From Gorkha, the ancient royal city of the
Gurungs and the origin of the illustrious Gurkhas, the
normal approach to the twin-turreted, fairy-tale-castle-like Mt.
Manaslu follows the trade route
alongside the Buri Gandaki through its deep gorge gouged between
high rock precipices, comparable
to those in Yosemite or the Dolomites, to the remote Tibetan
settlement of Samagaon sheltering at
the base of the world's eighth-highest mountain.
An interesting detour is to include a
crossing of the Rupina La directly beneath the spectacular
Baudha Peak.
The route winds up a broad, terraced ridge
through fields of golden grain and brightly painted
farmhouses with elaborately carved, wooden windowsills and
balustrades. Fine views obtain to the
west of the wide, white sweep of the Annapurna Himal.
"Busnos", ( please sit down )
invited Khadke, one of our two kitchenboys, at a shady chautara
( stone or wooden platform for porters to rest their loads )
beneath a grove of great burr and
pipal trees.
Beyond the last of the small, farming
settlements we followed a complex route on faint trails
through uninhabited wilderness to gain the snow-covered pass.
Above the col a tremendous ridge of
rock and ice swept up to the summit of the Baudha Peak and on
round to the adjacent Himalchuli.
Plunging down through deep, soft snow we
entered the beautiful, tranquil Chuling Valley
- uninhabited and seldom visited. Behind us the huge east face of
the Baudha Peak soared sheer
above the chaotic ice-falls of the Chuling Glacier. Ahead, the
serrated summits of the Ganesh Himal
seemed to float in an azure sky completely disassociated from
their rugged, forested foothills.
" I want to retire here as a shepherd
", announced Horst at breakfast one morning before we
descended to the timber-roofed, stone-built dwellings in the
compact Gurung village of Ngyak in the
Buri Gandaki valley.
Harvesting was in progress. Everything was
being done manually. In the stone-walled fields the
ripe, golden grain was being cut with hand scythes to be carried
to the flagstoned farmyards and
thrashed with long-handled, wooden flails.
Beyond Ngyak we entered 'Little Mustang' -
the isolated upper valley of the Buri Gandaki with its
small communities of Tibetan peoples.
Great walls of mani-stones ( stone tablets
inscribed with the Buddhist mantra 'Om Mani Padme Hum'
- hail to the jewel of the lotus ) and numerous, multi-tiered
chortens ( Buddhist stone-built
cairn-like shrines ) lined the trail. Some of the larger chorten
had archways decorated with
colourful, intricate thangkas ( Buddhist religious paintings ).
" Shim, shim ", ( give me
something ) entreated the brown-faced, ruddy-cheeked youngsters
swaddled
in heavy clothing against the bitingly cold wind. Giddah ( large
eagles ) soared effortlessly
overhead while side-valleys afforded fine views up to the lofty
snow peaks of Himalchuli and
Ngadi Chuli.
Suddenly, on rounding a bend, the mighty
pyramid of Manaslu, dazzling white in the bright sunshine,
appeared in full view towering above the pine forests. We
continued beneath great snowfields and
vast scree slopes across extensive yak pastures alongside the
Buri Gandaki, now much reduced in
size, through the main village of Samagaon, with its small gompa
( Buddhist monastery ), and on to
the cluster of flat-roofed dwellings at Samdu - one of the
highest permanent settlements in the
Nepal Himalaya.
From Samdu there is a low pass into Tibet.
Local traders can cross the border freely but not so
trekkers. All groups must be accompanied by a police liaison
officer.
We now climbed due west away from the river
into a side-valley leading up to the Larkya La. A
disconsolate group of Americans was coming down. One of their
members had AMS ( Acute Mountain
Sickness ) and they had been unable to cross the pass.
In dim pre-dawn light we trudged up rough
moraines beneath a black, jagged ridge. At 5,200metres
the Larkya La is neither a difficult ( assuming good weather )
nor a particularly high pass but I
was suffering from the altitude and every step was a major mental
and physical effort.
Eventually a final snow slope led up to the
pass bedecked with brightly-coloured prayer-flags.
Above us loomed the Larkya La Peak - a fine 6000metre summit not
requiring a climbing permit. A
treacherous, icy path led onwards across the wind-swept col.
The descent on the far side over rough,
loose scree was much steeper than on the ascent and height
was lost rapidly as we scrambled down into a savagely glaciated
valley enclosed by towering snow
peaks.
Encamped in a magnificent location in yak
pastures beneath the enormous, rock and ice cliffs of
Mt.Phungi - an outlier of Manaslu - a superb vista extended up
the glacier to the pinnacles and
pyramids of the Peri Himal.
Next morning a cairned path led down over
moraines into the densely wooded valley of the Dudh Khola
beneath the dramatic western face of Manaslu with great rock
ridges enclosing vast snow fields and
huge hanging glaciers.
Two days later we reached the police
checkpoint in the village of Thonje on the banks of the
Marsayangdi Khola on the trade route to Manang - the first leg of
the circuit around the Annapurna
Himal and familiar territory from my very first himalayan journey.
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Find what you want at Amazon.com | Find what you want at Amazon.co.uk |
|
|||
Note: Books may be bought New or Used fromAmazon.co.uk or Amazon.com or Amazon.fr( The SEARCH boxes can be used to find items and also to compare prices and delivery times ) |
