An excellent and very recent (November 2005) travelogue of another solo cyclist in Tibet. Stephen Lord writes about his impressions after finishing the Lhasa-Kathmandu ride. He is also the author of the upcoming Trailblazer Guide: Adventure Cycling Handbook : A Worldwide Cycling Route & Planning Guide to be released in April 2006. Can’t wait…
Another excellent photo diary of a Himalayan adventurer on a bike, Laura Stone. She has spent the last two years on highest roads between Pakistan and Bhutan traveling solo. She is also very busy writing a book for Trailblazer Guides “Himalaya by bicycle”. Here is another link to her travels in the Indian Himalaya: Biking the Indian Himalaya
Just a short preview of what to expect in my LADAKH photo gallery (Flash slide presentation). Also, you can browse it on Flickr too: LADAKH
The pictures here document a 33-day trekking/climbing exploration of the northern part of India in Ladakh, a.k.a. ‘Little Tibet’. During a few days of acclimatizing to altitude in Leh we visited local monasteries and Dalai Lama’s public meditations in Choklamsar. Our trek through Kharnak, Korzok and Rupshu started in Shang Sumdo. Initially, we followed the popular ‘Markha Valley‘ route, over Gongmaru La pass to a high pasture plateau in Nyimaling. There, our caravan departed from the regular trekking route and traversed over Kongka Ngonpo La pass into Langthang Chu river valley, which connects Stok Range with Kharnak.
After a couple of days of valley trekking among unbelievable rock formations of Zangskar Mountains we reached Dat, the main winter village of local nomads. Once we crossed over Yar La and Spangmur La passes, the mountains opened up and we met many Changpas, nomads of Tibetan origins, with herds of yaks and sheep in their summer grazing camps. One short jeep ride away we re-grouped in Pang and started the second leg of our trip. After a few more days of walking among Korzok mountains, Jamie, Nicola and I said farewell to the rest of the group and climbed five 6,000m (and higher) peaks between us, including the highest peak in the Rupshu: Lungser Kangri (6,666m high) just on the other side of Tso Moriri Lake. With our mission completed, we jumped on a jeep and two long days ride later via the Leh-Manali Highway, one of the most visually stunning highways in the world (and one of the highest too), albeit rugged and adventurous, we reached the end of the trip in Manali.
I did this trek after my success on the Mera Peak. Didn’t really have much time to do it in detail, so I “raced” to Gorak Shep in 3 days. Finally, unencumbered by porters and with all belongings in my backpack, I thoroughly enjoyed this classic teahouse trek. Altogether, I did it in 9 days, from December 15th to December 23rd, starting and finishing in Lukla. I never felt like rushing it, though. I guess, after spending so much time trekking and climbing, my body was used to it already (and properly acclimatized to begin with)… Met Jamie and Ang Dami, with a bunch of his clients, over lunch in Thukla. On my way back, over the Cho La pass, I was told that at least one of the lodges will be definitely open in Dzonghla. Upon arriving, none of them were. Apparently, the last one closed for the season just one day before I passed through. Still, nice experience, thanks to Heidi’s super-warm Mountain Hardware sleeping bag… You cannot beat experience of sleeping under the huge Himalayan skies with a full moon and billions of stars…
Next day, over the Cho La pass on my way to Gokyo, I met John, a trekker from the States and we spent the next three day walking and talking together… Had a great time, we’d seemed to find common discussion themes easily. (Bill Bryson, The Matrix, just to name a few…) I also met Jonas and Andrea again, fellow trekkers from my ‘Kangchengola’ Trek, at the top of the pass, and Joel, one of the guides on the same trek, later on in Gokyo… Great trekking, albeit a little bit short. Will definitely return again… See more pictures from this trek in my Everest Trek Photo Gallery.
My MERA PEAK CLIMB photoset on Flickr is up. Enjoy.
Filip, a fellow Belgian trekker I met on the ‘Kangchengola’ Trek decided to do some exploration in the Everest region and brought up an idea to do some climbing there. As, I am a vertically ‘addicted’ guy, he didn’t need to do any heavy convincing ;))) Eventually, we settled on the Mera Peak (6,461m high), mainly because of my limited technical experience but also because of solitude that the Mera region had to offer… We brought with us Keepa and Nawang, both Sherpas we had previous experience with. They arranged porters and on December 4th, after a short flight to Lukla, we hit the trail the next day at noon. With overnight stops at Chutenga, Tuli Kharka, Khote, and Tangnak, we arrived at our base in Khare. - After that, Mera High Camp and then the summit.
Surprisingly, the weather was great and everything clicked as planned. On my way back, I had to sleep out at Tuli Kharka, as the lodge owner never arrived to open the lodge for us, as previously promised… On December 14th, I was back at Lukla, ready to start my Everest BC/ Gokyo Valley trek…
FINALLY, my pictures are up on Flickr, with added narratives too. Go see and enjoy it: KANGCHENJUNGA TREKKING photoset. You can also see these pictures placed on a map on MY PHOTOS IN FLICKRMAP page (Don’t forget to zoom in) Plus, I’m trying to figure out how to ‘easily’ put the pics into a Google Earth downloadable file. Would look awesome…
The photo report documents a 40-day exploratory trekking journey (October 23rd - November 29th, 2002) in the Eastern Region of Nepal where Kangchenjunga Massif visually rules the horizon. After a short flight to Suketar, we had trekked the traditional Kangchenjunga trekking route to Sekathum, then progressed through a valley system opened to foreigners in 2001 (Tamor Khola) to Olangchunggola and then further up to Yangma (by way of Yangma Khola). From our camp above Yangma, we had explored for more than a week surrounding valleys and a trader’s route to a pass on the border with Tibet. We also had found a 6,000m peak, well within our party’s climbing abilities, and tried to get to the top. After our exploration in this Terra Incognita (at least for us Westerners), we had left the Yangma Valley and traversed over three passes to Ghunsa Valley.
From here, we had continued to the North side BC of Kangchenjunga in Pangpema. On our return we made a stop near Kambachen and visited BC at the North side of Jannu (Kumbhakarna), with two objectives in mind: Firstly, to see the elusive snow leopard, frequenting the area according to local wildlife conservationists and secondly, to climb another 6,000m objective. The expedition was organized by a New Zealand, US, British, Nepali trekking outfit Project Himalaya headed by Jamie McGuinness. For more photos go to Jamie’s website below:
Welcome to my blog where I share outdoor adventures, travel experiences and random musings from home and faraway places alike... My current plans:
1. [Summer-Fall 2010] Vagabonding alongside the Silk Route: It’ll be me, my bike and wide-open spaces of Western China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan for 2-3 months...
2. [2011 or 2012] Motorbiking from Alaska to Patagonia: Just started thinking about it. Plan: Find a used thumper and hit back roads exploring this classic route all the way from the Deadhorse in Prudhoe Bay, U.S. to Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Plus, practice and improve my Spanish, too...
