Sat, Oct 20th Dhaulagiri Basecamp to Hidden Valley (16,000 ft)

Out of camp at 7:30 - cold and clear as usual. A large Spanish group and the small independent groups were also moving this day. We went up and across the Chhonbarden glacier and along the moraine towards French Col at 17,173 ft.  We started off with all our clothes on as the temp was around 20F, but once the sun came out we ditched the down jackets only to put them back on as we neared the very windy French Col. By the time we hit the pass, I was starting to feel some mountain sickness. I finally went on the Diamox and it seemed to help.

The view from French Col made the trip for me. So many huge mountains, icefalls, and the barren swath of land across Hidden Valley that we imagined what most of the Tibetan alpine must look like.  About an hour after we descended from French Col, the clouds started rolling over the top obscuring the views. It would've been a real bummer to get there and not have been able to see the view.  After many stops for photos, we finally rolled into camp at 2pm.  All the porters had beat us to camp - now that their loads were getting relatively light they had definitely picked up the pace.

We passed by where the large groups were camped and traveled a bit further to have some privacy. After several days of being in a pack of a hundred or so hikers and porters, it was nice to get back to just our little group. Nima found a small trickle of water running below some ice, so the fuel should stretch a bit longer since we don’t need to melt snow for drinking water.

...the next day

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Fri, Oct 19th Japanese basecamp to Dhaulagiri basecamp (15,200 ft)

Very easy day today. Just a three hour hike up the rubble-strewn lower glacier following an obvious path up to the next expedition basecamp that’s used by most climbing parties on the standard summit climbing route. The terrain was ridiculously scenic as we climbed the glacier, wrapping around Dhaulagiri, but we were a little dismayed by the amount of trash littering the basecamp. Seriously…what the hell is a car tire doing lying on a glacier at 15,000ft?

Ongchhu mentioned today that we could skip the acclimatization day and continue over French Col tomorrow if we were feeling good. I had been looking forward to spending a rest day here to take in the scenery and make sure AMS wasn’t a problem, but it sounded like we were also running low on fuel so we should probably keep moving if folks are able.  We were told not to worry about the fuel - that we could switch to a wood fire for cooking once below treeline on the other side, but we still mentioned that we could switch to purifying our drinking water with iodine instead of having it boiled and we certainly didn’t need luxuries like warmed washing water in the morning if fuel was low. Becky and I felt fine, so at dinnertime we all decide to skip our rest day and push on over French Col and into Hidden Valley.

...the next day

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Thurs, Oct 18th. Italian basecamp to Japanese basecamp (13,500) Finally in the alpine!

Up at 6, all the camps were on the move this day. Ongchhu said the tough section of trail has improved since he was last here in 2005, but it’s still a rather interesting bit of 2nd class terrain with a bad run out.  No problem for those with moderate loads and decent boots, but Ongchhu lent a hand to a particularly sketched out porter from another group whose shoes had no traction and were sliding around on the icy trail. We later saw the porter giving Ongchhu a blessing for his assistance.

We got out in front of the other groups, so we were down onto the glacier and heading up the valley as the rest of the groups bottlenecked behind us. I didn’t sleep well last night and had a headache all day. I tried to stay hydrated, had some caffeinated Gu, and started wondering if I’m not breathing deeply enough while sleeping and that is making for the headachy, rough mornings.

The trail wound its way up an incredible, steep walled gorge and with the rocky trail covered in about 6” of snow it made for slow, slippery progress.  We rolled into our next camp around 1pm. It was nice to get there while it was still sunny.  Chheten had some AMS symptoms and went on Diamox. I casually asked Ongchhu if we really have a Gamow bag, which is basically a pressurized body bag someone with severe altitude sickness can be placed in to reduce symptoms, since Furwa said we’d be carrying one. He said we didn’t – that Furwa decided it was too heavy and it never left Kathmandu. This was one of a few cases where we certainly couldn’t fault the fellows we were traveling with, but we didn’t exactly appreciate that decisions/changes were made about our trip without our input.

...the next day

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Wed, Oct 17th. Salagiri to Italian Basecamp (11,500ft)

The tent was soaked, but most of our gear stayed dry. Fortunately today would be a fairly short day, so with any luck we’d get to camp and be able to dry things out again before the afternoon rain returned. We were a little worried about one of our porters, Dawa. It seemed like everyone else had pulled out warmer gear - down jackets and synthetic pants - but he was still in jeans and the same thin jacket he’d had from the start. Luckily Ongchhu had some spare long underwear to loan him.

Finally up past the subalpine foliage today and out into the open - we reached treeline!  Not much for views as the clouds arrived as we cleared the forest. Becky ate her entire lunch today, so I think she was fully recovered. One of the locals who lives at the basecamp cabin during trekking season has an adorable dog that’s quite the beggar. As we sat in our tent eating lunch, he laid down right at our front door and stared at our plates. He reminded us of the little kid in Sibang asking for biscuits so we named the dog Bizgood.

We went for a short hike past camp in the afternoon up to the moraine to look at the glacier and the route beyond. Supposedly there’s a steep section down onto the glacier that is the worst bit of trail we’d see on the circuit.  With there being several large groups, two unsupported teams, and us all leaving for the next camp tomorrow, getting through the crux bit of trail might be a bit of a bottleneck.

Dinner as usual was fantastic; chow mein, mashed potatoes, garbanzo beans, and pineapple for dessert.

...the next day

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Tues, Oct 16th Dobang to Salagiri (10,000 ft)

The plan for the day was either Italian basecamp or Salagiri, which was a couple hours closer.  As we hiked up we ran into a few porters heading home who said Italian basecamp was rather crowded with a few large guided groups, so rather than be squeezed for space, we stopped early.

We passed through pine, bamboo, and rhododendron forest with ground cover primarily of ferns and lots of moss on everything. It actually reminded us a lot of home! Just as we got to camp the clouds started spitting and by dinnertime it was pouring rain. The rain was worse than it had ever been. The floor of the tent was getting a bit wet in the corners and we were happy that the porters were staying in the nearby shelter with a fire instead of the thin, floorless, cook tent. We finally got to sleep around 9:30 as the hail, thunder, and lightning finally let up.

...the next day

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Mon, Oct 15th Boghara to Dobang (8000 ft)

Becky woke up with another fever, upset stomach and absolutely no appetite so I finally convinced her to start taking her Zythromax. There was no more slack in the schedule after our half-day yesterday so we needed to get her feeling better fast so we could start hitting the stops on the itinerary to have enough time for our acclimatization days higher up. Our temporary porter had hung with us till Boghara, but finally headed home. This made everyone’s loads pretty bad. Fortunately Ongchhu and Nima were both willing to carry more than most guides and cooks are willing to carry. Becky was too weak to take any weight, but I wanted to help with the load so I took the tent. That 14lb pig of a tent didn’t exactly make my frameless Go-Lite pack carry all that well, but it was only for a day. Nima hefted my pack at lunch and said ‘good carry’…maybe that meant I was doing an okay job.

Amazingly, we made it to Dobang. High fives all around for humping the heavy loads and Becky was a real trooper for keeping a solid pace despite her bug. There were a few large buildings in Dobang that all the porters were staying in while the clients tented it. Rain again in the late afternoon, fortunately all our gear was in the tent before the sky really opened up.

When we arrived, some locals were butchering a goat. Nima asked if we wanted any with dinner, but given Becky’s currently fragile stomach, we stuck with the usual fare, but all the porters took advantage of the extra protein!  Becky’s appetite had returned though and she put in a special request for Nima’s chicken soup and dal bhat. Nima really outdid himself this night. After telling us earlier in the day that bananas might help Becky’s stomach feel better, he showed up at our tent that night after dinner with a freshly made banana pie.   Becky couldn’t eat much of it that night, but we saved some for breakfast the next morning.

...the next day

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Banana pie for dessert!

Sun, Oct 14th, Naura to Boghara

The plan was just for a half-day this day. From here on out there really aren’t decent campsites between those on the itinerary, so as we started the trip a half day ahead of schedule, we kind of needed to get back on track so we could camp at the remaining towns and glacier camps up high. Becky was still feeling a little off but better than yesterday. We stopped and set up camp at lunchtime today. Everyone had a chance to do laundry and get cleaned up. The weather was changing even faster now that we were getting closer to the alpine. Within just a couple hours, the hot clear weather changed to clouds and rain.

After dinner the weather cleared back off again and we walked up to the nearby schoolhouse. A large guided Dutch group was camped there and as we found out, usually when a big guided group hits a small town, there’s usually some kind of traditional dance presentation (and a request to make a donation to the school/town).  The presentation and speeches in terribly broken English in the dimly lit schoolhouse were very endearing though, and it was a lot of fun

...the next day

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Dance party after the cultural program in Boghara's school