The Trek to Makalu

One month ago we had no idea we'd be in Nepal in April, but our good friend Rob was invited to climb Makalu and we were able to get to Kathmandu and tag along with the expedition to base camp. The expedition was led by Rolwaling Excursion and Chhiring Dorje Sherpa, an amazing person and climber with 10 Everest summits among his accomplishments. The U.S. team was joined by a French team and Leslie and I and another trekker, Ann, and about 150 porters set out for Makalu.

We met everyone in Kathmandu at the Hotel Annapurna and, on April 14th, flew to a small village called Tumlingtar. The elevation at Tumlingtar is about 300 meters above sea level. Base camp is at 5000 meters and the summit of Makalu that the climbers hope to reach is 8,463 meters. That's a lot of elevation gain!


The experience of being with a climbing expedition like this was certainly unique. There were 13 of us altogether plus about half a dozen guides, eight kitchen staff and about 150 porters. We had quite the army. It takes a while to get used to the concept of porters. Leslie and I are used to going it alone. The Sherpas depend on the business trekkers and climbers bring them though and are absolutely essential to the climbers who have much more gear to bring up the mountain than we did.

We end up carrying very little. A daypack with rain gear and maybe a warm pair of clothes for when we arrive in the next camp. The porters carry everything else. Each porter has a basket which they carry on their back supported by a strap that goes over their head. Most are carrying in the neighborhood of 30 to 45 kgs!

A typical day begins with us being brought tea and/or coffee to our tents at about 5:30 AM. At 6:30 we make our way to the dining tent for breakfast. Meals were incredible. Tons of food and very well prepared. At 7:30 we hit the trail. Most porters have already left by then. We had about 4-6 hours of hiking each day. Some days we were given pack lunches, other days the kitchen would be set up and a full hot lunch prepared. The porters would set up our tent city and by mid-afternoon we would have tea and soup. Dinner, again, was a huge, incredibly prepared many course meal. After dinner, Chhiring would lay out the plan for the next day.

Everyone we were with was great. All of the Americans (Chris, Rob, Eric, Brad, and Ann) and the French (Sylvie, Alexia, Sadrine, Philippe, Michael and Christoph... better known as "Yeti") all got along great and made the trip that much more enjoyable.

So back to Tumlingtar and day one. After the hour flight we piled into jeeps that took us to the village of Khandbari. We stayed at a small hotel that night and slept indoors for the last time on the trip. From Khandbari we drove to Chichila, pretty much as far as the road goes. From there we would walk. That second day we made it too the village of Num. The villages get progressively smaller the higher you go and Num was very small. We had our first tent village set up here and had fun playing with the local children. One of the great things about the Makalu trek is that it isn't nearly as frequently traveled by westerners as other routes such as the Khumbu to the Everest region or the Annapurna. We were an infrequent sort of diversion for the villagers it seemed and they were as curious about us as we were about them. The children in particular loved to shout "namaste" at us as we walked by, knowing we would respond in kind like a parrot. And everyone loved the digital cameras and the ability to see themselves on the LCD screen.

The next day was not long, but the first of any difficulty. We went 1000 meters straight down a steep valley to the Arun river. It was hot and humid as it was rainforest at this elevation. Many of us took the opportunity to take a brief dip in the river before crossing the suspension bridge. And Leslie had her first leech encounter!

The ascent on the other side of the river went up over a 1000 meters to the village of Sedua. We were certainly conspicuous in this tiny village and many of the villagers came out to see us.

The next day we climbed to Tashigoan, the last village of the trek. It was here that I made my contribution to the American climbers' blog:

Of Monsoons and Sutures
We awoke in Seduwa just inside the Makalu Barun National Park at 5:12 AM -- 18 minutes earlier than was hoped -- to the sound of a barking dog. The dog beat our alarms to the punch. Still spirits were high; the weather wasn't perfect, but there was no rain and we had a relatively easy day in front of us. The hike was beautiful through the cloud forest and we came across many smiling faces along the way. The team members all made the hike to Tashigaon before lunch and we were glad for it as the clouds began to descend. During lunch the rains came. We were sheltered, but many of the porters had not yet arrived in Tashigaon and were not so lucky. But a little rain didn't slow them down and they carried their heavy loads down and up the steep valley sides.


Shortly after lunch Eric and Rob broke out the medical kit to treat a Sherpa who had an open suturable lac approx 5cm from a mishap with mini sledge while pounding a chisel. The Sherpa, Lhakpa, had sustained an injury that received sutures approx 3 weeks ago and now he had cellulitis. The sutures were removed and the wound was once again dressed, though this time it was left open. Cleaned, dressed and PO antibiotics, we sent him on his way to be seen again on our return trip out.


This was all made a bit more interesting as the weather continued to intensify and the monsoon rains came in sideways mixed with hail. Lhakpa successfully patched up, he headed into the yard to show off his new bandages to his friends.


The rains (and hail) did let up a bit. Brad and I enjoyed watching about a dozen Sherpas chasing tonight's dinner (chicken) through town. Coops may be a bit easier, but this was certainly more entertaining for chasers and onlookers alike (if not for the chicken). So now we sit awaiting dinner and our sleeping bags that will surely follow closely on dinner's heels. Tomorrow is our first long, hard day. About eight hours of hiking and lots of steep ascents away, Khongma awaits.


- Jim Kendrick (with help from Rob)
17 April 2010

That was one of two minor surgeries our docs, Eric and Rob, performed on the trek. It was great to see these guys able to help these villagers. A few days later Eric helped a 16 year old girl who had a smashed finger.

From there we really started climbing into the mountains. We arrived at the teahouse at Khongma after catching our first real glimpses of the snowcapped peaks of the Makalu region. By the time we reached Khongma, though, the clouds had built and we could barely see ten feet in front of us. From this point on we would be staying at teahouses as there are no more villages. The teahouses are pretty rustic and the Sherpa people sleep inside and set up makeshift kitchens. We still sleep in our tents set up just outside the teahouses.

From Khongma we hiked up and over two passes at Shipton La and Keke La to the Dobate teahouse. By this time we were getting accustomed to the weather patterns: beautiful mornings with clouds steadily building into the afternoon. We were always able to get to the next camp before any real bad weather hit though. After dinner we talked about the rest of the trek and made a plan. The teahouses don't lay out ideally for proper acclimatization. The next teahouse was at Yangle Kharka but that is actually lower in elevation than Dobate, so we decided to make a two day push to base camp. We stayed the next night at Riphuk Kharka at the same elevation as Dobate, which made for a long day. At Riphuk Kharka Eric entertained the Sherpas with his yoga.

The next day we covered the 1,100 meters from Riphuk Kharka at 3,900 meters to base camp at 5,000 meters in one day. It is certainly not ideal to ascend more than 1000 meters in a single day when at that altitude and some of us certainly felt the effects. For me it triggered migraine like headaches and others were bit sick as well. Luckily we had a rest day at base camp.

Base camp was beautiful. Leslie and I had, for the whole trek, been lamenting the fact that we were not going to be able to climb for the summit. When we came into the valley and saw the imposing Makalu before us as we stood already at 5,000 meters, we found ourselves relieved that this was as high as we were going. Pictures can't possibly do it justice.

Our time at base camp was too short, but the climbers needed to get to ABC (advance base camp) and continue to acclimatize. It was sad to leave everyone, but our considerably smaller group (three trekkers, one guide, four kitchen staff and seven porters) started our journey back, leaving the climbers for their further month long climb to the summit.

The walk down retraced our steps. Unfortunately Ann, the other trekker, fell ill from exhaustion on the way down. The porters did a superhuman job helping her down the mountain until we could get to a phone in Tashigoan. From there a helicopter was called and Ann was evac'd. The sight of the helicopter landing in the small village was something and the whole village turned out to see.

In Sedua we were lucky to be there while they had a village market day. The people were selling clothes and shoes brought up from the cities as well as local foods. This area produces a lot of millet, and so one of the major foods was a cooked millet soup. The women of the village wore tribal piercings in their noses that were scorpions hanging down. Again, these villagers were very friendly and were inviting us to sit with them (so long as we showed them the pictures of themselves!)

A few more days of hiking and we came to the end of the journey. A flight from Tumlingtar to Kathmandu and we finally got showers. Makalu was an incredible journey for us and one of the major highlights of our whole trip. We have to thank Passang, our guide, Chhiring and everyone at Rolwaling, all the Sherpa people that helped us up and down, Rob for inviting us and Chris for making it possible.

Welcome to the World Lhakpa David Henry!

When we left for Makalu base camp, we knew that we would likely be up on the trek somewhere when my sister and her husband were going to have their baby. On the way to base camp, we were able to get updates by e-mail via the satellite phone the climbers had. As we got closer to the due date everyone on the trip was asking about the updates and as excited as we were to hear about the baby being born!





When we headed down from base camp we no longer had internet or phone access for about 5 days. However, when we were with the Sherpas we felt for sure that the baby was imminent so we headed into the small teahouse at Dobate where we were camping at 3900 meters and cheers-ed to our new nephew David Henry. The teahouse was small and smokey and kind of reminded us of the scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indiana goes to the snowy pub in Nepal to find the medallion that Marion had. Together with the Sherpas we toasted to the baby with Raksi (home-brewed alcohol made out of rice, millet or barley).






When we got further down and closer to the end of the trek we were able to call home from a phone in one the villages. We were so excited to hear that David Henry was born on April 29th. And our guide Pasang busted out more Raksi! As we were talking to the Sherpas they said that since David Henry was born on a Wednesday his Sherpa name is Lhakpa. One of the traditional ways of naming babies in the Sherpa culture is naming the baby by the day of week they were born and Lhakpa is Wednesday.

Finally we are able to call and get word on David Henry...

...from this village...


... and properly toast to our new nephew!

WELCOME TO THE WORLD LHAKPA DAVID HENRY!!!!

Kathmandu, Nepal and Prep for Makalu

We are in Nepal! We just arrived and only have pictures from the flight in (my first glimpse of Everest), but we wanted to post this update since we likely won't have another one for about a month. We were fortunate enough to be able to re-route our trip and join our friend Rob and his expedition heading to Makalu.



From Wikipedia:

Makalu is the fifth highest mountain in the world and is located 22 km (14 mi) east of Mount Everest, on the border between Nepal and China. One of the eight-thousanders, Makalu is an isolated peak whose shape is a four-sided pyramid. Makalu is one of the harder eight-thousanders, and is considered one of the most difficult mountains in the world to climb. The mountain is notorious for its steep pitches and knife-edged ridges that are completely open to the elements. The final ascent of the summit pyramid involves technical rock/ice climbing.

We will be with the expedition until base camp (5200m; 17,000ft), but we won't be making a summit bid as Rob will. Still this is a unique opportunity and we are very psyched. The hardest part of this is that the timing isn't perfect. We will be deep in the Himalayas as our nephew is born and that is extremely difficult for both of us.

The expedition has a blog and should be updated as we go, so that is your best bet for following us over the next month.

http://www.k2klinke.blogspot.com/

The journey for us will be just under a month; for the climbers more like two months. So please check it out!

Australia!

We only had a week in Australia (which is obviously not even close to enough time to really travel in Australia) but we were excited to head up to Byron Bay as numerous friends had told us that it was one of their favorite places.

We flew into Sydney and checked into our hostel Kangaroo Bakpak. It was apparent as we got into Sydney that the Australians are just overwhelmingly nice. Everyone we met seemed to be going out of their way to help us out. The staff and everyone at the hostel we stayed at hung out and made dinner together and made us feel welcome right away.


The next morning we got our new van. Our van was from the same company as the van we had in New Zealand but this van was pretty bad and run down. It was scary to drive and Jim did a great job driving the van on the left side of the road, with a manual transmission (on the left), minimal (if any) shocks and a ridiculously high center of gravity. It gave some hair raising moments we DO NOT want to repeat. However, the Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends painted on the side was cool! Though neither one of us had any idea what it was when we picked up the van.

We took our time driving up the East Coast of Australia for the 10 hour drive to Byron. I loved the birds we saw. I was especially excited to see a kookaburra!

As we had mentioned in a previous post we meet Darrell and Michell Lamb on the Milford Track and they had graciously offered to let us park the van at their house and use the facilities. This was an amazing offer that we took them up on as the Byron Bay Blues Festival that weekend meant everything was are booked up including campgrounds. We had a great time with the whole family and it again just shows how incredibly nice Australians are!

Byron Bay is an eclectic town that was a whaling town until just the 1960's. Luckily the whale industry was shut down and surfers started noticing the great breaks in and around the bay. The legend grew and Byron is now a surfers/hippie paradise with ever rising housing costs and population. (Yup, trade surf for mountains and it does sound like Boulder!)

The water here is beautiful and we took a suggestion from the Lamb's and hiked the nature preserve around the lighthouse.

We also spent a good amount of time on the beach. The water was beautiful and the sand perfectly fine and white. It was a great change of pace as New Zealand was getting cold! We had planned to go snorkeling, but were told visibility was very poor due to high surf so we just played in the surf instead.

As it was Bluesfest time we were able to catch a bunch of local bands at the band competition at the Beach Hotel. Unfortunately reality intruded just a bit and we used the bar's free wifi to do our taxes while listening to the various bands. This band was our favorite but unfortunately they came in second.

Also at the Beach Hotel Bar we randomly ran into a bunch of folks from the U.S. band Umphrey's McGee. We had a great time talking travel with the group. Also we were lucky to be able to go to Bluesfest (Thanks Dave!!). It is a good sized festival but not too huge (about 17,000 people a day). We ran around the festival and checked out U.S. Umphreys McGee and Old Crow Medicine Show and a host of other bands that were new to us.

We had to leave sadly, and took our time heading back down the coast for our flight from Sydney to Bangkok. On our way down we heard that we had to check out Fredos Pies. A couple of surfer guys we met had mentioned that Australia is the only nation to eat its national emblem. As I had not seen a Kangaroo, I decided that I might as well eat one at least! Fredos is famous for its "gourmet" pies including emu, crocodile, camel and sometimes possum. The surfer guys said that the croc was pretty much just fatty. So I went with kangaroo. It tasted like beef and not gamey. It was good!


There was also a kangaroo playing a banjo painted on the wall at Fredos which I, of course, thought was hilarious!
Our time was really short in Australia but we felt like we got quite a bit in. We were sad to leave Australia but are ready and rested for the challenges of South East Asia and the rest of the world to come.

The Final Stretch - New Zealand

After Milford and Doubtful Sounds we started to head down the Southern Scenic Route of the South Island for our last bit in New Zealand. The first place we wanted to make sure we hit was Bluff to sample the famous Bluff Oysters.

Bluff oysters are only dredged in the Foveaux Strait from March to August and we happened to be there right in season. The Bluff oysters lived up to the hype of being fat and delicate. The only disappointing thing is that they are not served after being freshly cracked open on the half shell. We bought them fresh from the source, however, which made them about half the cost of getting them at a restaurant!

After Bluff we headed to the Catlins area. Here there is beautiful coastline with dramatic cliffs dropping into the ocean. We stopped at Nugget Point where there is an old lighthouse that was built in 1869. Also we spotted a bunch of seals down at the bottom of the cliffs.
After driving the Southern Scenic Route all the way to Dunedin, we went back to Queenstown. We had a few days so decided to head up to Glenorchy to walk a little of the Routeburn Track which is another one of New Zealand's Great Walks. We camped at one of the Department of Conservation sites and had a really fun night with some people we met there. Marisa from San Francisco and Stephan and Sabine from Germany.
We all decided to make the walk together the next morning on the Routeburn. The Routeburn follows a beautiful river and has more amazing waterfalls. If you haven't figured it out by now, if you're a fan of waterfalls New Zealand is your place.
We hiked all the way above treeline to the Routeburn falls. Once above the falls in the valley, the weather got rough with wind and rain, so we headed back down.
The short trek was a great way to wrap up the New Zealand trip. We loved the hiking that we did around New Zealand, and wish we could have done even more of the Great Walks. We were sad to leave New Zealand but excited to head to Australia for a short trip and then to Southeast Asia.