Section 2 – Days 36 - 50
From Yangle Karka to Namche – the stretch we will never ever forget!
For many reasons- of course Khem’s tragic death is in the foreground of all memories of these past 15 days, but let me tell you the story of this truly epic section despite the overwhelming sadness that persists!
Philipp and Dirk arrived on April 4th and I had happy tears in eyes when I could finally embrace my dear brother – the last time I had this amount of time with him was 25 years ago…
Dirk also is a fabulous addition to our team and the four of us have shared lots of laughter and played many a card games since meeting up. The hike up to Makalu Basecamp (4680m) and further up Swiss Basecamp (5150m) was one in stages. With rest days every other day it took us 6 days before we were ready to head out towards the greatest and highest passes of the GHT from Swiss Basecamp. The hike up to there was more breathtakingly beautiful than any other Himalayan mountain and glacier-scape I have ever been to.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipisicing elit. Animi amet sunt nisi commodi
facere, ullam debitis a sequi dolore molestias, nostrum fugiat dolorum deleniti
cupiditate impedit, laboriosam dolor beatae modi atque! Incidunt, deleniti, vel quis
voluptatum sint vero porro corporis eaque ipsa deserunt ullam quaerat quae, doloribus
laboriosam ipsum et iusto. Unde quae aliquid minima vitae ut repellat nostrum, corporis
animi dolor iste necessitatibus quaerat saepe asperiores maxime inventore, quam
perferendis neque pariatur ipsa voluptatum sunt! Neque molestiae ad, quibusdam
blanditiis quasi repellat doloremque illum incidunt suscipit. Corrupti, facilis ab?
Lower down just beyond Yangle Karka a big fat granite mountain face with two huge caves like eyes look down onto the entire valley, a broad nose shaped by a protruding rockface and even a wide horizontal mouth shaped streak of rocks gave it an almost real yet eerie expression. And both “eyes” had little waterfalls right below as if tears were flowing out of them…
For locals, however, this isn’t a face but holy mountain that is worshipped for its fertility enhancing powers. The caves that clearly looked like eyes to me are considered yonis which have their suitable pendants in the phallic, lingam shaped rock pinnacles across the valley. To prove the obvious truth of this divine fertility mountain’s power only an hour’s walk up the side of same said mountain it suddenly has the unmistakable shape of a pregnant woman’s belly! So in August each year women- especially those hoping to fall pregnant go on pilgrimage to worship and pray at the foot of the pregnant holy mountain…. fascinating!
We however just stopped for a yummy lunch and then walked on towards Makalu Basecamp.
Makalu poses majestically first at the end of the far and open valley later right in front of us as if we could reach out and touch its massive yellow rock face!
But the big Barun Glacier that comes running down from the Northwest lay in between us and the mountain- it still felt as if we could lean on it’s almost 4000m high rockface that was partly covered in glaciers the cracking and moving sounds of which we could hear constantly – especially in Swiss Basecamp.
I have to mention Makalu Basecamp, which consists of three shack like “tea houses” and due to our timing of numerous tents from the companies that will soon lead their clients up Makalu! One company was waiting for 24 clients from multiple countries to arrive- at this point, however, only the Nepali staff and expedition leaders were in camp – still a sizable number! So one might have thought in this tiny little make shift hamlet serenity and quietness will characterize our two nights but the opposite was the case! We “enjoyed” two nights of blasting music, singing sherpas and drunken individuals stumbling over the guy ropes of our tents in search for the loo. Fascinating!
We were all fine with regard to acclimatizing to the ever increasing altitude even after we had scrambled our way to 5150m Swiss Basecamp but over night Philipp began to feel nausea and began to really struggle with acclimatization. The rest day didn’t help and when the next morning still showed no sign of improvement Philipp decided to go down to lower altitude in order to recover and meet us later again on the other side of the big passes. This meant a helicopter was organized to fly him across. I was sad to see him go but knew I would see him again in only a few days. As we were hiking or rather scrambling up to Sherpani Col Basecamp (5688m) along steep and rough challenging scree slopes I was beginning to really struggle for air- it was noticeably “thinner” up there and every few steps I found myself catching my breath! It would have been awful and extremely dangerous had Philipp decided to keep going despite his mild AMS symptoms. I am so glad he chose to be wise!
Arriving at Sherpani Col Basecamp was a stunning surprise as it is situated at the bottom of a majestic glacier tongue that ends abruptly on a flattish little gravel plain – our camp for the night with thirty meters of sheer ice looming above us (and cracking of course).
The next morning we started at 5am still in the dark and made our way across the glacier towards Sherpani Col (6190m).
Lhakpa and Lhombu, throughout the two previous days, had already prepared the routes across both of the coming passes for us, fixed all ropes and anchors so that when we got to the tricky parts our route was clear and all we had to do is put in our safety and make our way up. The top of Sherpani Col is truly fabulous! It is a knife ridge pass, rocky with little space to stand, but the view that opens up once the eye catches a glimpse across the ridge is awe inspiring: a vast white surface of snow covered glacier ice, smooth with only a few crevasses stretching across its smooth vastness. Almost like a bowl this expanse is embraced by numerous mountains all covered in glacier ice some of them so steep that their entire slopes are covered in blue sheer ice. In the far distance we could make out West Col on the other side of the huge white snow field below!
When I reached the top of Sherpani Col the team was already sending all the porters’ loads, bags and baskets at breathtaking speed down a rope slide 100m down onto the glacier where some of the team had already gathered after descending the steep and rocky slope on safety ropes. Soon we followed. Abseiling was fun for me and I was down in a short time watching Dirk and then Satish with John as they made their way down. Once we were all safely down we started our traverse across the big white expanse. Despite the fact that this was a more or less level route it still was absolutely exhausting since we were still above 6000m and even the slightest incline meant an increased heart rate and gasping for air – at the end nearing the West Col we had to climb another 100m again to get to the top of the Col at 6180m. It was tough! And my head started throbbing with a migraine again. Shortly before the top another deep crevasse had to be crossed on safety ropes and with carefully measured steps.
Just after I crossed the crevasse I heard Satish, who was walking in the back with John, shout out loudly “Khem has been hit by a rock” – I saw he had the walkie-talkie on his ear. Many staff had already descended the West Col by this time and of course as always the kitchen Crew with Khem was the first to reach the bottom. Shortly after Satish was already across the crevasse and Lhakpa conveyed the shocking news through the walkie-talkie that Khem “is no more”. Here we were sitting in the snow trying to grasp what just happened on the other side at the bottom of the Col we were about to descend – but from where we were we couldn’t see anything. Lhakpa’s voice is all we had. At that point the weather began to turn. Strong winds blew up snow and ice from the bottom of the Col. Satish made the wise call for us to pitch camp on top of the Col, gather the team, get warm and support each other through the shock and trauma of what just happened. We ate soup together and focused on staying warm.
Satish made an emergency plan: helicopter evacuation for the group and of course Khem’s body early the next morning. The rest of the staff were to make their way along the planned route and meet us a few days later in Namche Bazaar.
Here, today, from my warm bed in Namche Bazaar with all the staff having safely returned and reunited with us I can reflect on what happened up high and only be deeply impressed with Satish and his incredible team of highly skilled climbing sherpas and super strong porters! The team spirit and support has given them the strength to make it here in two consecutive 13 hour days of walking! My respect, admiration and gratitude is bottomless- these men have shown enormous strength and perseverance despite the trauma and shock of witnessing Khem’s accident and sudden death.
Of course there is so much more to say and yet today and right now what persists beyond all other stories is the gratitude I feel for everyone being safe and the respect and gratitude for Satish as the leader making the right decisions prioritizing safety (physical as well as emotional safety) for all.
Three days ago Dirk, John, Philipp and I started walking again from Lukla to Namche Bazaar and now that we are reunited with our team we will all slowly head up towards Gokyo tomorrow. 7 days we all still have together and one more beautiful trekking pass to cross before Dirk and Philipp will head back home towards Kathmandu.
Om mane padme om.
