Mustang and Lo Manthang | The Itinerary Part II

South Col Expeditions had a team of eight trekkers to Mustang and Lo Manthang in April 2015. The first part of the journey is covered in this blog post:

http://www.sujoyrdas.blogspot.com/2015/09/mustang-and-lo-manthang-itinerary-part-i.html

This is the second and concluding part.

April 23 2015

Drakmar

It was a windy and cold morning at Drakmar and we waited for the sun to hit the trail before setting out at 8 am. The trail initially travelled through the village and then entered a canyon with steep walls and amazing rock formations. The trail then started a steep climb to the pass of Mui La 4070m. There were some steep switchbacks and the path finally went through a narrow canyon which opened out onto the pass in about an hour and ten minutes. The trail then traversed a ridge for about 15 min and reached another pass on the other end of the ridge.

Ghar Gompa from the trail above

 From the  second pass the trail dropped steeply to Ghar Gompa which is about an hour from the pass. From the pass the high route to Lo Manthang across the Marangla pass can be seen. Below are the twin villages of Lo Gekar and Marang.  The spectacular Ghar Gompa is situated at the end of the valley pressed against the hill side. We left Ghar Gompa around 1 pm and travelled due east down a broad trail to the village of Lo Gekar and then onto Marang in about 45 min. From Marang cross a long suspension bridge and then reach Tsarang in about two hours from Ghar Gompa.

April 24 2015

We left Tsarang at 8am and walked down to the river. Cross the river on a bridge and then start the climb up on the other side to a small pass which is reached within one hour. From this pass the trail follows the jeep road climbing slowly until it reaches a large attractive chorten in yellow orange and white at the bottom of a climb in about an hour and a half.

From the chorten the trail climbs up again to another small pass and then again climbs across a large level windswept plain for about another hour until it reaches the last pass. Below lies the walled city of Lo Manthang about forty minutes away. The walk on this day was the hardest of the trek due to the  relentless wind, long distances and a long stretch on the jeep able road. Further there is no  tea shop anywhere between Tsarang and Lo Manthang.

April 25 2015

We had decided the previous evening to go to the Chosser caves in the morning but when we woke up the weather was dark and grim - low clouds hung over the mountains to the north and fresh snows covered the peaks. So instead we stayed at Lo and visited the walled city with its splendid monasteries and frescoes many in need of restoration. The mandala frescoes were particularly outstanding.

Lo Manthang

Nearing noon we visited the studio of a tankha painter and while we were there the earthquake struck. Michele, one of our trekkers from Australia  who was ill was sleeping in her upstairs room and was helped out by Shyam and our porter Bikram and shell shocked she was put on the road on a mattress.  The owner of our lodge Mystic Himalayan Ram Gurung suggested that she be put on oxygen and he hooked her onto to an oxygen cylinder.  We did I not know then about the intensity of the earthquake. I tried calling Kathmandu but all lines were busy.  Finally on the CDMA sky phone I was able to call Paula who told me that the epicentre was north of Pokhara.

With the quake and Michele's illness we decided to cut short the last day and start our return journey by jeep as planned. We left Lo at around 2pm.  There were thirteen of us in a long wheel base Mahindra jeep and it was a very  tight squeeze.

The jeep ride down to Chuksang

Within half an hour of leaving  a rock fall which had occurred due to the landslide blocked the road and Shyam and the porters had to get down and clear the rocks. The  weather had also become ominous and a few drops of rain had started to fall. The jeep careered down the darkening hillside the grey brown cliffs of Mustang assuming a monstrous hue. We had planned to reach Chuksang but were told that this jeep would go up to Shyanmochen only.

Just before Shyanmochen the road had become caked in mud and the jeep slipped across  a number of times and tethered very close to the edge. We finally all got off and walked up the hill for a short distance to the waiting jeep. We reached a river flowing across the road and had to tranship to another jeep. Finally around 7 pm we reached the Himali guest house in Samar and decided to call it a day. It had been a very long day and we were all exhausted.

We tried to use our phones but all lines were busy and we were unable to reach anyone's phone.  We still had no idea about the severity of the earthquake. At around 11 pm there was a knocking on my door. It was Bikram. A  phone call from Santaman had conveyed really bad news- Shyam's father had died, their house had collapsed and most of the two hundred houses in the village had been raised to the ground. I went down in the freezing night to find Shyam sitting outside the lodge sobbing loudly. I somehow got him to bed but there was no further sleep for any of us that night. The enormity of this tragedy really hit me then.

April 26th 2015

The next morning also dawned ominous and angry. It had again snowed at night and a weak and watery sun was trying to push its way through the clouds. We left for Chuksang around 7 30 am. Fortunately there were no landslides and we entered Chuksang in about 75 minutes.

We had planned to take another jeep to Jomsom but learnt that there was a big landslide ten minutes ahead which had blocked the road. The landslide could not be cleared in the next two hours and finally we crossed the slide on foot. There were jeeps waiting on the other side and we got to Kagbeni in about 45 minutes.

Crossing a landslide at Chusang

The final drive to Jomsom took about another hour and dusty, weather beaten and exhausted we entered the Windy Valley Hotel. We then learnt of the severity of the quake and that Kathmandu, many districts in the vicinity had been very badly affected.

April 27th 2015

At Jomsom below Nilgiri

We had managed to pre pone our tickets on the Jomsom Pokhara flight and we had been assigned the third flight of the morning at 8.20am. The morning was clear at  Jomsom and Niligiri could be seen clearly behind the tarmac. But no flights came that morning. We tried to get a jeep but none of the jeeps were available. Finally around 9.30 am we managed to get a local bus which was going all the way to Pokhara.

Archana in the bus down to Pokhara

The dirt track to Pokhara was more suited for a pony than a vehicle. The 74km section to Beni took us seven hours and the final 81 km to Pokhara was covered in around three hours. Dog tired, shaken and exhausted we had completed this bone rattling journey all the way from Lo Manthang at around 3850m through the deep gorge of the Kali Gandaki to Pokhara around 850m in three days. We were lucky to have escaped unscathed.

Mustang and Lo Manthang | The Itinerary Part I

The sky caves of Mustang

April 19  2015

 South Col had a group of eight trekkers to Mustang and Lo Manthang last April 2015. The morning dawned clear in Pokhara and all the peaks were visible after the rain the previous evening.  Our 7 am flight to Jomsom was bang on time and I was sitting on the left side so I had splendid views of the peaks including Dhaulagiri, Nilgiri and Tukuche. I could also clearly see below me the route we had taken on so many treks - Austrian camp, Poon hill and the valley of the Kali Gandaki . On the right side of the aircraft was visible the Annapurnas and Machapuchare.

Dhaulagiri from the flight between Pokhara and Jomsom

The Kali Gandaki valley near Jomsom

We had breakfast at Windy Valley Jomsom and left around 8- 50am for Kagbeni. The current road followed the right bank of the Kali Gandaki though for most of the way there were a large number of jeeps ferrying Indian pilgrims to the holy temple of Muktinath. We reached Eklai Bhatti in about an hour and a half as it was the first day and we were not yet acclimatised. We entered Kagbeni around noon and stayed at the Yakdonalds hotel which had good food but poor dark rooms which also had a peculiar smell!  We also visited the interesting Kag Chode monastery with a monastery school for young lamas.

Jomsom airport and Nilgiri

April 20 2015

Shyam our sirdar and I were at the permit office by 6 am and we finally got the permits stamped and completed by 6.45am. Next to the permit office is Cafe Applebee's with a dress circle view over the Kali Gandaki and the entrance of Upper Mustang. Standing there in the early morning light and watching the Kali Gandaki flowing gently through the gorge with the first rays of the sun lighting up the red and ochre cliffs was a breathtaking experience.

The Kali Gandaki before Kagbeni

We left for Chuksang in a jeep as we wanted to gain some time on the first day and make better progress into Mustang. The jeep ran on a dirt track road and in forty minutes reached Chuksang - what would have taken us four hours on the trail! Chuksang is a very impressive village with green fields of freshly planted vegetables backed by sheer cliffs in a myriad of shapes and patterns. The sculpted rock canyons of upper Mustang start here and many have the famous sky caves of Mustang built into the rocks!

The village of Chuksang

We had breakfast at the Brakpa guest house where the omelette and toast was excellent!  We left Chuksang at around 9 05am and the trail crossed a small stream and then followed the right bank of the Kali Gandaki.  In about fifty minutes the trail crosses two bridges up ahead and above we saw the village of Chele.  We then climbed a slope for about 20 minutes and stopped at Hotel Mustang Gate for a welcome cup of tea. Nilgiri dominates the view back across the Kali Gandaki .

Some members of the South Col group to Mustang

From Chele the trail continues to climb gently up the hillside and passes a school in about 15 min. It then continues for another 35 minutes and across the valley the village of Gyekar can be seen.  The trail then starts a steep climb clinging to the side of a canyon and in a series of hairpin bends gains altitude heading up to the pass of Chele la 3630 m.  In around 75 to 80 min from the start of the climb the pass is reached and from there is a gentle 20 min stroll down to the village of Samar.

Samar which is around 3600 m boasts an excellent view of the Trans Himalaya. Nilgiri dominates the view but there is a long line of peaks to the east most of them possibly unnamed and to the west is Tukuche and possibly the summit of Dhaulagiri as well. We stayed at Hotel Himali in Samar which is a basic facility like most of the tea houses in Upper Mustang.

April 21 2015

We left Samar at 7 15am. The morning was clear and there was a splendid view of the mountains. As we left the red and ochre chortens were getting the first light - ponies were grazing below the chortens while an old woman with grizzled features turned prayer wheels below the chortens. The trail left the main gate of Samar and then descended into a gorge. It crossed a small stream and then started climbing steeply up the hill side for about 30 min and reached a clearing with another great view of the snows. The trail then followed the side of the hill climbing steadily in the hot sun.  In about one and a half hours we reached the pass of Bhena La and a 15 min stroll down the hill brought us to the one house of Bhena where we stopped for a cup of tea.

Typical Mustang chortens at Samar

From Bhena the trail to the Yamdo La is clearly visible across the hill.  The trail initially follows the jeep able road and  begins a climb up the hill side for about 40 min. It then rejoins the jeep able road and makes a gentle climb to the pass of Yamdo La 4010m. Yamdo La is reached about 75 min from Bhena and has an almost 360 degree view starting from the peaks on the Tibetan frontier  to  the peaks above Thorung La and then towards the North face of Nilgiri. From the pass Shyangbochen is seen below and is around  40 min down the hill on the jeep road.

Heading down from Yamdo La to Shyanbochen

We had lunch at the Hotel Nilgiri and left after lunch around 1.15pm. A ten minute walk uphill reaches a small pass from where the village of Ghelling could be seen about 75 minutes away.

April 22 2015

We left Ghilling at around 7 40 am.  We stayed the night at a small guest house which had minimal facilities and as we got only three rooms I used my tent for the night.  I found that the tent had iced up at night and the inner wall was damp with condensation. The trail initially travelled north climbing gently and reaches the bottom of the Nyi La pass in about 90 minutes. A half hour climb to the top brings up another spectacular view of the peaks including Annapurna 3 and Nilgiri. The trail then drops from the pass and joins the jeepable road . It then follows the road for about 45 minutes and then joins a walking trail marked “way to Ghemi”. The trail reaches another small pass in about 15 minutes and then drops steeply down the valley from where the village of Ghemi can be seen.

We stopped for lunch at the Royal Mustang hotel which had an excellent apple pie which was finished by our group. We left Ghemi at 1.10 pm and the trail  goes through the village and down to the river. Cross the river and start climbing up the other side gradually to reach another pass in about an hour. From the pass looking down the longest Mani wall in Nepal can be seen below as well as the bends of the jeep road. From the pass the trail levels off and reaches Drakmar in an hour. This part of the walk is spectacular as it  snakes its way  below the red cliffs of Drakmar.

The red cliffs of Drakmar

..... to be continued next week on  12th  September 2015 at 
http://sujoyrdas.blogspot.com/2015/09/mustang-and-lo-manthang-itinerary-part.html

The Boardman Tasker Prize Long List for 2015

The Boardman Tasker prize is given every year to one outstanding book on mountain literature. This is one of the most prestigious awards a mountain  book can get and this year the list of books are awesome. It would be a very difficult job for the jury to pick a winner from the list below. In the meantime while the jury deliberates and decides,  try to read as many of these great books as you can.

My personal recommendations are :

Alpine Warriors

Bernadette McDonald

ISBN 978-1-771601-09-2

The Ghosts of K2: The epic saga of the first ascent ISBN 978-1-78074-595-4

Mick Conefrey

Becoming a Mountain: Himalayan journeys in search of the sacred and the sublime ISBN 978-1-62872-510-0

Stephen Alter

Everest Revealed: the Private Diaries and sketches of Edward Norton 1922-24 ISBN 978-0-7509-5585-0

Christopher Norton

The long list for 2015 is below: Entries
Village of Secrets Defying the Nazis in Vichy France ISBN 978-0-701-18641-8	Caroline Moorhead	Chatto & Windus
After the Wind 1996 Everest Tragedy One Survivor's Story ISBN 978-1-9940877-00-6	Lou Kasischke	Good Hart Publishing LC
Denali's Howl ISBN 978-0-593-07445-9	Andy Hall	Transworld
The Scent of Juniper:Poems of the Himalayas ISBN 978-0692328941	Dr Mikel Vause	Kelsay Books
Make or Break: Don't Let climbing Injuries Dictate Your Success ISBN 9780956428134	David MacLeod	Rare Breed Productions
Statement: The Ben Moon Story ISBN 978-1-906148-98-0	Ed Douglas	Vertebrate Publishing
The Great mountain Crags of Scotland ISBN 978-1-906148-89-8	Guy Robertson & Adrian Crofton	Vertebrate Publishing
One Day as a Tiger ISBN 978-1-910240-08-3	John Porter	Vertebrate Publishing
Beyond Limits ISBN 978-1-910240-19-9	Steve McClure	Vertebrate Publishing
Mount Hood: Adventures of the Wy'East Climbers, 1930-1942 ISBN 978-0-9887339-2-3	Ric Conrad	Kahuna Books
Wilderness Weekends ISBN 978-1-84162-9124	Phoebe Smith	Bradt Travel Guides
Steps ISBN 978-1-906175-24-5	Mark Goodwin	Longbarrow Press
Snowblind: Tales of Alpine Obsession ISBN 978-1-61902-453-3	Daniel Arnold	Counterpoint
The Blind Man of Hoy ISBN 978-1-910124-22-2	Red Szell	Sandstone Press
Becoming a Mountain: Himalayan journeys in search of the sacred and the sublime ISBN 978-1-62872-510-0	Stephen Alter	Arcade Publishing, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing
The Calling: A Life Rocked ISBN 978-1-938340-31-4	Barry Blanchard	Patagonia
The Tower: A Chronicle of Climbing & Controversy on Cerro Torre ISBN 978-1-938340-33-8	Kelly Cordes	Patagonia
Everest Revealed: the Private Diaries and sketches of Edward Norton 1922-24 ISBN 978-0-7509-5585-0	Christopher Norton	The History Press
The Adventure Game: A Cameraman's Tales from Films at the Edge ISBN 978-1-910124-31-4	Keith Partridge	Sandstone Press
Wild Nights ISBN 978-1-84953-699-8	Phoebe Smith	Summersdale
The Sunlit Night ISBN 978-1-4088-6303-9	Rebecca Dinerstein	Bloomsbury Publishing
Rise ISBN 978-1-4088-5792-2	Karen Campbell	Bloomsbury Press
In Some Lost Place ISBN 9781-1910240-37-3	Sandy Allen	Vertebrate Publishing
Between the Sunset and the Sea ISBN 978-0-00-754540	Simon Ingram	William Collins, an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers
Going Up is Easy ISBN 978-0-14-357323-4	Lydia Bradley	Penguin NZ
The Ghosts of K2: The epic saga of the first ascent ISBN 978-1-78074-595-4	Mick Conefrey	OneWorld Publications
Too Close To God ISBN 978-0-9918076-5-9	Jeff Long	Imaginary Mountain Surveyors
Abode of the Gods ISBN 978-1-85284-771-5	Kev Reynolds	Cicerone Press Ltd
A Life on the Edge: Eric Jones ISBN 978-1-84527-549-5	Greg Lewis	Gwasg Carreg Gwalch
Extreme Eiger ISBN 978-1-47113-460-9	Peter Gillman & Leni Gillman	Simon & Schuster UK Ltd
Alpine Warriors ISBN 978-1-771601-09-2	Bernadette McDonald	Rocky Mountain Books
Cold Feet, Stories of a Middling Climber ISBN 978-0692305560	David Pagel	Self published
The Naked Mountaineer, Misadventures of an Alpine Traveler ISBN 978-0-8032-4879-3	Steve Sieberson	University of Nebraska Press
Mountains: Oblique Angles ISBN 978-0-9933659-0-4	Alison Ireland	Hour of Writes Ltd
Run or Die ISBN 978-0-241-00485-2	Kilian Jornet	Viking, Penguin Random House
Apprentice to the Masters of the Golden Age	Pat Ament	e-book

For more details on the prize and winning books of earlier years  do visit www.boardmantasker.com

Galen Rowell

August 23rd 2015

Galen Rowell would have been 75 years old today. A cruel twist of fate took him away on August 11, 2002 in a plane crash. A multi faceted personality he was a photographer, a mountain climber as well as a writer

Though Rowell was primarily a landscape photographer, he was not averse to other forms of photography as well. He spent long hours waiting for the right light for his photos. Living in California, the nationals parks like Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings Canyon were his back yard  including Owens Valley in the Sierra Nevada and  it is here that he did some of his most splendid work.

A Rowell photo has a distinctive stamp on it and if you are familiar with his work you would probably recognise the photographs.

He pioneered a photo technique using a filter called the split neutral density filter in varying strengths to lift the shadow detail in a high contrast landscape shot. Rowell was so successful at this that the boutique filter company called Singh-Ray developed split  ND filters based on what Rowell had pioneered!

One of his most famous images is the rainbow over the Potala Palace in Tibet. The story goes that when the rainbow appeared in the sky Rowell was no where near the Potala. He ran to the Palace and positioned himself in such a location that the rainbow seemed to emanate from the roof of the Potala an amazing shot which has become a signature Rowell print as well.

Some of his great photographs are reproduced below and have been an inspiration to photographers all over the world!

“Galen Rowell was a man who went into the mountains, into the desert, to the edge of the sea, to the last great wild places in the world to be absorbed by their grace and grandeur. That is what he did for himself. For the rest of us, he shared his vision with—click—the release of a shutter, creating photographs as timeless, as stunning, and as powerful as nature itself.”
–Tom Brokaw, from the foreword of Galen Rowell: A Retrospective

For details of Galen's work and the gallery he established in Bishop,  do visit www.mountainlight.com  and for an essay from the Sierra Club archives do visit  http://vault.sierraclub.org/books/photos/rowell/ 

Markha Valley Trek | Photos

Night skies and stars at the Markha campsite

The summer months are the season for Ladakh and the most popular trek is the Markha Valley. I have watched the Markha trek graduate from a camping only trek to a home stay trek and now there are multiple home stays in each village.  Meals are also available at the homestays so a small group of trekkers could do the  Markha trek  without camping support during season time.

This year  Markha has been in the news - there was a report in the newspapers last week that due to flash floods and rising rivers many foreign trekkers had to be evacuated from the valley by helicopter.

Hopefully the weather has now settled and the rivers will go down gradually allowing trekking to resume.

I last did the Markha in September 2013 and here are some photographs from that trek which should be of interest to all Ladakh visitors.

Crossing the river at Chilling

Tea tent in the season at Skiu

Looking east below the monastery of Markha

Typical Markha valley landscape on the trail to Hankar

Hankar village 

One of our group snoozing with Kang Yatse peak in the back ground

On the trail to Nimaling

The pass of Kongmaru la looking back at Kangyatse peak

Homestay kitchen at Chokdo the last day of our trek

My outfit South Col Expeditions runs trek to Ladakh and different parts of the Himalaya. For more details do visit www.southcol.com.

For more photographs and articles on the Markha Valley please visit the following  links

http://www.sujoyrdas.blogspot.in/2014/02/the-markha-valley-trek-part-i.html

http://sujoyrdas.blogspot.in/2014/03/the-markha-valley-trek-part-ii.html

http://www.sujoydas.com/Ladakh-and-Zanskar/The-Markha-Valley-Trek-Ladakh/

http://www.sujoydas.com/SujoyDas/Outlook-Traveller-The-Markha/i-w9JL6Fs/A

Nikon | New Lenses for Full Frame D-SLRs

Nikon has introduced another three new lenses for full frame D-SLRs. These lenses can also be used on DX bodies taking into account the 1.5 crop factor. I am particularly excited about the fast prime 24 f1.8 mm and the extremely competitively priced 200-500 tele zoom suitable for wildlife and sports  without breaking the bank!

Nikon 24 F1.8G  Weight 335 gms; List Price $749
The 24 F1/8G lens is a typically fast wide angle prime which is useful in a host of situations. This is the sixth 1.8 prime which Nikon has added  - the others were the 20mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm. Hence, Nikon shooters now looking for prime lenses to supplement their zooms are spoiled for choice. The  lens is both fast and light weight and competes favourably with the professional 1.4 lens which costs twice as much and is also heavy. Photographers needing a fast wide angle to shoot in low light conditions and in cramped interiors need look no further!

Nikon 200-500 F5.6E VR Weight : 2300 gms List Price $1399
Nikon has a professional model 200-400 F4 lens which sells at around  $7000 so this lens is an attractive proposition for wild life and sports shooters. It gives up one stop as compared to the pro lens but is much lighter and costs a great deal less. The competition in this range comes from Tamron and Sigma both of whom have lenses going upto 600 mm with a 6.3 aperture and are a shade lighter. We need to see the test results from this lens, but I suspect that the image quality will be good at this price point. On a DX body the lens becomes a super tele going upto 750mm without a tele convertor. Photographers considering this lens should also look at the combination of the new 300 F4 E VR with TC 1.4 which would be excellent for mammals but a little short for birds.

Nikon 24-70 ED VR AF-S f2.8 Weight: 1070 gms; List Price: $2399
The 24-70 is a professional grade zoom lens from Nikon which gets the added advantage of VR which was missing in the earlier model. The lens also gains in weight as well as in cost. The old lens without VR was excellent optically and those of you who have the earlier lens may not be inclined to upgrade to this new model. First time buyers looking for a professional grade normal zoom should consider this newer model along with the 24-120 F4 VR which is also an excellent lens but gives up one stop!

For more information on these new offerings from Nikon do visit:

http://www.popphoto.com/three-new-nikon-lenses-24-70mm-f-28-vr-200-500mm-f-56-fx-and-24mm-f-18

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/24mm-f18.htm#rex

http://www.digitaltrends.com/photography/nikon-new-pro-lenses/

South Col Expeditions | New Updated Web Site

We have just uploaded the new and updated web site for South Col Expeditions www.southcol.com.

The site is better structured and has a lot of information on our treks and information on acclimatisation, altitude sickness, routes and a lot more.

Some of the  screen shots of the updated web site is given below:

Do visit the new site. We welcome your feedback and suggestions!

Green Lakes Trek: Panorama from Rest Camp

South Col Expeditions trekked the route to the north-east base camp of Kangchenjunga in the Zemu Valley, North Sikkim. Here is a video from  our Green Lakes trek which gives a good idea of the terrain and the vews




Green Lakes is controlled by a strict permit system which some times takes months to get. However, those who are tenacious enough to follow this up usually get the permit and will be rewarded with a superb trek through pristine country.

The forests of the Zemu valley are quite amazing as are the mountains.

This was my second visit to Green Lakes after 1987 and I was saddened to see that the fair size pool of water had now dried up and become a small muddy pond.

For more information on the Green Lakes trek please visit the following links

http://www.southcol.com/treks-nepal/green-lakes-trek-in-north-sikkim/

http://www.sujoydas.com/SujoyDas/The-Green-Lakes-Trek-in-the-Ze/

http://www.sujoydas.com/Sikkim-Himalaya/The-Forests-of-the-Zemu-Valley/