In the middle of April, the lakes were still mostly frozen. The ice was supposed to be gone by mid-March... They said the climate is messed up and everything happened one month later this year. Weather in Gosainkund really was messed up. On the three days I spent up there, the clouds appeared at about 11am already.
I tried to climb Surya Peak (5144m), alone, but I turned back just
below 5000m, when the clouds started to get dangerously close... I didn't
want to end up in white-out conditions, especially alone. It was easily
the most dangerous/foolish thing I have done in mountains (apart from walking
over a barely covered crevasse in Tien-Shan).
The long snow slopes (look right) were about 45 degrees, I had no ice-axe,
no crampons... The summit is a bit hidden and very rocky; I didn't climb that.
I climbed the false summit (4970m) which is visible from all over the place,
just next to the pass (Laurebina La, 4610m).
The next day, I was doing something much less dangerous: I crossed
Laurebina La. I was hurrying (you fool), I underestinated the slippery snow
path, I fell... and dislocated my shoulder. Again I was alone, and I spent
2 hours moving slowly, carrying my backpack on one shoulder, before I met
some people. Luckily they were Peace Corps guys, and one of them had
dislocated his shoulder "18 or 19 times", he said, and the other one had
fixed it 18 or 19 times. After meeting me, his score is 19 or 20.
I was advised to consider this a serious injury, and take it easy
for a while. Indeed, the shoulder is still not completely OK even now, 5
months later.
I went down to Helambu, carrying my backpack on one shoulder. Tharepati and
Ghopte had nothing but rain; most of the time we were within a cloud.
Descending to Melamchigaon (2500m) brought some sun and warmth.
Unlike most other villages, Melamchigaon is relatively spread out, and I
spent 3 wonderful days there, trying to give some rest to my shoulder.
There was an American named Max, who was a volunteer teacher in the school,
and we talked about psychology, land surverying in Alaska, modern physics,
and some other things too. He gave me "The Road Less Travelled" by
Scott M. Peck, and got "The Turning Point" by Fritjof Capra in return.
I enjoyed being in Helambu very much. Kind and honest people, pretty Sherpa
girls, good sense of humour. I felt a bit like at home, which is more than
I can say for the rest of the Subcontinent, where I was always a foreigner,
unable to understand the deeper things in people's minds.
I didn't think I would see apple trees in Himalayas, but I did, in Ghang Yul.
| Return to my homepage | Go back to Nepal page |