Island peak expedition- Diaries

This should have been posted long back for some reason it was stuck in drafts, anyways here it goes...

We were waiting for the time when all stars & constellations would be in right position, and we would be able to align leaves for 19 days from our respective 'world-saving jobs'. And then the time came, initiated by a bold move from supro, where he booked his tickets & sent it across to me & jap. My biggest takeaway from 'Game theory' was 'move of credibility', and it worked yet again. Using supro's dates as base for planning we also aligned our leaves and booked tickets and it all took just couple of days. Don't know whether it was mountains & scenic beauty or the idea of staying away from our routine mundane life,  but we were mighty excited & counting days with bated breath. 31st march 2011 we reached Kathmandu from our respective locations, so as to start our journey on 2nd of April.

Our guide Lalu

After completing all the preparations in Kathmandu, including insurance which was 1st thing on my agenda given my history with mountains in Nepal, we started for Lukla. We had a guide with us, Lalman lama also known as lalu. He was initially into rafting, but later decided to get into trekking. We also hired a porter from lukla, Bidya. Poor guy was not only carrying a bit of our stuff, none of which was used on the trek, but was also leading the way throughout the trek.

Lady from Lodge @ Lukla

Day 1- First day of trek was pretty simple, it was mostly downhill. We were to walk from Lukla to Phakding. Journey was full of greenery & water body. The biggest event in the day was meeting Subbu, who was head porter for trip 3 yrs back. It was a happy moment for all of us to spot 2nd familiar face on the mountain, 1st being the lodge lady at Lukla. Three years of corporate life didn't do any damage to my memory :)

Lodges at all these places have same fundamentals, electricity is a luxury, fire would be there at the dining room where everyone would assemble at the end of the day. It is this place where you get to talk about anything and everything under the sun.

All of us with Daniel & Charlotte

I don't even have a count of different countries from where trekkers would come to Nepal. What we missed during the last trip was interaction with such a diverse group, you get to learn so much with so less efforts & so many misconceptions are done away with. I met a girl from Russia, who was working to become some sort of Water body researcher, an adventure photographer from US who was planning to rush home soon as his wife was about to deliver, an elderly couple from Australia who would give us a run for our money in stamina & strength, our almost co-traveller Daniel from US who was teaching in Korea & Charlotte from Denmark who just completed her High school & was on a break for a year. And these are just a few names as there were so many more.
We decided to stay put at a Lodge with TV, as it was WC finals India Vs Sri-lanka. We saw the match & celebrated till late with some locals & a couple of guys from Scotland who didn't even knew what Cricket was before this match.


Day 2- Slightly challenging task of climbing up to Namche bazaar was waiting in front of us. And the surrounding started to change from green to a combination of brown & grey. Now these are dull colors, but they give lot of mental peace & makes you forget all about your daily routine life. Second part of the day is very difficult as the climb is steep & tiresome. So we managed pretty well till lunch, we passed quite a few trekkers greeting them happily, walking at a fast pace, all was good till it was flat walking or downhill walk. The day is to be remembered for the post lunch part of the trek, which made us realize that we are not just in for visual treats but also for some physical exertion. And after reaching Namche bazaar, we treated ourselves with Pizzas at the lodge. While on the way we were passed easily by the Australian couple who were friendly, they didn't start trekking from Lukla like us, they walked down till Lukla, which though beautiful is time taking & difficult.


Day 3- It was to be one of the best day of our journey, we were to have an acclimatisation day with a walk to the top of the hill. The trail passes through a helipad also & it leads to a lodge at the top of the hill. We knew it all as last time we did the same thing. But to our surprise it started snowing, and we were just 3 days into the trek. Even though it makes walking difficult & sighting even more difficult, snowfall is mighty fun. Wind was blowing in a way that snow was coming directly into our faces, and hence you cant even keep your eyes open. Still we were having a great time, and after reaching to the lodge there was a satisfactory smile on everybody's face.


Snow effect above the Helipad @ Namche Bazaar


And at the lodge I had a great masala tea & jap tried a masala coffee (making him the 1st person in the world to think of that combination). And then after reaching back to namche bazaar we celebrated supro's b'day at the same cafe where 3 years back me and jap got the cake for supro. Interestingly we noticed now the same cafe was offering b'day cakes at 30 mins notice period, 3 yrs back we had to just haggle for more than 30 mins to get the chef to bake a cake.

Ama Dablam, one of the most beautiful peaks

Day 4- We started on the way to Tengboche and the views started to get better. Mt. Everest was visible for a while, but we had clear views of Ama dablam, most beautiful peak on the way. Color wise it was a combination of white, grey & brown. Also we found an Indian, Pankaj, covering EBC all by himself. Don't remember anything else about the day apart from amazing views & also pain which I encountered post twisting my ankle. After reaching we went to Tengboche monastery. Took some medicine from pankaj for pain.

Monastery

We prayed for a while and post that we went for a random walk while it was snowing, following the 'walk high sleep low' principle. It was snowing heavily with lots of wind and there was not much of path . But it was fun for sure. After spending a long time out there we returned with the idea of spending time at the German cafe where I fell ill last time I was in Nepal, for some reason it was closed. But we didn't lose hope & went for walk in another direction reliving old memories.

beautiful trail..

Day 5- Walk towards Dingboche, extremely tiring walk, with lot of uphill climb. The only solace was that the views were getting better, especially of Ama dablam. Ama dablam means mother's necklace, and the name is given for two reasons, 1st the long ridges on both sides of the peak looks like protective arms of a mother & 2nd the glacier which hangs from the peak looks like a pendant. Till now we weren't feeling any altitude related issues, but I had already twisted left ankle twice, so I was putting more pressure on the right knee. But it was a good day to walk, sun was out, it wasn't that windy and no snow. So with reduced number of layers of clothes, we completed the day's task and reached dingboche, and as soon as we reached it started getting all misty. Only jap & daniel had some energy as they went for a walk following the 'high-low' principle (walk high & sleep low) & came back after playing a game of snooker at the altitude of 4410 mts. Next day we were suppose to proceed towards chukkung & hence it was the last day with daniel & charlotte, we they were to continue for Everest Base Camp. We did what we always used to do after reaching the lodge, played lots of 29 & shithead. And then wished each other well for the journey ahead.



Ama dablam



Day 6- Something happened to us and we decided that we needed to finish it quickly. Don't know whether it was excitement of starting the training for climbing or need of more rest, but we ended up reaching chukkung very fast. Chukkung is at the height of 4750 mts, hence its not much of altitude gain. But the path is flat and long, and by this time my right knee also started troubling me. Supro was having headaches. But the major part of the day was spent looking towards our right side, where the peaks were visible. Also the Island peak views got really better till the weather was good. It seemed as if Ama dablam was right in front of us, breathtaking beauty it was.

Post reaching all we could do was rest, with bad headache & unending tiredness we couldn't have done anything else. And from this moment onwards my appetite went for a toss, in fact I started getting nauseated by food or even the smell of it. So I went into liquid diet, supro was anyways suffering from headaches.

Andy giving us lessons on climbing

Day 7- The day when we were suppose to go for rock climbing. We were extremely excited, our guide lalu went down and even he was not feeling well and his place was taken by andy. He would be our climbing guide and would accompany us for the summit. We went for a little walk post which he set up a training exercise & explained all about the equipment which were to be used. All of us took a liking to it, and enjoyed ourselves.Also since it was a short day we had plenty of rest as well, but even that didn't do any good to supro's headache or my appetite.

On the way to Ice wall 

Day 8- Most eventful day came when we were to learn ice climbing which would be used to climb the 100 mts 'wall', before summit point. We realized soon that it was gonna be a bad day. Our guide asked us to use plastic boots and reach a frozen ice-wall, where we would practice climbing. The equipments like ice axe, harness etc were also carried by us. And not only it was a long walk, but also it was full of snow and ice. And we climbed a great deal.

Ice climbing

Now walking on ice and snow is difficult even with trek boots, but with plastic boots it becomes horrible. During uphill climbs we would keep slipping. And during downhill walks we wouldn't be sure of our footing. It was painful even on the plains. Supro gave up soon & decided to stop at midpoint. And since the paths on the mountain are so unclear, in fact even our guide needed marks to reach the point and used the same to reach the lodge, that he had to wait at the same point till we came back post the training. After lots of difficulties we reached the practice ice wall, ND set up the equipments. We started giving the practice wall a go. With your hands full with two ice axes & feet covered with plastic boots, climbing the wall which was perpendicular, wasn't easy. Jap went almost till the end of the wall, while i could reach till mid point only.

Andy making Wai-wai noodles

After giving satisfactory number of attempts, we call it quits & andy started preparing lunch for us there. Yes at an altitude of 5000+ mts he made wai-wai noodles for us & also gave mars bar, fruits etc. Even with my f**ed up appetite I finished the noodles, as it took lot of efforts on andy's part to take all the equipment at that altitude & cook for us. We reached back in record time though as andy provoked us by saying we would take at least 4 hours to reach back, proved him wrong and reached back in little over 2 hrs.


Day 9- It was an acclimatisation day, according to itinerary we were to climb till chukkung ri. Supro had decided he would be resting the entire day. Jap & I both started towards the path but after walking for a bit & clicking some good pictures returned back to take some more rest. We spend the day talking with strangers who arrived at chukkung, sharing their experiences & narrating ours. We met a Gujarati married to a Chinese lady & staying at Africa/Dubai, base in Dubai & work in Africa. It was fun meeting this couple & knowing about different places from them as between them they had almost covered the entire globe. Next day was the day when we were to start by afternoon for the journey to base camp & head to Island peak at mid night from there. Because of health issues both me & Supro could not complete our summit, as he was not feeling well & by the time of summit I was not having any appetite & nausea was troubling me big time. Jap completed the Summit, though he took loads of time keeping us waiting.

Personally I managed to enjoy these 9 days due to a combination of awesome music from my N8, great book by Jasper fforde 'The eyre affair', playing 29 or shithead or briskcola with co-trekkers (teaching 29 to all & learning the other two in return), some contemplation & last and most important bakar with strangers.



Awesome color combination, white-silver & green

 Downhill walk- Its much easy to walk down, as you know that the effort would be less & also effects of altitude also keeps reducing. So we started to cover the distance as quickly as possible, on the way down we had a fair share of fun as well. Though same cannot be said about Supro, as he twisted his ankles couple of time while getting down from Chukkung. But Jap & me had a blast, we played Snooker & had seabuckthorn juice at Pangboche. I crossed a board with "Khunde Hospital" mentioned on it, it brought back so many memories. Way back was also much beautiful due to constant snowing, giving the place a completely different look. We would sleep late & wake up early just to spend more time out in the open. The time of parting was fast approaching and we were doing our best to enjoy as much as possible.

On a parallel track was our banter with all cricket playing nation, especially Australians. None of them were spared, as we ensured that they relived the humiliation received by Indian cricket team. Luckily we met a Sri-lankan group on the way to Namche Bazaar where both of our groups had lunch. They all took it in good spirits like the Australians we met & yet again the World cup provided us with an opportunity to share laughter with our fellow trekkers. At Namche bazaar we partied & heard loud music after decent time. Its such a lively town, I doubt there is a better town in world at the given height, at least I can't think of one.

Namche @ night

Walk from Namche bazaar to Lukla was extremely emotional for me, not only did I relive the experience but also I realized first hand the efforts put in by the set of guys who covered it in one night. I ensured we did the same this time, though we cover the distance during day time. And it was beautiful as the dull white & grey gives way to blue & green in this scenic route. All these things were lost on us last time due to obvious reasons, but this time we enjoyed it to the max. We also kept our promise of treating the staff of the lodge at Phakding with chang (Rice beer) as we stopped there for lunch.

Bidya, lalu & all of us

We reached Lukla & treated Bidya to food & alcohol, as he was to leave from Lukla for his village. We had an awesome meal at the same lodge along with toomba (millet liquor) with Bidya opting for Beer. Stayed up till late night chatting with Bidya, Lalu, lady of the lodge. It was a day & evening well spent as the time to say goodbye to mountains had come. We met the Australian elderly couple again here as they took the same flight. After catching up on each other we started discussing other good options for trek. It took us to various places & we wished each other luck & loads of traveling.

memories of a night 'trek'....

During March 2008, we went for a trek in a group of 22. The plan was to cover the Everest base camp (EBC), for which we choose to travel through the cheapest way possible, reaching the border town by train & crossing border on a horse cart. There was no better way of doing it, as we were completely cash strapped. So it wasn't surprising that we opted for no frill trip. Insurance was also out of question as it meant additional cost. We were betting on our luck & our 'fitness' :)


We had done our research on altitude sickness, and made a note of basic precautionary measures like drinking loads of water, taking acclimatization walks, drinking garlic soup, etc. The main objective behind all these precautions was to avoid the cost of helicopter rescue. Without insurance the cost was around 1 lac.


Anyways, so after the adventurous journey & going for the local sightseeing organized by the agency, we started on the trail. We kept ourselves busy with uno, cards, bakar during the evenings, as trek took all of our time during the day. On the way up we also celebrated supro's b'day at Namche bazaar (3440m) with a cake baked at a local cafe, which wasn't before me & jap used our persuasive skill to the maximum possible extent on the chef to make something off the menu. And we had pizzas here, which was the best meal on the way up for most & best meal for the trip for me.


A few of us had breathing problems post Dingboche (4350m) but it was manageable & would only bother during nights. Gorakshep was fun as we decided to sleep in the common area; it was only to stay as close as possible to the furnace. And post that it was a combination of some awesome views, bad weather, avalanche, snowy tracks, etc. And then we started descending, but not before we took loads of pictures clicked here, there & everywhere.


I was pretty happy on the way down, thinking that now I would have better sleep instead of staying awake throughout the night, downhill walks instead of dreary uphill climbs, good food instead of uncooked rice & tasteless water passed off as dal (evidence suggests quality of food is inversely proportional to altitude). But I didn’t knew what was in store for me. On the way back at Thyangboche, we were taken to cafe Tengboche, and for the first time in the trip given an option to select the food ourselves. That day since morning I was not feeling well but couldn't have given up on this opportunity. Hence even I ordered a grilled sandwich. After taking a single bite, I started throwing up. That bite also led to stomach pain. Post that whatever I would try to eat or drink, within a minute I will vomit it out. Stomach pain increased to such an extent I couldn't even walk. My buddy (yes, we had a buddy system for the trek), Jap & DRDO decided to stay with me, as others moved on. I was taken (literally) to Khunde hospital, but they only understood & treated altitude related sickness. Hence without thinking twice they decided to move me to Kathmandu, assumption being that facilities would be better there. Hence 4 porters were arranged, and from Khunde I was taken to Namche where the rest of the group was waiting for 4 of us.


During this period every single medicine was tried, but what went in came out the same way. And the time lag between anything 'going in' & 'coming out' was reducing with time. So after reaching Namche bazaar, post walking throughout the day, guides assess the situation and told the group that I need to be taken to Kathmandu by next day. That means porter would have to carry me throughout the night and reach Lukla by morning so as to catch the first flight to Kathmandu. 5 of my friends including 3 who stayed back with me, decided to come with me. Walking throughout the night, with just torch/headlamp, is not easy in that terrain. And from Phakding to Lukla it was a steep climb up. Hence without taking much rest all of them, 4 porters, 1 guide & 5 of my friends, reached Lukla on time. I was so blinded by the pain that I didn't even think of the ordeal suffered by my friends. And I was shouting in pain throughout, more so when they would stop for some much deserved rest. We had cover the same journey in two days on the way up, and covering the same within a day is still acceptable and many does it on a regular basis. But covering it in a night was a great achievement, especially when 3 of them had walked down from Khunde to Namche during the same day.


So to cut the long story short I reach Kathmandu on time, got admitted to hospital without any improvement, took first flight to Kolkata, got admitted to a hospital for 22 days after landing, missed my convocation, had to survive on food which made me miss uncooked rice & watery dal of mountains, etc.


But this trip made me realize a few things,
1. Friends would go all the way for you when they think your life is at stake. Rest of the times they will keep thinking of ways to have fun at your expense.
2. They didn't name the trek, E'BC' for no reason :)
3. You would need insurance only when you don't have it and vice versa
4. 'Jo gir-gir karta hai, wohi girta hai' :P