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| Young girl in village of Somdang |
We awoke early this morning and were greeted by the grand views of the Ganesh Mountain Range and the sweet taste of chai (tea) brought to our tents by the cooking staff. After a breakfast of tea, hot cereal, corn cakes, and omelets we packed the one small daypack we were expected to carry and started our trek. The cooking staff was split into two groups, one that would leave early in the morning each day to prepare our hot lunch on the trail, and another group that would stay behind to cook us breakfast and then clean up after we started to hike. (This second group would inevitably catch and pass us on the trail long before lunch.) The porters all carried about 40 Kilograms (90 pounds) in large baskets on their backs supported only by a long strap that was strung around their forehead. No shoulder or waist straps held these massive loads, only the porter's sturdy necks. Some porters will carry up to 220 pounds in this manner!
Our hike over the next two days will take us through some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. This morning as we ascend higher and higher we walk through many pine and rhododendron forests. The day is clear, our packs are light, but our pace is slow due to the elevation and the relatively easy existence that the three other doctors and I have lived at sea level. We stopped for lunch today at 12,000 feet elevation. This flat clearing in the woods over-looks the valley and last evening's campsite that we toiled three hours to rise above.
Near the end of lunch it starts to hail, a reminder that we are in the mountains, and the afternoon's hike takes us up a steep, icy climb through sleet and hail. The ground underneath is wet and slick, our breathing labored. After an hour of hiking we reach Khurpu Pass at 13,000 feet. There is still snow here, attributed to the long and tough winter. This is the first time that HHC has hiked in snow in its nine-year history.
At the pass we take a break and meet seven Nepali porters, four women and three men, all from the same family. Since leaving camp our group has been playing a "Tortoise and Hare" game with this family; each of our group members catching and passing this family on the trail, and then in turn being caught and passed while we rested. We are clearly the Hare, our fast and eager start after each resting spot is quickly slowed to a slow walk and even another rest stop soon there after. The Nepali family, slow and methodical under their Goliath-sized loads, use their wisdom of the mountains to hike an even pace, rarely stopping even for water. This family is also heading to Tipling, but they will do the three-day hike in two days and each carrying over 120 pounds. As both our groups rested on the pass I was struck by the refreshing simplicity of this family; all of them squatting in a resting position; their thick, leathery bare feet planted firmly in the icy mud; their short, thin bodies clad in homemade woolen cloth; eating only cold, cooked rice with their weathered hands. The complexity and stress of my urban life and medical residency was starting to ebb away.
Once over the pass we descend for two hours through a green, lush valley, moist with rain, and enter the village of Somdang at 10,500 feet elevation. This small community is a lead and zinc mining town on a river that is formed by the merging of two mountains; the one that we just hiked over and one that we will ascend tomorrow. This evening we set our tents among the village huts and enjoy a delicious fresh chicken curry made from one of the villager's bounty. We had walked nine hours today-our first day out!
After breakfast we start our long ascent to Phangsand Pass. We climb for five hours up through a rhododendron and alpine forest and then cross a series of steep ridges on a narrow path. One step to our right is thick, soft mountain grass. One step to our left is a 1,000-foot drop into the valley below. We break for lunch at the pass, which still has a dusting of snow from the long winter. It is quite cold and windy and we need to put on extra layers.
The pass is at an elevation of 14,000 feet and has a line of Mani stones (Buddhist prayer sites) that mark the edge of the trail. Strung between these ten-foot monuments of neatly piled stones are several Buddhists prayer flags that snap loudly in the brisk wind. Behind us are the Ganesh Himals, looking westward over the pass are the remaining Ganesh Himals that divide the Everest and Annapurna ranges. And as far as one can see down the valley is the village of Tipling, where our first medical stop is in another day and a half.
After another masterful hot lunch we nap next to the Mani stones, protecting us from the wind, and under the prayer flags, protecting us from evil spirits. The remaining part of the day is spent with a steep and rocky three-hour descent into the valley of Mar Melung at an elevation of 9,000 feet. Here we camp for the evening in a grassy meadow shared with local headsmen grazing their cattle. It rains most of the evening, the higher elevations will be blanketed with snow. I dose off to the patter of rain on my tent and the softening clang of cow-bells as the headsmen make their way home. |
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