From the dam on Phewa Tal ( tal - lake ) in
Pokhara, unfolds one of the finest panoramas of the
Nepal Himalaya. On a clear day the northern horizon is lined with
giant, ice-bound peaks extending
from the Lamjung and Manaslu Himal in the East, through the long,
semi-circular sweep of the
Annapurna Himal, encompassing the spectacular Macchapucchre - the
fishtail mountain
( maccha - fish, pucchre - tail ), to the huge white dome of
Dhaulagiri..
The base camp for Dhaulagiri, the most
westerly of Nepal's octet of 'eight-thousanders',
( mountains over 8000metres in height ), is secreted deep within
a vast complex of himalayan peaks
with 17 summits over 7000metres. Two approach routes, radically
different in nature, are possible
and can be combined to make a difficult and demanding circuit of
the world's seventh highest
mountain - one of the most challenging and least frequented of
the base camp treks.
The southern approach from Pokhara follows
the course of the Myagdi Khola, initially through
traditional farms and villages in its lower reaches, then dense
jungle and uninhabited wilderness
in its upper gorge, to reach its source in the mighty Chonbarden
Glacier. A long, arduous ascent
over rough moraines is followed by a dangerously crevassed
section before gaining the site for
expedition base camps beneath the dramatic, 'Little Eiger' face
of Dhaulagiri.
The northern approach, pioneered by Herzog's
expedition in 1950, starts near Jomson in the
Kali Gandaki valley and entails the crossing of two, high, snow-covered
passes:- firstly the
Thapa Pass into the isolated 'Hidden Valley', and secondly a re-ascent
to the 'French Col' before
descending into the innermost recess of the Chonbarden glacier.
In Pokhara my sirdar, Tenzing Sherpa, had
problems recruiting porters. It was Dasain, one of the
two main Nepalese festivals ( the other is Tihar a few weeks
later ), and everyone wanted to remain
at home for the celebrations.
A day behind schedule we left in a grossly
overcrowded local bus for the three hour journey over
pot-holed roads through lush paddy fields and terraced foothills
to our trek start point at the
village of Kusma. Our route then followed the level banks of the
Kali Gandaki through unspoilt
countryside to its confluence with the Myagdi Khola at the major
town of Beni.
As we approached the town two policemen
were attempting to retrieve something lodged amongst
boulders in the swiftly-flowing waters. I was horrified to find
it was the body of a local villager
murdered by robbers. Fortunately attacks on trekkers are
extremely rare, but not unknown, with the
main problem confined to petty thefts during the night from
campsites - bad enough if a camera or
other piece of essential gear is stolen. On a previous trek in
the Ganesh Himal I had had the sides
of my tent slashed with a razor blade and my 'Goretex' jacket,
medical kit and a stuff bag with most
of my clothes surreptitiously removed. At notorious locations the
Sherpas of trekking groups mount
an allnight guard to deter intruders.
Proceeding through the narrow, flag-stoned
streets between the two-storied, stone-built houses with
their corrugated-iron roofs, we pitched our tents at the
riverside on a grassy flat beside a school.
A crowd of smiling, friendly children soon surrounded us and I
chatted with them in a mixture of
pidgin Nepali ( mine ) and broken English ( theirs ).
A few days later we crested a ridgetop to
gain our first view since leaving Pokhara of the snow
peaks - a splendid panorama of the Gurja Himal forming a
magnificent backdrop to the picturesque
Magar village of Darapani amidst fields of bright yellow, oil-seed
rape.
Leaving our campsite in the small farming
community of Muri we entered the deep, narrow upper valley
of the Myagdi Khola and, beyond the last small settlement of
Baghara, with its simple wickerwork
huts, continued for two days on faint trails through dense, leech-infested
jungle. Insecure
tree-trunks formed rudimentary bridges across raging sidestreams.
High waterfalls cascaded down the
valley sides.
Emerging from forests of tall pine trees we
climbed over open scrubland to encamp at 'Italian Base
Camp' overlooked by the immense precipices of the West Face of
Dhaulagiri and the opposing heights
of Tsaurabong Peak and Dhaulagiri V.
A narrow canyon between sheer rock walls
gave access to the Chonbarden Glacier. It was hard, awkward
going over the rough, convoluted moraines but this was alleviated
by the increasing grandeur of our
surroundings. Towards midday, still in the middle of the glacier
and still a long way to go, Nima,
my cook, and Pasang, our kitchenboy, primed up our two kerosene
stoves to produce an excellent and
very welcome 3-course meal.
Care had to be taken when crossing narrow
ice-bridges between yawning crevasses before we emerged
onto the upper, flatter glacier. Altitude was then the only
problem on the final stretch.
Situated on the stony surface of a lateral
moraine, directly beneath the towering 'Little Eiger'
face, the main expedition base camp for Dhaulagiri commands a
superb vista down the glacier to a
great ridge of 7000metre peaks:- Dhaulagiri II, Dhaulagiri III
and Dhaulagiri V. Only a short
distance away, at the head of the glacier, huge avalanche cones
sweep down from the massive Tukuche
Peak.
A rest day was spent acclimatizing to the
5000metre altitude amidst the awesome, austere, arctic
beauty of the surrounding snow-covered mountains and tumbling ice-falls
before continuing upwards
to the 'French Col'. As we climbed the ridge above base camp the
full immensity of Dhaulagiri I was
slowly revealed in all its glory.
From the twin cairns on the wind-swept pass
we descended to encamp in the brown, barren wilderness
of the 'Hidden Valley' enclosed by a ring of himalayan peaks.
Vast ice-fields fell from the summit
of Tukuche Peak towards the 'French Col' on its western flank and,
on its northern, to Thapa Pass
- our escape route back to the Kali Gandaki. At the valleyhead
above 'French Col' soared the
shapely snow pyramid of Sita Chuchura.
It was an easy half day across the snow
slopes of Thapa Pass to our next campsite on gravel flats
beneath Thapa Peak but others have not been so fortunate. Tenzing
indicated a mound of stones
marking the grave of a porter who had succumbed in blizzard
conditions the previous Spring.
"We also will probably die on this trek", opined
Chandra, the leader of our four local, Magar
porters, veterens of many previous crossings.
Early next morning I climbed alone over
untracked snowfields towards the 6000metre summit of Thapa
Peak. On a steeper slope I had to kick steps before a final, airy
scramble up a rocky ridge achieved
a superb vantage point.
Far below I could retrace our route over
Thapa Pass into 'Hidden Valley' and up to 'French Col'
nestling beneath Mt.Sita Chuchura and the great ridge of
Dhaulagiris II, III, and V. Directly
opposite loomed the tremendous North Face of Tukuche Peak. The
summit of the reigning Dhaulagiri I
was only just visible. To the East, the peaks of the Annapurna
Himal formed a great barrier above
the deep, dark chasm of the Kali Gandaki.The 8000metre Annapurna
I, the ultimate objective of
Herzog's successful expedition, was clearly visible jutting
proudly above the subordinate Tilicho
and Nilgiri peaks.
Tenzing and Nima ambled leisurely up
bringing a packed lunch. Not a breath of wind spoiled our
enjoyment of our lofty viewpoint in warm sunshine beneath azure
skies - a himalayan highlight to
be long remembered.
Himalaya Trekking's e-guide
Appalled Around Dhaulagiri by Jamie MacGuiness
Trekking to the Hidden Valley by Per Lowdin
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