Nepal - Chulu West Base Camp

Day 1: Cancelled flights, closed airport, heavy snow-flurry...

Another trip to Nepal has started after all.

Getting out of Ireland was nearly impossible and almost all alternatives failed, almost...

Plan A was to fly from Dublin to London, but due to the heavy snow and total blackout of Ireland my flight got cancelled the day before, forcing me to try save the day and introduce plan B, which was to get a bus ticket from Dublin to London and spend a night on the bus, however, almost immediately after booking all buses and trains in Ireland got suspended!

Time for plan C, which is to get to Dublin Port and board a ferry from Dublin to Holyhead. The port was meant to be closed only until 5pm, so there was hope that later ferries would sail, but then the port announced that they would be suspending all departures until further notice!

So after plan C time for plan D – try to book any flight to London for Saturday morning, but… alll flight are sold out.

I came up to plan E when I practically lost all my hope. I checked the flights from Belfast, which is a 2.5-hour drive from Dublin and to my surprise it turned out that the airport operates as usual and there are still some flight tickets for a flight… in four hours. So I take the shovel, undig the car from the snow and start driving to Belfast, where I arrive 1h30m before departure, rush to find a car park and run into the airport to check in in the last minutes.

Finally, despite all the odds I’m in London and tomorrow (which is already today) I should be boarding my flight to Mumbai. Unless something else happens...

Day 2: Travel to Katmandu

Generally the day is lost for the flight from London to Mumbai, a few hour wait at the airport and a 1h30m flight to Kathmandu, to get there in the afternoon nepalese time.

A few hours later, in the late evening, the other group members arrive, who got here from Prague.

Day 3: Bhulbhule (823m)

We are now in Bhubule village at 823m.

It was a 9-hour journey of 185kms on a public bus from Kathmandu on a bumpy dirt road overlooking a pit of nothingness with a river a few hundred metres below.

The bus seats are very small and uncomfortable, but the nepalese people are usually small enough to fit in, but for me it was difficult not to hit the seat in the front with my knees all the time.

We passed by a lot of Himalayan villages and it struck us that in some of them chicken and goats were being slaughtered and skinned on our eyes.

The afternoon and evening were relaxing in and around our lodge. Today the temperatures varied from 25° during the day down to around 8° in late evening.

Day 4: Chame (2670m)

Today we drove from Bhulbule (823m) to Chame (2670m), which took us around 6 hours on a very narrow road over a cliff, passing through a lot of villages, from which most are inhabited by Buddhists. I had a pleasure of going on the roof of the car and enjoy the full panoramic view all the way.

In Chame after dinner we went to a tiny hot spring and after we went to sleep as here everyone goes to bed before 9pm and get up early. We will also have to get up very early tomorrow.

The day was a lot colder than yesterday and so is the night. It seems the temperatures drop quickly with the rise of the altitude.

Day 5: Pisang (3100m)

We are in the Pisang village. It was a 6-hour hike of around 12kms to here during which we could see some glaciers and the enormous Annapurna II, which revealed us its entire beauty from the never climbed side covered with a lot glaciers and hanging ice caps. We can also see it now from Pisang. In some places during the trek there was already snow and ice on the route.

After arriving to our lodge and getting a bit of rest we went uphill to Upper Pisang to the Buddhist Nyigmapa Monastery. The main Lama, who is very respected in this area isn't here because he is staying in Kathmandu at the moment, so we didn't get the chance to meet him. There was meant to be a puja, which is an offering ceremony today, but we are going to have it in Manang tomorrow.

Now it's after 8pm, we finished our dinner and we are in our warm sleeping bags already as it's very cold outside and not any warmer in our rooms.

Day 6: Manang (3500m)

Now we are in our lodge in Manang (3500m) where we hiked to for 6 hours. On the way we could very clearly see Annapurna III (7555m).

The weather is sunny, but it was very cold. When we arrived here the temperature started to drop rapidly to -1° and at night it's meant to go down to -12°. As the late afternoon was overcast and our lodge uses solar panels we had no showers, no internet and from time to time no electricity either. The only way to stay clean was to take a bucket shower in the bathroom (in a shed outside the main building), where it probably was around 5°.

It doesn't stop amazing me when I meet such nice and warm nepalese people on the way and children playing outside on our way, waving, smiling to us and shouting "namaste".

Life definitely has a different, much slower pace here and people have time to stop and talk to others with genuine interest and honesty.

Day 7: Ledar (4250m)

Belated post from March 9 due to no internet connectivity.

I am now writing this post fully clothed with a hat in my sleeping bag still covered with a thick blanket. The water in our room started to freeze so it must be well below 0° and it's only before 10pm so the worst is still to come. We are on 4200m and thankfully nobody has any symptoms of altitude sickness, but the worst may still come tonight. If we feel well overnight and wake up without any headaches or or flu-like symptoms we will be fully acclimatized and can move on to Chulu West Base Camp. Otherwise we need to stay another day here.

The walk was moderate. We hiked for 6 hours from Manang to Ledar ascending 700m, passing by several villages with a full view of the Gangapurna mountain. The views were spectacular.

Here we have no mobile coverage, no internet, no hot shower apart from bucket shower in a shed with only warm water and temperatures below zero, which I took for the last time here nearly freezing to death. In the main room there is only one small fire heater, which is usually off, so we were eating our dinner in jackets, under blankets and the food immediately was losing the heat, so we had to eat quickly. The famous nepalese saying: "Dal bhat power twenty four hour, no toilet no shower" reflects our situation best now.

Day 8 and 9: Chulu West Base Camp (4950m) i Thorang High Camp (4950m)

Belated post from March 11.

Last night I didn't feel well hence there was no post (beside no access to the Internet). Usually around 4500-5000m I have one day when I have a strong headache, neusea and fever with shivers and that was the day.

In the morning we went to Chulu West Base Camp (4950m). So far, this was the most difficult part of our trek, becasue we had to ascend 700m to reach almost 5000m. It took us 3 hours to get to Base Camp, but the trail was very steep and a 700m ascend at that altitidue is very hard. From base camp we could see Chulu West, Chulu East and the whole range of Annapurna I, II, IV and Gangapurna.

Then we came back to our lodge in Ledar and spent most of the afternoon in the lounge with the sun heating us through the windows, but literally two minutes after the sun hid behind the mountains the temperature dropped from around 15°C below zero (inside the building) and we had to sit in warm jackets and cover ourselves with blankets.

As the temperature fell I started to get a headache, which was getting stronger every minute and I started to feel freezing, so straight after dinner I went to wrap myself with my sleeping bag, but was shivering for another 2 hours until all the symptoms started to fade. Around midnight I already felt perfectly fine. The temperature in the room was around -5-7°.

In the morning I was fully acclimatized and everyone else also felt well.

This is the day when we split groups. One group of 3 will go back to Base Camp (4950m), stay overnight in tents there in forecasted temperatures of -20°C, another night in High Camp (5600m) also in tents, where it’s meant to be -35°C. Then very early (around 4-5am) they will start the attack on the summit (6500m) and come down to Ledar.

The second group will go up to Thorong High Camp (4923m) ascending 700m and stay there in a lodge. This group is 3 people, me, Binod (our guide) and one porter. The ascend, particularily from Thorong Phedi (4500m) to Thorong High Camp (4923m) was very steep and quite hard, but easier than our hike to Base Camp yesterday.

Thorong Phedi and High Camp and just tiny places in the middle of nowhere, with literally 4 huts each where people can stay overnight. The toilets are outside in the freezing cold and the rooms are located in the tiny huts surrounding the restaurant building, which is heated only for 2-3 hours after dark. There is no heating in the rooms and the temperature is meant to drop to -15° tonight, so it won't be much warmer in the rooms because due to gaps in the doors and windows it’s very windy inside.

Now it's 8:30pm and everyone is in full gear in their sleeping bags covered with duvets, so hopefully we won't freeze overnight.

Day 10: Thorang La Pass (5416m) and the long way to Muktinath (3850m)

We are now in Muktinath after a very hard and long walk.

We left Thorong Base Camp (4923m) at 6am, just before sunrise. The temperature was -20° when we started going up on a steep, icy and snowy trail wearing all possible clothes we had. It took us 3 hours to climb 500m up to the Thorong La pass at 5416m. Going up 500 metres at this altitude, freezing cold and icy winds is very exhausting. We had to stop every few steps to catch some breath due to the lack of oxygen.

When we reach the pass we are already drained, but we still have to go descend 1600m down to Muktinath at 3800m, so again it’s very steep, but this time down on the rocky, icy and snowy trail, a few times taking risks of slipping down the cliff.

On the way down we could see mount Dhaulagiri (8167m).

This was the hardest day of our trek, but we made it and we are in Muktinath, which looks a bit like a town from the Wild West.

After sunset it’s still very cold here. Tonight it's meant to be -11°, so not as bad as in Thorong High Camp anymore, but we are already longing for a bit of heat.

Day 11: Jomson (2700m)

Today was the last day of our trek.

We had to be ready for 6:30am to go to a meditation in the Buddhist temple with the big Buddha statue on the hill overlooking the town. The meditation was meant to start at 7am, but unfortunately it didn't happen, however we were still able to see the temple grounds and the main temple inside.

After that we started going back to our hotel, but we spotted another temple just next to it. Its interiors were full of paintings of Buddhist deities and protectors, such as Guru Padmasambhava, Red Garuda, Simkamukha and others. The place was truly remarkable.

We started our trek after breakfast at 9am and it took us over 6 hours to descend by 1100m to Jomson (2700m). The trail was not too difficult, but we were drained after yesterday and today was very windy. The wind was blowing at our faces most of the time since after lunch till the very end, so it was quite hard.

Finally we got to our hotel just next to the airport with the view on the runway and Mount Dhaulagiri - we can see one of the highest mountains in the World from our windows!

For dinner we tried yak burgers and some local apple-flavoured brandy with our Nepalese guide and the porter, who wanted to sing after two shots.

Now it's tine for bed. We have a flight at 7:30am.

Day 12: Pokhara

In the morning our flight was delayed due to strong wind. There was a risk that the flight would be cancelled, but after a 4-hour delay we took off to Pokhara.

It took us 20 minutes to get there in contrary to the jeep taking around 8 hours, which was the alternative if our flight was cancelled.

At the airport we had some luggage and passport control, which in reality was no control at all. We were searched in a separate room (which resembled an old wardrobe) on the way to a tiny departure room, but this was just a few questions about the things we carry without even looking inside the bags.

The flight onboard the old, probably 40-year plane with shaking wings was quite an experience, very similar to the one we had in Lukla the last time.

We arrived in Pokhara after 12 and were collected by the car from the hotel. The drive took us 10 minutes and it's possible to get there from the airport on foot in 20.

The city has grown a lot in the last few years. In 2009 when I was here for the first time between our hotel and the airport there was not much but just a fence and fields on the side on the lake, but now there are plenty of new buildings. The main tourist area has grown immensely and there is even KFC. Everything is polished now, there is a lot of fancy restaurants, clubs, expensive jewellery and souvenir shops, travel agencies, SPAs, yoga and massage centre.

We are going to the port at the lakeside, rent a boat for Rs1250 (12.50 USD) for several hours and go to the Peace Stupa located at the top of the hill on the island across the lake. To get to it you need to get to the other shore and hike up for 45 minutes. The trail is steep, but doable.

This huge white stupa with gold ornaments stands on top of the hill overlooking the whole city and is protected by gold Buddha statues. There is also a small temple with a Japanese monk, who used to be Catholic and has two sons in Japan, but decided to convert to Budhism. After a few minute talk to him we had to head back down as the boat was waiting for us.

We got back to the main touristy street and had a long walk finishing in a small restaurant where a lot of local people were eating, The food was great, cheap and genuine, but very spicy.

After some relaxing time there we get back to the hotel.

Day 13: Pokhara

Yesterday we had some goodbye drinks with our guides - Sange Sherpa, who climbed Everest firmy 9 times, Binod Gurung and with our porters. We came to our hotel very late, so I didn't write any post.

The day was pretty quiet as the weather was not great - it didn't rain much, but was cloudy and foggy for the whole day, so there was no point to try paragliding or rafting. Instead we walked along the lake to the less touristy part of the city to see the Gupteshwor Mahadev Cave (entrance Rs100 = 1$) with a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva inside and to Devi's Falls (Rs30), but now it's the dry season, so the waterfall is very tiny and it’s not worth it.

We took two buses to get back to Lakeside (tourist centre of the city) for Rs15 each bus per person, so it's a very good deal for people on a tight budget. Travelling by public bus here is very cheap, easy and safe unless one wants to travel long distance where the road goes over the cliffs. There have been reports of some buses falling down the cliff, but these are usually the cheapest and the worst quality operators. On long term routes like from Pokhara to Kathmandu, which is probably the most popular it's better to spare extra few dollars and travel safely and a bit more conveniently.

Once we got back to Lakeside we took a boat again and went to the Barahi Temple located on a tiny island. It's a two-storey hindu pagoda for the Durga Goddess, the protector of all Gods.

In the evening we had some goodbyes and came back late so we only had a few hours of sleep because we had to be ready for breakfast for 6:30 and leave the hotel at 7am.

Day 14: Drive to Kathmandu

It took us over 8 hours to arrive in Kathmandu, so most of the day was already gone.

Once we checked in to the hotel we went to the Swayambunath (Monkey Temple) on the hill, which is only a 35-minute walk from our hotel and we arrived there just for the sunset. The entrance fee for tourists is Rs200. It's a complex of some Buddhist and Hindu temples and a big stupa on top of a hill. Around there are plenty of monkeys running around, which are attracted to vibrant colours, so please be aware and avoid having anything vivid, otherwise they can steal these things and if you try to go after them they can get aggressive. During one of my previous trips to Nepal they stole a bottle of Fanta from me and were laughing straight in my face.

When we came back down we took a taxi to our hotel (down to Rs450 from the initial Rs700) and had great evening in the nearby restaurant in Thamel.

Day 15: Kathmandu

The day was fully planned and very busy, because we had to pack all Kathmandu sightseeing in one day, so early in the morning we went to Kopan Monastery (by taxi around Rs700-800 which is 7-8$). In general it was closed to the public, becasue of a retreat for westerners going on, but we were allowed to go in and listen to the lecture about the Four Noble Truths according to Buddha. It was about the causes of suffering and how to overcome it by developing love and compassion towards every living being without judgement. Eveeybody suffers regardless of their wealth, marital status, health, etc. We should not judge anyone because we don't have the full understanding of their situation. We should also not be attached to anything, which doesn't mean not to love and not to care, but not to be needy and addicted to external things. If we find happiness within ourselves regardless of the external factors we will become fully happy.

After the lecture we walked a bit around the monastery grounds with a hilltop view of the entire city and with several beautiful stupas and sanctuaries and took a taxi to Boudhanath, also called the Buddha Stupa (Rs300).

We walked clockwise around this huge white and gold stupa, which was fully renovated after the earthquake and finished our stay there in one of the rooftop restaurants with a full view of the stupa. It's worth to order a coffee, some snack and just chill enjoying the view.

From here we go to Pashupatinath Temple, where ceremonial cremations take place in the open air and anybody who pays Rs1000 to enter can see them. The complex consists of the main temple, where only Hindu are allowed, a hospice and several platforms at the river, where bodies burn all the time. The first few near the hospice were once reserved for the royal family, but now are open to richer families. The view is very shocking to the westerners, so there is a lot of people watching the ceremonies and taking pictures. There is a lot of Saddhus and Babas, who are considered holy people and in the river plenty of kids with large margnets fishing for some jewellery and metal objects from the bodies that can be sold.

After Pashupatinath we go to Kathmandu Durbar Square, which is the main square in Kathmandu, to see the Kumari and the pagodas. The entrance fee here is Rs1000, but nothing has been done for that money. The pagodas are falling apart and are in a disastrous state, a lot worse than just after the earthquake. Even when I was here last year they looked a lot better. It's really annoying that instead of saving the temples the money seems to be going to the somebody’s pockets! The Royal Palace will also fall apart very soon if nothing is done immediately!

We go to see the living Goddess Kumari, but we get there too late and she refuses to come out anymore today.

Our hotel is in the Thamel area, only 30 minutes on foot from Durbar Square, so we get back, take half and hour rest and go for a goodbye dinner with a cultural dancing event and a few beers.

This was unfortunately my last full day in Nepal. I can say that Nepalese people are amazing, warm-hearted, funny and have a great heart despite a very tough life and I made great friends here. It was my fourth time here and for sure I will be back to this amazing country.