Introduction. Kathmandu - Lukla (Lukla 2840) - Jorsale (Jorsale 2803) - Namche Bazar (Namche Bazar 3404). Namche Bazar. Days one to three.
Well, perhaps I can start telling you about how my photo trip through three passes in the Sagarmatha National Park in April-May of this year was going. The route is well-trodden, but still not the most popular, after all, it is not a trek to the Everest base camp, although the trek to the Everest base camp is also very beautiful and, in my opinion, far from the easiest in Nepal, but I will tell you about the route through three passes, which in turn also includes the Everest base camp, the village of Gorakshep, the Kalapathar viewpoint (I can’t bring myself to call Kalapathar a mountain) and much more.
First, a few words about the passes themselves, which three passes I passed, with what tasks and in what execution:)
I walked from west to east and passed the passes in the following order: Renjo La (5360 m), Cho La (5330 m) and Kongma La (5535 m). I walked with a tent, warm clothes, gas, food, in general, everything necessary for autonomous life at altitudes of more than 5000 meters, and also carried a backpack with photographic equipment. Since many people have been asking lately what kind of photographic equipment I carry with me to the mountains, I think it would not be superfluous to provide a list of the photographic equipment that I had with me this time:
Camera: Canon 5d mark II
Lenses: Canon EF 17-40 f/4.0L and 70-200 f/2.8L
Various filters in quantity of 5 pieces and holders for them
Wired Remote Control for Long Exposure Shooting
Tripod
I left my laptop in Kathmandu for the first time, usually I take it with me, but not this time:) MacBook Pro 13′
The weight of all this without the laptop, I think, is about 8 kilograms.
The weight of my two backpacks when fully loaded is no less than 30 kg, maybe 32 :) At the beginning of the journey, Alexander Popov joined me (sanders_po), but then due to differences in plans and health conditions we decided to split up and follow our own routes. But we started from Kathmandu together and actually I want to move on to this first day, to start everything in order and follow my daily notes that I kept in my notebook every evening:)
So, let's go!
Day 1. 17.04.2013
Sanya and I left Kathmandu for Lukla on Sita's first plane at about 6:30 a.m., for this we arrived at the airport at about 5:15 a.m. and, oddly enough, the airport was closed by that time. At first, there were only three tourists hanging around the airport doors, but very soon people began to arrive sharply, mostly in groups. One of the groups was Canadian and their team leader, a fat mustachioed man, having learned that we were Russian, presented me with a banknote of 50 Russian rubles. He said it was for luck.
But luck didn't turn to face us right away. At the airport entrance, after scanning our things, the security service asked us to take the gas out of our backpacks and leave it here. I still don't understand why, it's not hand luggage, why can't I put gas in there? How does gas get to that region at all, do they drag it along the ground? I won't believe it!
Further registration went well, as did the flight itself, literally 25 minutes into the flight we safely landed on the stub of a runway in Lukla. I won't go into detail about the airfield in Lukla, I'll just say that it is one of the most dangerous airfields in the world, there are plenty of details on the Internet.
It turned out to be more difficult with the luggage, Sanya's backpack arrived, but for some reason mine didn't, to my questions addressed to the airline employees, I received the answer that I had to wait, part of the luggage from this flight was flying on another plane. And indeed, about half an hour later the plane landed, very small and without passengers, but with my backpack, well and not only with mine of course.
Well, then forward and only forward. Sanya and I loaded our backpacks and went, it was still quite early, somewhere around 8:30, the whole day was still ahead. About an hour later we stopped for breakfast, by that time we were already very hungry. After breakfast we went on.
These are the smart mules we came across on our way. The mules are returning from Namche back to Lukla already lightly, tomorrow is a new working day, tomorrow they will go back to Namche, but already loaded.
On this day we decided not to go to Namche, in principle we had planned it that way from the start, since in Namche the altitude is completely different and even if I had been able to handle such a difference, since I had already gone to Langtang and had several overnight stays at 4400 m, but Sana would definitely have had a hard time after the zero Moscow temperatures.
We stopped at the last settlement before the start of the big climb to Namche, in a place called Jorsale 2803 m. (from here on the altitude is given in accordance with the data from my GPS Garmin eTrex 20, this altitude was usually recorded at the point of my overnight stay, be it a lodge or a place of camping in a tent).
We settled in, had lunch and went for a little walk and took some photos. The weather today is not very photographic, cloudy and periodically drizzling, but you need to do something:)
We crossed the bridge to the opposite side of the river and went not along the main path, as if towards Namche, but up. We still didn’t understand where this path leads, but the path is confident, in any case there is some village there. We met a guy with yaks going down.
When I dress like I would at home, I look like a jester:))
Another thing is Sanya, a real tracker:)
Literally a couple of minutes later, a horseman on a dashing horse galloped across the same bridge at full speed.
I caught myself in the reflection, my face still looks human here, later I'll show you what the sun did to me in two days in the snow:)
We had Dal Bata for dinner, and before going to bed we watched part of the new film "Django Unchained" on Sasha's iPad. Tarantino delighted us as always!
We went to bed at around 8:00 pm.
GPS data from the Lukla - Jorsale section:
Distance - 14.5 km
Travel time: 3h 45 min
Total time - 5h 08m
Average speed in motion - 3.6 km/h
Prices on the menu:
Noodles soup - 250
Dal Bhat - 450
Omelette - 200
Coffee with milk - 80
Tea - 70
Day 2. 04/18/2013
I slept great, woke up at about 5:50. Sanya complains that he has a cold, which is of course not very good.
From Jorsale to Namche we walked at a leisurely pace, I stopped at the bridge at the very bottom and shot a little at the yaks crossing the river, porters, tourists, climbers, in general at everyone who came under the barrel of my lens:)
From this bridge to Namche Bazaar itself there is one continuous climb, many have a hard time here, even those who go light, after all the altitude exceeds 3000 meters, and the physical fitness of many trekkers leaves much to be desired, so I do not even dare to guess how much time it takes some to climb. But we, as I already said, also walked slowly and got to Namche somewhere around 11 o'clock. Here is the data from my GPS on this section:
Jorsale - Namche Bazaar
Distance - 6.5 km
Travel time: 1h 56 min
Total time - 3h 09m
Average speed in motion 3.4 km/h
And the porters pull their strap and get through this section in a maximum of an hour:)
In Namche we settled into the lodge where I stayed 2 years ago, called Sun Site Lodge. The lodge is not big, the prices are reasonable, the hostess is a very nice Tibetan grandmother, the downside is that the toilet is outside.
The first thing we decided to do was take a shower, a bucket of hot water cost 200 rupees. A shower in the mountains is a real holiday, it is both warmth and cleanliness, one of the few pleasures for the body that you can afford not every day:)
After the shower we went for a walk, the plan was to have lunch and buy gas.
We bought gas for 550 rupees per 230 gram cylinder, I think it's very reasonable, I thought gas would be more expensive in Namche. We bought 4 cylinders. For comparison, in Kathmandu such a cylinder costs 300 rupees.
Then we found an inexpensive local cafe, where there was no menu and only one dish was served for lunch - momo with meat. I asked to make momo soup and they did not refuse me. The momo soup with meat cost us 150 rupees per serving:)
After lunch I finished watching Django Unchained. Tarantino is still a genius!
I took a short nap during the day, and then we made plans for the next couple of days. We decided to stay in Namche tomorrow, make an acclimatization hike, and the day after tomorrow go higher towards the Renjo La pass, reach the village of Tame or a little higher and stay in tents.
Closer to evening we went for a walk around the area and tried to take some pictures, the light went away very quickly and everything was covered with clouds, I managed to shoot a couple of frames. I took the main photo in this post that evening.
For dinner we had Dal Bhat.
Prices from the menu:
Dal Bhat - 400
Tibetan bread - 240
Oatmeal - 230
Omelette with cheese - 220
Coffee with milk - 70
Day - 3. 04/19/2013
Somehow I was saved by a large number of dreams. I dreamed of the sea and snow and also some lion that wanted to eat me:))
Woke up at 6:10.
After breakfast we went on an acclimatization hike. We decided not to reinvent the wheel but to go around the village of Khumjung (Khumjung 3780 m.) The highest point of this circle is somewhere around 3850 m.
Namche from above.
There is a dirt runway above Namche, I thought that some special planes should land on such a runway, but no, it turned out that they are the most ordinary ones:)
In the second photo you can see people rising from the left, so they are rising from Namche and the plane taking off right above their heads, to put it mildly, was a surprise for them:)))
Sanya the volleyball player found himself a volleyball court here too:)
View towards Lukla.
I returned to Namche very hungry and immediately went to eat, and Sanya went to rest, he does not feel very well at all. I had lunch in the same local with the same momos, and after lunch I took a nap for half an hour. Closer to the evening we went to the local market, I bought some more noodles, snickers, peanuts, we also took 10 eggs and I also bought 200 grams of butter, I am very happy about it! Once again I am surprised how much you begin to appreciate the simplest things in the mountains:)
Butter 200 gr. - 200
Eggs - 20 rupees 1 piece.
Noodles (like Rollton) - 40
Snickers - 70
Namche Bazaar - Thame (Thame 3800 m.) Thame. Days four to five.
Day - 4. 20.04.2013
Today we set out towards Tame. The plan was to climb a little higher than the village and pitch tents at an altitude of 3900 - 4000 m, but things didn't quite work out that way.
Sanya feels bad, he has a cold and acclimatization, basically everything together, so when we reached Tame, Sanya said that he would stay here and he would not pitch a tent but a lodge. I didn't go any further either, but pitched a tent near the village, today the weather is just disgusting, very cloudy, drizzling, then it turned into snow and rain. But overall, everything is great with me, I feel good and tomorrow I will go higher and judging by everything, I will go alone.
This is how it looked today when the clouds parted a little, but for most of the day there was simply no point in taking out the camera.
That day Sanya repeatedly cursed the weight of his backpack)))
Not far from the village of Tame, the trail goes over a bridge and crosses a small river. The water has washed out strangely shaped gullies.
GPS data:
Distance - 10.2 km
Travel time: 2h 57 min
Total time - 4h 04m
Average speed in motion 3.4 km/h
Day - 5. 21.04.2013
Yesterday I finished my notes by saying that I was in a tent and everything was great. But literally an hour later I suddenly felt bad: nausea, then vomiting and diarrhea. Of course I had thoughts about altitude sickness, but I immediately discarded them, what the hell altitude sickness at 3800? I felt great all day, no headaches, nothing like that. And in Langtang before that I had already climbed to 4200 on the third day and there were no hints of altitude sickness. In general, I dismissed this diagnosis and only one explanation remained - poisoning.
I concluded that the poisoning was infectious, since the food was all fresh, so most likely it was water (I drink raw water), or just dirty hands. I started feeding myself levomycetin, but no way, not even 15 minutes pass and the entire contents of my stomach end up on the virgin white snow (by that time it was already snowing really hard). I started to worry, my temperature rose sharply and I began to doubt that this infection was not a match for levomycetin. It got dark, the snow was wet and in large flakes, the snowfall was diluted by flashes of lightning and thunder, it became very difficult to leave the tent, I was shivering, and the medicine was not absorbed, by that time I began to add a paracetamol wheel to the levomycetin to somehow bring down the fever, but as I already said, the medicine did not stay in me for more than 15 minutes.
I felt really scared, the state of disgust multiplied by infinity. Snowfall, darkness, thunder and lightning, I have never experienced anything like this!! And I also need to constantly boil water, I will not pour raw cold water from the stream into myself. When I went out for the last time for procedures, I was ready to die right there, right here and now, at that moment it seemed to me the best option for the development of events. I was on my knees, I was sick to my stomach, shaking from the temperature and covered with flakes of wet snow. I simply crawled into the tent, not noticing that I was dragging a whole snowdrift into my sleeping bag. Not paying attention to anything, I poured the rest of the water into myself with another tablet of levomycetin and paracetamol, curled up in the sleeping bag in the fetal position and, lo and behold, I passed out!
I woke up about an hour later because I was hot and all wet, but I didn't feel sick and that was really cool, I felt like the infection had gone away. I changed into something dry and fell asleep, until the morning.
In the morning I woke up as if I was born again, of course I was lethargic, but I felt great. Everything around was covered with snow, the sun had already risen and it was relatively clear. Despite everything, I forced myself to take a couple of shots.
I had a bland oatmeal breakfast and started getting ready for a walk. Of course, it is not possible to go higher today, but a walk around the area will be very useful. Sanya came in, he still does not feel well, he did not sleep well last night and today he is also not capable of anything except a short walk. We went for a walk, climbed to the stupas above the village, by that time everything had already begun to sink into the white milk of the clouds. Somewhere around 9:30 nothing was visible and a light wet snow began to fall.
After the walk, Sanya went to rest, and here I am sitting in the tent and writing these lines, I don’t know what to do all day.
The snow is falling heavily, but it doesn't lie down, I went for a walk, shot a couple of shots in this bad weather, mostly scenes with yaks, since I didn't meet anyone else on the street except yaks:)
Yaks work in any weather:)
I understand that the owner of this lodge has completed the Everest Marathon. The Everest Marathon is held annually at the end of May, the start is from the village of Gorakshep (5150 m), and the finish is in Namche Bazaar (3400 m), with a run to Chukhung and Khumjung. Despite the fact that the distance is generally downhill, this marathon is the highest marathon in the world and one of the most difficult, since in addition to descents, there are also plenty of ascents along the distance, and any ascent at such an altitude turns into a whole ascent:)
Rural landscape.
I went to see Sanya, he was lying down, doing nothing, not feeling well. I went back to my tent and thought about having lunch.
After lunch I went to Sanya, invited him to go for a walk, but he refused. And I went and went down from the village to the river and made a couple of cards of the waterfall and the bridge.
After that, it started snowing really hard. I went back to the tent, drank some tea, and the weather cleared up a bit outside. I walked around the tent in the evening twilight, listened to my player, and took a couple of shots of the village in the twilight.
I'm in a great mood, I feel great too, tomorrow I'll get ready and go higher.
Tame - Renjo La Base Camp
Day - 6. 04/22/2013
Tired today. Good day, good transition.
I got pretty close to the stars, after all, 4900 is already a decent height, today I gained 1100 meters vertically. But there is no smell of stars yet, everything is in the clouds, it is snowing and nothing is visible, I can’t even properly assess the surrounding landscape.
I got up today at 5:00 and in the morning it was the same as now, but then the weather cleared up, not really that great, but I saw the sun today and even took some pictures in the morning.
But in the afternoon the clouds collapsed, it started snowing and visibility became zero.
There are not many trackers in this area, I met five people at most today. Mostly I met old women with baskets and yaks.
Well, I was walking well today, of course it became a bit difficult towards the end, but I think that's normal, since from the village of Lunghden (4380 m.) to the place where I was staying by the lake (4932 m.) the climb is just head-on, but it should be noted that I was not climbing along the main path, I came out onto it later, already at the 4800 mark, but where this main path began, I still didn't understand :) When I passed by the village of Lunghden, after some time I realized that I was going in the wrong direction, the path seemed to be there, but it was definitely not as packed as it should be. Then I stopped for lunch, it was already a suitable time, and I had to think about where to go, although it was already clear that I needed to go in the opposite direction :)) While I was having lunch, two locals were passing along the path, they told me that I had already passed the turnoff to the pass and that I needed to go back. After lunch I returned to the village, where one man pointed to the slope and said that I should go there, I looked closely, there was no path in sight, but the man insisted, he said exactly that way, like the main path goes to the right, and I need to climb here and after some time I will come out on it and at the end he added: "Climb!"
Well, if I climb, then I climb, I can do it and I started to climb))) There wasn't much of a trail, but there were tours and that was enough. I reached the main trail somewhere at an altitude of about 4800 m., after walking a little more I saw first one lake, smaller, and a little higher the second one, already larger, both lakes were covered with ice. I found a place for a tent under a rock, practically in a cave, it was a bit dark of course, but at least the wind wasn't blowing and it wasn't snowing, and that's quite important.
GPS data:
Distance - 19.4
Travel time: 6h 26 min
Total time - 9h 06m
Average speed in motion - 3.0 km/h
Elevation gain: 1132 m.
Somewhere after 18:00 it started to clear up and despite being tired I went out to scout:) But the clearing didn't last long and that evening I only made one shot, but I did find a couple of places for night shooting, and after setting the alarm for 3:00 I went to bed.
I woke up at 3:00 by the alarm clock, complete clarity. When I got out of the tent, the setting moon was still illuminating the mountain tops, it looked very impressive, but literally 15 minutes later the moon set completely, the mountain tops went out, but the Milky Way appeared as it should.
I took pictures before the sun rose, but overall I was not satisfied with the shooting; apart from two photos of the night sky there was nothing else to show.
At about seven o'clock I returned to the tent and decided that I needed to sleep a little more:))
Source: travel.ru
