Section 1 – Days 11 to 16
Day 11 to 16 Great Himalaya Trail – the first glaciers!!! Kanchenjunga!
I am so aware that we haven’t been able to post any of our blogs and pictures since Mitlung. That is two weeks ago! The reason for this is that our WiFi connection via Satellite phone isn’t working the way we were hoping it would and the way it was working when we tried it down in Kathmandu! We are hoping to figure it out soon. In two days time we will be in Olangchunggola (spelling very different depending on which map we refer to!)
Right now it is afternoon about 5pm and snowing outside; we are at Karka shortly before Nango La which is the next pass we are crossing before heading back down into the Rhododendron forests that grow as high up as 4100m and all the way down into the river gorges. Further down we have already seen some in red bloom up here despite the snow I see the buds on the ends of the branches with leaves often rolled up and pointing downwards – I figure from the icy cold! It is day 16 and we have already been up to Kanchenjunga Basecamp which lies in one of my favourite landscapes – glacier land! Glaciers moraines in their fabulous expanse over many kilometres to me carry a breath taking beauty. At first glance they look like massive gravel pits grey in grey with pointy hills and edges always embraced on both sides by the steep edges of the mountain slopes that they have carved their way into over years and years! But then — and that is when I gasps with awe- at times there are these little turquoise ponds with steep sheer walls of deep turquoise or light mint coloured ice looming at their edges. A speck of colour in the otherwise grey and white frozen mass… and then of course this stunning stream of frozen ice with its gravel crust is surrounded by the highest of mountains each one graced with unbelievable hanging glaciers – up high clean and white and when the light is right even those show a glimpse of blueish turquoise ice where crevasses open up.
The mountains that lined our three day walking journey from Ghunsa up to Kanchenjunga Basecamp where all above 6800m of course topped by Kanchenjunga peak – which is unusually flat more like a ball of ice cream and because of it much less spectacular than all her sisters around her. Janu peak in turn is a breath-taking peak, very photogenic and generous in how it opens up first thing as we entered the glacial valley.
As part of this Great Himalaya Trail Satish has agreed to assist a Professor of Geology from Kathmandu by collecting rock samples from all the great glaciers we cross or come near on this epic journey. At Kangchenjunga Basecamp he collected the first and it turns out to be quite fun to select, determine the exact position of the rock with GPS, photograph its location and note it all down systematically. Hopefully we will contribute meaningfully to some important research around the Himalayan glaciers and their development in the light of climate change. On our way back down we took a little detour to try and get some rock samples from Kumbakarna glacier that runs down from Mount Janu. But after huffing and puffing up the steep hill towards the glacier (at least another 150m up so approximately 4260m) we had to stop at the sheer edge. The glacier had eaten its way into the ground now lying about 100m below us.. as was the most beautiful big glacier lake typical for the end of a glacial moraine .. and right in the middle of it a Siberian duck had just landed for a short rest on its way to Tibet, I reckon! It was a dream like sight, so very worth the hard slog up the snowy slope.
Speaking of hard slogs and altitude- I can’t not mention that as I happily and without any perceived special effort reached Lhonak at 4760m it only took about an hour of being there before my first migraine headache arrived. I am well aware that that it how my body responds to high altitude and the change in air pressure linked to it, yet every time I hope that this time it will be different- well it wasn’t and in fact I couldn’t even kick it by taking my trusted migraine medicine. I skipped dinner and tried to distract myself by listening to an audiobook – it worked relatively well- as a distraction but certainly not as a cure. I woke up the next morning and still wasn’t feeling too much better. But my experience from all my previous Himalayan mountain trips has been that the migraine will eventually leave and I will feel fine in altitude- but unfortunately not on that day and I fought and battled my way up to 5160m -Kanchenjunga Basecamp- four hard and slow hours of really really slow walking following Satish’s slow and steady steps not thinking just breathing- into the pain in my throbbing head. It took until about midnight when suddenly I woke up and the migraine along with all its pain was gone! I felt like a newborn and when I woke up I truly took in the beauty of where we were- the snow, the glaciers and the endless peaks surrounding us! But also the cold- up there it got down to a good minus 12degrees celcius!
Regarding the migraine- it was intense- and yet as always- when it’s gone my spirit is back and I am hopeful that the next pass will be migraine free. I have so many more high passes to cross
that I can only hope my theory will proof to be right and my little head will learn to adjust to the pressure changes more easily!!
