November 26 You Mean Up There?
Got up bright and early for our 1200m or so climb up the seldom (maybe thrice only) climbed Tashi Kang. It was a slog to the base and I was already dying (at 5000+ remember). Made it to about 6100m before exhaustion and the altitude won the battle. I barely could walk up another step. It was easy climbing though, a snow plod on good, firm snow. But 1200m is a big ask. Anthony was feeling a bit better and Chhiri is unstoppable they managed to reach the 6386m summit while I happily waited eating my little piece of chocolate and ducking wind gusts. It was a magic view from where I was and I'm no mountaineer so not topping was not an issue for me. Made really good time coming back down but it was still super tiring. Then we reached the bottom of French Pass. The porters had moved camp for us to the other side. At sea level it would take twenty minutes to get there. At our altitude maybe forty-five minutes. In our (even Chhiri by now) condition it took about two hours to go up 150m across 100 and down 30. The top of the pass was amazingly beautiful though. With Dhaulagiri there in all it's massive, lumpy, fat, 8167m glory. It is truly an imposingly beautiful piece of mountain. The campsite was on a spectacular, yet horribly uncomfortable piece of land. Pretty happy with today. Getting used to the cold too.
November 27 That's Not A Cairn, That's A Carefully Stacked Pile Of Rocks.
Spent basically all day walking on the Chhomburdan Glacier which runs along the Western side of Dhaulagiri. Not easy going, glaciers never really are, especially when covered in moraine. The main Dhaulagigi Base Camp is the filthy, rubbish littered trash hole you come to expect at major peak BC's. We're camped at the old Japanese BC, right in the middle of the glacier with avalanches and rockfalls constantly providing entertainment to the east of us. Cloud completely filled the valley by about three so the weather tomorrow could be interesting.
November 28 Relax You, Welcome You.
Weather no problem. Actually other than that one day over in Tilicho the weather has been perfect. Really settled this time of year and not unbearably cold. Took about an hour to finally get off the glacier this morning. Very happy, glacier walking is so very up, down, across, back, up, across, down, up, back, up. As we moved away from the terminal face the valley closed in around us and you begin to feel like you're somewhere so far from where you just were. The track got a bit dodgy crossing some landfall areas, across another glacier and up a massive moraine wall. Got to the old Italian BC pretty early (it's VERY Italian and confusingly, a long way from Dhaul, no idea) and relaxed in the sun eating and doing nothing. Chhiri won all the porters money in cards I think. We've piked out of our other climb as the approach would be a slog and a pain, it would be a 2000m in one day climb and is likely technical way beyond our abilities. So Tsaurabong remains unclimbed, it's all yours.
November 29 Oh, Trees!
After about a week above the treeline we're out of snow and into trees again. After a week without a wash, we're halfway clean again. Have a few extra days so we told Chhiri to just take the days as he and the porters want to. So we only walked for about four hours. Got to a magic little campsite in an tiny seasonally abandoned village. Spent the evening between a fire and a stream eating, drinking and chatting. Good times. Got appetite back big time (you kind of lose it at higher altitude). Feels like we're done but still five days to go.
Found out later that was where a porter died of illness on an Adventure Geo Treks trip earlier in the year. The helicopters only help tourists, so his body had to be carried to the road end.
November 30 Well You're Not Going To Avoid Every Thorn Bush...
More of the same today, walking down through the forest. Easy enough. The valley has widened significantly and there are some massive waterfalls. Saw the first people outside our group in four days. Had some Nettle soup at lunch, tastes like nothing and I just don't trust it. Staying a school in Bagar. Binod got to resupply so back to over generous meals again (although can't complain about the previous weeks effort). The towns in this valley don't see many tourists so the locals are more curious than savvy. Although the kids go home, tell their parents about us, get told to ask for pens, chocolate, sweets, money, and come back doing so. Which is a shame. I don't know who these tourists are with packs full of chocolate and pens, but you're not helping anyone. Turning Nepal into another state of India. Had a loiterer hang around a good ten hours with his notebook waiting for the opportunity to ask for a donation. We knew what was coming. I doubt the money goes to the school, I hate being asked. It probably sounds bad but I'm not here to give money to everyone and they way they ask is so irritating. Porters gave us some Rakshi (local spirit), it's more man than I am.
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