery and halfway there was a farm. Pemba asked whether they could make us tea, but the ladies were too busy with drying hay.

Instead of tea, she offered us a bowl of fresh yak curd, which was very good. We hiked to the monastery but didn’t find anybody there. The views were superb. On the way back, Pemba bought a liter of curd from the farmers in his Nalgeene bottle. When he wanted to pay, she had no change so we told her to keep it. She refused, we insisted etc. Finally it was accepted, but she then insisted to make us tea. We drank several cups of salty butter tea and then hiked back to the lodge.

Yesterday, we hiked from Samdo to Samagaon (3538 m), only 8 km and mainly downhill, so we arrived within 2 h. Although just a short distance, I couldn’t have done it on the same day that we crossed Larkya La, which was 24 km already with a significant part above 5000 m.

Over the past days we have essentially hiked a great right-turn around Manaslu, close to the Tibetan border. Occasionally, I had a glance of Manaslu, like in Bhimthang, where you can see the northface of the mountain, and Pemba pointed out where we would build our camps. Here in Samagaon, you can glimse the eastface although the mountain is in the clouds most of the time (it’s very foggy here, if not raining). My acclimatisation seems to go well, apparently the strategy (climbing to 4000+ m and sleeping at ~3700 m twice, followed by climbing to 5100+ m and sleeping at ~3850 m) works well. I had no single sign of altitude sickness or dizziness at 5000+ m and last night my heart rate dropped to 47 bpm while sleeping.

Samagaon is the most northern village in this region and has elecricity and even internet (if the sun shines since it operates on solar energy). Yesterday, our supplies arrived, so I have my own sleeping-bag again ! We intend to stay here for another two days since the logistics for getting the stuff to Manaslu Base Camp (MBC) are still being sorted out.
This morning, I was woken up with a lot of noise at sun rise as sherpas started sorting out the materials for MBC just outside my room. After Tibetan bread and cheese omelet (my favourite breakfast) Pemba and I went for a touristic tour. At the centre of Samagaon a barren of mules was being packed with supplies for MBC I also met Mingma, the sherpa who will be responsible for our logistics. Pemba and I passed a large monastery climbing up to Birendra Tal (tal means lake) from where you can see the track up to MBC. On the way up, Pemba did his first good deed of the day by helping an old lady setting up her flag-pole. On the way down Pemba took me to a shabby house, where we sat in the kitchen. Pemba did his second good deed by re-kindling the fire, after which the lady of the house made us the local specialty: salty butter tea. I could watch the entire process, including the addition of half a handful brown salt. Tibetan salt, Pemba assured me very special! From its looks it contained at least a dozen rare earths, but the salty butter tea actually tasted very good. [It took me several days to convince Pemba that I don’t want sugar in my coffee, nor in my black tea, not even in my lemon tea… he only got it when I pointed out that he puts honey on his Tibetan bread while I put salt on it].

After pizza for lunch, we went on the second touristic trip. We walked down the valley to the next settlement, Shyala, via a couple of suspension bridges over waterfalls. Unfortunately, it rained almost all the time. However, the trip was most certainly worth the effort as we spotted a syala (jakhal)) just outside the old gate of Shyala.

5 sep 2021 – 16:00
Lat: 28.650316 Lon: 84.633286

Today is the longest trek of all: from Bhimthang (3708 m) to Samdo (3878 m) via Larkya La (5143 m). Until yesterday I was alone in Bhimthang but in the afternoon barrens of mules appeared. They carried the Base Camp supplies. Mules cannot be used over ~4000 m and indeed a bit later 2 dozen yaks arrived. At the same time groups of climbers started flocking in. A group of 8 Swiss & Austrians came to my lodge. Their sherpa asked: are you Peter, the fast guy? Apparently I am building a reputation again! It brings one advantage: I can sit with the sherpas in the kitchen around the fire. While the cold restaurant was turned into a Biergarten, I re-enacted in the warm kitchen Van Gogh’s “potato eaters” as there was an enormous pan with potatoes and together with half a dozen sherpas I ate at least a dozen. This morning we got up at 4 am and left for Larkya La at a pretty high speed (>250 m/h up to 5140 m) and arrived as first group at Larke Phedi. A sherpa who just arrived, said: “you very strong, come to kitchen…” After coffee we continued to Larkya La, which turned out to be more of a plain than a pass. After we arrived at 5000 m, I thought we would be at the pass soon, but that was a few km further. The pass has a sign 5106 m, but my (calibrated) watch said 5143 m. I have an altimeter and 2 GPS, so I measured the altitude 3 times in triplicate. Altitudes varied from 5139 to 5145 m, and mean and median were equal, so assuming a Gaussian distribution, I assessed the altitude at 5143 m with a standard deviation < 0.5 m. After a long break we continued, there seemed to be no end to the pass. Altogether we were a couple of hrs above 5000 m.

The good news is that I got no headache or any other sign of high altitude sickness. Finally, we started descending, but our first planned stop, Dharmasal, was deserted. After a short break, Pemba and I rushed down to Samagaun. Samagaun is an actual village and has a nice lodge. Just waiting for Kazi and our luggage, he had the hardest job today. The 5 climbers who are on the same permit as I, arrived as well. The nicest thing about this lodge is that they have a ‘shower’. Drops of hot water, and the first warm water in 5 days…

4 sep 2021 – 11:30
Lat: 28.634245 Lon: 84.470765

Today got up late as we have a lazy day planned to acclimatise. At 8:45 h we left for Ponkar Lake at ~4050 m. Pemba & Kazi, no backpacks, rushed with 500+ (!) m/h up. It took me quite an effort to keep up with them, but my heart rate was still between 115 and 135 so still plenty reserve. It’s a holy lake and both Pemba and Kazi did their religious duties. When we climbed the slope above the hill, I got dizzy… so I must take care tomorrow passing Larkya La at 5106 m. Namgya told me that I should not worry about a little headache as once passed it will go steep down. We will probably leave early tomorrow morning.

2 Sep 2021 – 15:45
Lat 28.526602 Lon 84.361868

First stretch, from Karte – just south of Dharapani – via Tilche, where we had lunch, to Gowa, where we will stay overnight. In Tilche, I met Jill, from Thunderbay Canada, who is going to climb Manaslu as well. Jill is one of the fifteen climbers on our permit.

---

3 Sep 2021 – 13:45
Lat 28.634437 Lon 84.470809

Today 2nd stretch from Gowa to Bhimthang. We go very fast and overtake all other Manaslu teams so far. Jill stayed at Kharka. We passed her later and some others. Ulysses (Argentina), Sahil (UK), Stefan (S Africa), Hueti (Iceland) & Gabor (Hungary). They are all on the same permit as I. Kalchang, their sherpa, asked: Are you professional athlete, you go so fast and move on the rocks like dancer? We go very swiftly indeed and rather effortless. Pemba had another explanation. When we washed us up at a spring, sticking his little finger in the air: “We fast ‘cos all 3 same body, very thin”. We are beyond doubt the skinnyest team on the mountain so far. Bhimthang is nice. It’s located in a bowl of mountains, including Manaslu: if there are no clouds (which doesn’t happen often) you can see the northface of Manaslu. Pemba pointed out the places where we will be building our camps.

Pemba and I hiked along Ponkar glacier to 4050 m to acclimatise. We will stay 2 days in Bhimthang as we go too fast and our logistics team is still behind us. Next stop is Samdo, across Larkya La, a pass at 5106 m. Since that is quite high, acclimatising another day is good. Tomorrow we will hike to a nearby lake.

Yesterday evening, we around 20:30 h at our final destination for today: Karte, just south of Dharapani, the starting point of our trek.
Yesterday morning at 6:30 h Wongmu, Namgya, Pemba, and Kazi – a friend of Pemba who will be our porter. Wongmu took some stuff like my PC with her to keep it at home. We left Kathmandu around 7 h with a 4WD that proved quite essential as the road was pretty bad after the monsoon. It took us 7 hours to reach Besi Sahar, a distance of ~ 180 km. Halfway we had lunch in a small village. We changed car in Besi Sahar since beyond this point you can only use local drivers for economic reasons. Namgya went back and I stepped in the 4WD pick-up truck with Pemba and Kazi, and some other guy stepped also in the car. After a while a whole bunch of people climbed in the back apart from a lady with a baby who squeezed herself in the car. Subsequently, we had the wildest ride I have ever made, scarier than any ride in any attraction park. The only difference being that this one lasted 6 h to cover about 50 km. The road was actually more a dirt track that was washed away in many places. Small landslides were kind of fixed but at the big ones, with huge rocks on the way, we had to walk with our luggage through the mud to another car at the other side of the blocked part. In a kind of estafette we reached Dharapani, driving in the dark during the last 2 h which made it especially exciting…
This morning, I got up at 5:30 h to pack my stuff for today. Having noodles with eggs for breakfast and lots of coffee. Soon we will hike to Gowa, about 800 m higher than Karte.

This morning during breakfast Namgya messaged me that the permits were expected today and that we needed to get a PCR-test. We needed to go to HAMS (Hospital for Advanced Medicine & Surgery), the only hospital that is allowed to test foreigners. It was busy and social distancing seems an alien concept. After filling out a few forms and paying, we get another form and wait in line until we are called, get a test-tube and can walk to the swabbing booth. A lady siting in the booth behind a screen with two holes for her hands, swiftly takes swabs. The results should be ready in 6-8 hours. Pemba took me back to the hotel and we packed stuff that needs to go directly to Manaslu Base Camp.

Late afternoon Namgya called me that he had received the permit and that I needed to come over to finish the bottle of wine he had opened Sunday and that Wongmu would cook some dinner. When Pemba came to fetch me, I asked him to go by the nearby pastry shop to buy a big cake for Namgya’s family to celebrate. Namgya was still very busy arranging stuff when I arrived. Despite it was well more than 10 hours since we were tested, no results from the PCR had arrived. Namgya said that he had tried to reach the hospital but without success. As I suspected that a foreign request might get a bit more attention, I called HAMS and the operator kindly connected me to the COVID-test center. I explained the situation and they mailed our negative results straight away.

The main problem is the route we will follow. Basically, there are two itineraries possible (see: Manaslu 2021 – itinerary). The preferred route follows the western trail but is blocked at several places by landslides. In the end it is decided that the materials for Manaslu Base Camp will be send via the alternative route via the eastern trail, but that we will follow the western trail. So, tomorrow we will drive to Besi Sahar (a ~7 hour drive) and see there what the best options are to continue. If needed, we can go by helicopter across the blocked stretches it seems. Anyway, tomorrow at dawn, we hit the road !

Unfortunately, we haven’t received our permit to climb Manaslu yet. Although there are already 200+ climbers in Nepal, the minister of tourism hasn’t issued any permit for any mountain so far, but there is a lot of pressure on him and the latest news is that permits will be granted as per September 1st.

As a consequence, I’m stuck in Kathmandu for the moment. The Hyatt Regency is, although old and run-down, a pretty nice hotel and the gym and pool are open. Yesterday I went for a swim. However, there is a big sign that the pool is temporarily closed due to the covid-pandemic and there were 2 police man guarding the place. Since I had seen people swimming earlier, I asked one of the officers whether it was OK to swim, and he said it was no problem… It seems to be typical for the maintenance of corona rules in Nepal. Hopefully, they will be lenient with the climbing permits as well.

This morning, Namgya and I had planned to go for a hike at 5 AM, but as it was raining heavily we decided to postpone. Around 10:30 AM Pemba came to fetch me on his motor-cycle. He had a two-person raincoat and we drove (probably at half the speed he would normally drive) through the very busy traffic of Kathmandu while he was carefully trying to avoid holes in the road, puddles with muddy water, the occasional cow on the route, and all other traffic. I was glad when we arrived at Namgya’s new house… The place is beautiful, surrounded by green and very big. During the day family popped up from every corner of the house (in-laws, cousins and, to my surprise, even Namgya’s mother). Yangkeela and Tashi were pleased with the gifts I brought them and Wongmu had prepared an incredible nice lunch with dal bath and chicken, and – since Namgya knows I like potatoes – a lot of fried potatoes as well. After a copious lunch, Namgya took me for a hike just outside Kathmandu. For him Kathmandu is a village: he knows everyone and everyone knows him. We made a nice tour along three buddhist monasteries on the hill outside Kathmandu and – to my surprise – ran into Landuk, our cook from the Dutch Everest 2012 expedition. Of course, we sat down, drank lots of milk-tea, and memorised the past. Later we also ran into Dawa Finjok, who was with me when I summitted Everest in 2016. Namgya said I would meet him again tomorrow…

Due to the sitiuation with the delta variant of the corona-virus it remained uncertain, but last Friday the honorary consulate of Nepal in Amsterdam issued me a visa for Nepal and this Tuesday (24 August) I’ll be flying to Kathmandu !

More info on the expedition can be found here.

Since the Kangchenjunga 2020 Expedition was postponed twice, first to 2021 and then to 2022, the plan arose to climb Manaslu in the Fall of 2021 – basically as a ‘warming up” for Kangchenjunga 2022.