"A
real wilderness trek, no other
groups, a route I would like to do myself", enthused Ang
Zangbu,
managing director of Highland Sherpa.
My
plan was to follow the traditional
approach march for Everest expeditions along the trade route
from the roadhead at Jiri for two days before branching off
northwards up the Likhu Khola Valley
through the seldom visited Sherpa villages of Gumdel and Charma
to reach the remote yak pastures of
Gyajo nestling at the foot of the ice-fall tumbling from the
sacred summit of Numbur.
Crossing
the Gyajo La, a high pass, would
then gain the extensive tundra at Thare Teng in an
isolated valleyhead dominated by the 6000metre peaks of Chugimago
and Ramdung ( one of Nepal's
so-called "trekking" peaks ). The normal approach to
these peaks is from the north via the remote
and mysterious Rolwaling Valley ( the rumoured abode of the
legendary yeti ) and it was my
intention to cross a glaciated pass, un-named on my map, that had
traditionally been used by local
Sherpas to bring yaks from Beding, the main village in the
Rolwaling Valley, across the mountains
to Charma and Gumdel.
Nima
Lakpa Sherpa, 26, was once again to be
my sirdar. It was now ten years since he had been
recruited on my previous journey through the Rolwaling Valley as
a porter on his very first trek.
Also in my trekking crew from Nima's home village of Tashinam
were Mingma Sherpa, 20, cook ( who
had been with me on Tilman's Pass two years before ), Pema Sherpa,
19, kitchenboy, and Nima's
nephew, Lakpa Sherpa, 18, one of our four porters. ( Darwa Sherpa,
18, Chandra Bahadur Lama, 18,
and his uncle, Gur Bahadur Tamang, 35, were the other three ).
I
had no descriptions of my proposed route
nor had Highland Sherpa any guide with experience of the
area however Nima was to have the assistance of Sunam Sherpa, 20,
a trainee sirdar, from Gumdel,
whose father had once crossed the pass to buy yaks in Beding.
From
Jiri the well-trodden, switchback
route across the Deorali Pass leads to the large, farming
village of Bhandar sprawled around a wide amphitheatre. A long,
high-level traverse along steep,
terraced hillsides, with fine views down to the sparkling waters
of the Likhu Khola then brought
us to the substantial, stone-built, three-storied, slate-roofed
houses of Gumdel where we met
Sunam's father Gelu.
It
had been forty years since Gelu had made
his journey to Beding and his recollections of the
route were sketchy. He was pessimistic about our chances. A
previous trekking group had failed to
find a way to Gyajo through the extensive jungle beyond Charma
and Gelu was convinced that we also
would get lost.
Next
day we continued up the steep-sided,
forested valley through the picturesque village of Kyama.
In the flag-stoned farmyards the grain was being thrashed
manually with long-handled, wooden flails.
On the horizon, beneath clear, azure skies, the prominent cone of
Numbur and its satellite peaks
provided a spectacular backdrop. Late in the afternoon a steep
climb on a narrow, tortuous path
winding up through precipitous rock faces was followed by a
gradual gradient across a plateau into
Charma - the highest settlement in the area - where I was
escorted into town by a host of excited
schoolchildren intrigued by their first sight of a westerner.
In
Charma I visited the home of my friend
Ang Jangbu Sherpa, nephew of Ang Zangbu, who had been my
sirdar on my first three treks. From this remote, medieval
village in Solu Khumbu Jangbu had
progressed to a management post in a trekking office in Kathmandu
before winning a "green card" for
the USA where he was now working "in computers".
Beyond
Charma we plunged into dense jungle
with old, lichen-covered fir trees and occasional kharkas
( yak pastures ) with rudimentary shelters. From a col we gained
a view up the steep-sided, V-shaped
valley to the white cone of Numbur rising above a plethora of
interlocking spurs. The muddy,
undulating path climbed steadily through the forest above the
rushing waters of the Likhu Khola,
confined in its gorge, to the larger kharka at Bethangding where
we encamped for the night.
Above
Bethangding the path deteriorated
into a multiplicity of small, faint trails and it was only
thanks to Nima's route finding skills, gained as a young "yak-boy",
that we succeeded in progressing
through the jungle to emerge at the large clearing of
Bakangdingma with a splendid outlook over pine
forests to the snow peaks.
Shortly
thereafter we climbed above the
tree-line into the upper Likhu Khola Valley - a beautiful,
himalayan valley enclosed by a great sweep of high rock and snow
peaks - to pitch our tents in the
yak pastures of Gyajo in a spectacular location beneath the
moraine wall of the Zurmacher Glacier.
Accompanied
by Darwa I walked to the head
of the lateral moraine then climbed to a ridgetop to
command a superb panorama of a long, ice-bound ridge extending
from Numbur around the northern
skyline and encompassing vast summit snowfields, hanging glaciers,
ice-falls, and avalanche fans.
The
arduous, four hour climb the following
morning to the 4900metre high Gyajo La was alleviated by
frequent stops to admire the increasingly fine outlook on Numbur
and finally rewarded by a
breathtaking, bird's-eye view from the cairned col of our
objective of Thare Teng far below
ensconced beneath Ramdung and Chugimago.
A
much steeper descent on the far side over
rough, loose scree rapidly brought us to the banks of
the Nupenobug Khola where we stopped for the night. It was then
only a short haul in the morning to
reach the broad, flat tundra at Thare Teng and a magnificent camp
site encircled by a great ring of
jagged, rocky aretes and snow peaks.
With
Darwa I headed up the ablation valley
beneath the high moraine-wall of the long Bigphero Lo
Glacier. At the head of the wall was a large amphitheatre
enclosed by sheer rock faces and hanging
glaciers. Towards the back we spotted a small lake - the target
of our reconaissance - a site for
the high camp necessary for a crossing into Rolwaling. The pass
itself remained out of our view
behind a spur. However Nima had gone ahead of us and later
reported that above the lake crevassed
snowfields led up to the pass. We opened the kitbag holding our
climbing gear and made preparations
for crossing the pass.
The
snow started during the night,
continued relentlessly all day and all the next night - a total
of some 30 hours - a white carpet over two feet deep blanketed
the tundra and surrounding hillsides
- a white mist shrouded the mountains.
Amid
clearing skies Nima and Sunam set off
to try to break a trail to high camp but soon returned.
"Sakdaina!", ( not possible ) they announced. Later in
the day the clouds cleared completely and in
a dazzling snowscape I climbed with Nima through the deep soft
snow to a vantage point above our
campsite. At the head of the glacier towered the imposing cone of
Mt.Bigphero-Go-Nup while along
the valley high snowfields swept up from Liu Kharka to the level,
summit ridge of Ramdung. To the
south Gyajo La was also coated in white. Crossing into Rolwaling
was out of the question. As the
Sherpas say: " Some, the Gods let pass, others they don't".
We had most definitely been turned
away!
That
evening Bigphero-Go-Nup flamed red in
the rays of the setting sun while Chugimago gleamed
marble-white in the sunrise as we retreated from Thare Teng
across the crusted snow and headed
down the Nupenobug Khola.
Two
days later we emerged from dense jungle
onto open slopes high above the Likhu Khola with a view
across to Charma perched on its plateau. Stopping in Kyama for
lunch at the house of the village
headman we learned the local name for the pass to Rolwaling - the
Nangma Gegu La.
Continuing
back to Gumdel we confounded
Gelu's expectations that we would get lost in the jungle.
He retained the advantage however - he had crossed the Nangma
Gegu La into Rolwaling - we had not.
Ang
Zangbu's prediction on the other hand
proved correct. In our 15 days circuit from Bhandar to
Thare Teng we had met no other groups or indeed any evidence of
any previous groups - no dirty
lunch places strewn with plastic bags or empty cans, no spoilt
campsites with improperly filled
toilets or grease pits, no trail of paper tissues, chocolate
wrappers or other detritus typical of
all popular trekking and climbing routes. We had enjoyed our
journey through the pristine
wilderness. Hopefully any future groups will also leave no trace
of their passage.
