Oct 25 Samagaon to Samdo
It’s getting much colder as we gain altitude. Below zero in the mornings with clear blue skies. Even the top of the mountains are clear early in the morning.
Today is a nice 8km stroll with 380m climb up the valley. The views in both directions are spectacular.
We are slowly aclimatizing to the altitude. Each day we push a bit higher.
Tonight we are staying at Samdo 3860m. To help acclimatise we did a trek up to the Stupa above the village at 3900m.
Oct 26 Samdo to Tibet border day trip
Today was an aclimatization day.
We headed out up the valley to the north of Samdo toward Layung La on the Nepal/China border at 5000m. It was a 6.30am start as the weather is better earlier in the morning.
Mountains we could see today –
Larkya peak 6249m
Naike peak 6211m
Manaslu North 6994m
Manaslu 8163m
Ngadi Chuli 7871m
Pangpoche I 6620m
Along with lots more under 6000m
We are all getting slower as we get higher. Today we started at 3870m and did a steady climb to 4330m.
All up it was a 12km round trip. Everyone was tired when we got back.
Samdo has hot showers at $5 each. Everyone was lining up. It will be our last chance to shower and wash some clothes for a few days.
Oct 27 Samdo rest day
The weather at Larke La 5140m looks bad for tomorrow so we are waiting at Samdo for a day while the worst of it passes.
We were planning to walk to Dharamasla today, then over Larke La tomorrow. The accommodation at Dharamasla is very basic. There are lots of trekkers heading the same direction so it will get crowded.
Weather forecast for tomorrow – It’s forecast to be snowing now and tomorrow with a short break then snow again for another two days, Nothing is happening yet. It is bloody cold outside and in the unheated rooms. Down to minus five tonight.
The following day when we will be going over Larke La the weather looks to be clearing. A balmy top of minus three. The snow is forecast to end about 8am. We will be starting walking at 3am. The idea is to get over the pass before the snow melts. And you get the sunrise on the mountains.
Oct 28 Samdo
We woke to about 200mm of snow this morning. It still snowing quite consistently. We don’t have internet as the satellite dish is also covered in snow. From yesterdays forcast I expect it will snow all day and not stop till tomorrow morning.
We played a lot of cards today while it continues to snow.
A lot of trekkers arrived about 5pm. The estimate is 150 of them. They had set off from Dharamasla at 2am with plans of getting over Larke La before the snow storm hit. None of them made it to the pass. They all had to turn back. Lots of avalanches and strong winds. A lot of the way was a white out which is terrifying if you have never experienced it before. We heard stories of having to walk sideways, and people being blown over because the wind was so strong. We also heard stories of porters dumping their baskets to save themselves. The lodges in Samdo are packed. I don’t know where they will all sleep. I’m guessing the porters and guides will end up sleeping in the dining room.
Biri our guide had already decided to bail out before all this happened. He spent the day organising the plan for us to go back the way we came.
Pauline, Dave and I are very happy with this plan. We all have a head cold as well as the affects altitude.
Oct 29 Samdo to Samagaon
The retreat from Larke La has begun. Today was a snowy descent of us, and lots of others from Samdo. We didn’t see any trekkers going up. They are all waiting down low for at least a couple more days for the weather to clear.
It was a steady procession down through ice, snow and sludge. The new spikes we bought in Kathmandu worked really well in the slippery conditions. Every five minutes or so you could hear rumbling and turn to watch the frequent avalanches.
All of us arrived at Samagaon before lunch and had a little sunshine to dry off some clothes before the clouds closed back in.
There have been three helicopter flights since we arrived. All packed with trekkers bailing out.
Our new plan is to head up the Tsum Valley and do some of that trek. We will need a new permit for this. It’s a sacred Buddhist valley. No killing of any creature allowed, vegetarian only.
Oct 30 Samagaon to Namrung
Rained most of the day. The telly tubbies were out in force. Lots of trekkers and porters with single use plastic bags over themselves and their loads. Our umbrellas are working really well in the wet conditions.
There are still lots of trekkers heading up, even though the pass is closed. Not much of a view either as there is a solid low cloud cover. We were lucky, great views and blue skies all the way up.
Oct 31 Namrung to Deng
Another day of rain. The rivers which were already dangerous are now raging torrents. There are new waterfalls every where. The track is now a sea of shallow mud and donkey poo. Living the dream 😁
I think we crossed the longest bridge of the trip today. At 285m it seems to go on forever. It’s supported by 6x50mm steel deck cables, 2x50mm steel handrails. If you look over the side you can see an older bridge 400m below.
Today we also crossed a section of track that traverses a huge landslide. It starts with an ankle deep Waterfall crossing then lots of sections where the bank above is collapsing. One of the locals had been hit by a huge rock yesterday on the same section. He was in a bad way. They were waiting for the weather to clear so they could helicopter him out.
We walked in the rain all day. Nearly 10 hrs all up including a one hour stop for lunch. 18.4km over steep, rocky and muddy tracks. A lot of the way it’s stone steps made by laying the existing stones into the semblance of steps. Every step is different and requires full attention. Most of the trails have a fatal drop off one side. Falling over is not a pretty option.
The map shows the days walk as a steady downhill. The reality is very different. Every time there is a cliff the track has to go up and over or down and back up to avoid it. For the day we did 1232m ascent, 1973m descent. The start Namrung is at 2600m, the end Deng is at 1862m.
1 Nov Deng
It’s still pissing rain 😢 The next village down from us is Pewa. 2.5km away and 100m lower.
A team went out this morning to try to get to Pewa. There are two waterfalls to cross and possible landslides. They were turned back by a major landslide. So for now we are stuck waiting for the weather to clear.
The nearest road is at Salleri 17km south and 400m down. When I say road, it’s a very rough Nepalese 4×4 track hacked into the side of the cliffs. Huge cliff on the high side, fatal cliff into the river below on the low side.
On the way up we had to walk on the road through a large waterfall that was cascading over the road from a cliff 50m above the road. This was in fine weather. It will be a torrent now. I suspect the road will be washed away by now.
From the dining room we can see the stream below. At breakfast it was the usual turmoil of a mountain river. After breakfast it had turned to a maelstrom of dark coffee mud, silt and other debri. We assume there had been a large landslide somewhere upstream. After an hour or so it calmed back down to its previous flow but was now a light brown.
Nov 2 Deng to Philim
The weather has cleared this morning. Blue skies with a few light clouds. The river below us has dropped back to normal levels and is quite clear again.
There are only two ways out from here. A helicopter ride at US$2500 for five people and their gear or walk if the tracks are open.
There are lots of rumours about the condition of the track. We will find out.
The section from Deng to Pewa had one waterfall crossing that was knee deep and a lot of washouts that were OK to traverse.
At Pewa we discovered that the track south of here to the Tsum Valley had a large section washed away and wasn’t passable. Luckily there is an old track from Pewa to Nyak that follows the power line. It’s a 400m climb on a very narrow precipitous track. There were a lot of worried trekkers on the Trek up.
Nyak turned out to be a very nice village with lots of crops and veggies growing. It also has great views up and down the Budhi Gandaki Valley, as well as the start of the Tsum Valley. You also get to look down on the helicopters flying below.
From Nyak it’s down, down but on concrete steps all the way. Lots and lots of switch backs later we arrived at the bridge over the Bhudi Gandaki. There had been a huge landslide just to the south of the bridge. A lot of the debri had landed on the bridge. A local crew was already clearing away the rocks so it was ok to cross.
The track contoured around from here to Philim. I lost count of the landslides along the way.
Nov 3 Philim to Korlabesi
It’s the last day of Trekking for us. From Khorlabesi we catch a jeep then the bus back to Kathmandu.
The trail from Philim to Khorlabesi was a jeep track. There are so many landslides that it is immpassable to even a motorbike.
The 4×4 track looks more like a boulder field for a lot of the way. Sometimes it’s a mixture of rock and mud. Other times it can just be a couple of car size boulders that you wonder how they got there till you look up.
4km North of Khorlabesi we ran into three big (35 ton) excavators. They were heading north fixing all the landslides as they went. I think by the time they finish it will be time to start again.
