Bushwalking Treasure Box

New Zealand Jan 2008 - The Three Passes. Part 2

2010-07-09T00:36:00.001+10:00

...Wilberforce R, Browning Pass, Arahura R, Styx Saddle, Styx R

Day 3, we headed up the Wilberforce River. Here you can see Hamer Falls again, below the rightmost of the Twin Peaks, and the grassy climb up Browning Pass (Noti Raureka). The 400m climb zig-zags at the bottom, but seemed to be ascended very quickly.

We're only about half-way up, but already the view down the Wilberforce is breathtaking.

Mt Harman/Kaniere, and Lake Browning/Whakatewa.
If you do this trip as a three-dayer, camping up high, this would be one of your spots. Gorgeous in the sun, but the water was very chilly.
From the Wilberforce up to Browning Pass, and over into the upper Arahura, we were following an old stock route for sheep being taken west. Apparently they had to be winched up the last part of Browning Pass.

The Arahura River initially drops 500m from Lake Browning /Whakatewa in less than 3km. Making it extremely active.

Continuing down the stock route, we were all a bit flummoxed at how they would have crossed the Harman River, as they wouldn't have had the high suspension bridge that we had (pictured left with Mt Browning behind).

We continued down the Arahura along the eastern flank of My Browning for a little longer and then climbed west into the Styx Saddle. This remarkable place is a suspended swamp, where the tramper must take care or they might end up slipping into a thigh deep muddy pond!

We were really getting into Westland territory, characterised by the lush green, and wetness underfoot. This was one of many sidestreams of the Styx River, as we commenced our final descent.

Oh, and did I mention the moss? This is a whole wall of moss, all of it drinkable. With only overnighting at Grassy Flat Hut to break up the walk alongside the river, we were treated to about 10km of this sort of vegetation, a sumptuous finish to our four days, 52kms travel, 2700m ascent and 3270 descent. A grand walk!

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

New Zealand Jan 2008 - The Three Passes. Part 1.

2010-07-07T00:24:00.002+10:00

Waimakariri R, Taipoiti R, Harman Pass, Whitehorn Pass, ...

Inspired by some tantalising descriptions of this walk, we thought we'd try the slightly wilder Three Passes Walk. We took it east to west, starting at the Waimak and finishing on the Styx, but you can also do it the other way.

We took two and two-half days, staying at Carrington Hut, camping at Park Morpeth hut (it was full), and Grassy Flat Hut (13km, 12km climbing 900 and descending 900 metres, 16km climbing 500 and descending 850 metres and 12 km out). It can be done in three longer days (17km climbing 700m, 12km climbing 250m, dropping 850m, climbing 500m, and 23km, dropping 1200m), camping at Harman Pass and Browning Pass, which would be beautiful in good weather, and insane in bad.

It was a toss up as to whether or how we'd do this walk, as a front was predicted to cross on the day we were to start. However, after much humming and haing, we changed into our "tramping uniform" (polypro under gortex, shorts and gaiters - goretex not used in fine weather) and got dropped at the Waimakariri. Our object was to get to Carrington Hut 13km away in the afternoon, before the rain came and the river flooded. All the predictions worked out pretty well, and we avoided any flooding, however, by the time we arrived at the hut, we were soaked to the skin, and the rain battered at the hut most of the night, making the Waimak impassable the following day.

This was actually not a problem, as the following day we left the Waimakariri, crossed a rather active White River, and headed up the Taipoiti River. Amazingly, we woke to a a beautiful sunny day. Normally, we are not fans of huts, but when the bad weather comes through, they serve a vital purpose. So, we donned our apparel and headed off through some forest towards our route up to Harman Pass.

And so we came to a rather windy Harman Pass. We found a sheltered spot to stop for lunch and then headed further on towards Whitehorn Pass (somewhere beyond Glen's elbow). Even though this pass is continuous with the valley that leads to Whitehorn, it is a picky 2 km of climbing over rocks and debris to get to the snow.

The snow was actually quite soft, and we were at some risk of falling through to the river if we took the wrong route. We puffed our way up the 400m in the sun to Whitehorn Pass, which offered a stunning view of Cronin Glacier falling into the Cronin Stream valley, which was our next stage...

An earthquake several years earlier had rendered the descent down Cronin Stream valley rather treacherous, as the boulders were all unstable and large enough to break your ankle. It was an exhausting stage that took 2 and a half hours in western sun to descend the 800m in 5km. We were very pleased to find our campsite with some light still left. That's the 90m Hamer Falls nestled about 500m below Twin Peaks. We head that way tomorrow.

To be continued...

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

New Zealand Jan 2006 - Wilkin River

2010-06-28T23:20:00.003+10:00

Wilkin River revisited

A walk that had tantalised Helen and me for a while, was to walk up the Wilkin valley, over Rabbit Pass and down the East Matukituki. We dragged to boys back to New Zealand in January 2006 for a one-off whirlwind trip which proved to be A Ford Too Far...

We took the jetboat up the Wilkin to Kerin Forks (where Siberia Stream, mentioned in a previous walk joins the Wilkin) and commenced our tramp. We actually got off the boat well after midday, due to timing of public transport, but it was still enough time to get to Top Forks Hut, as the NZ summer days are light til after 9pm.
Walking alongside the river, it was fairly flat except for the up-and-down bits... There is a prominent hill directly adjacent to the river, a route which must be taken in high water, but we were able to clamber/wade around the side of it on this trip.

Next day, we planned a day-trip up the Wilkin's North Branch to Lakes Diana, Lucidus and hopefully Castalia. Here we see Mt Pollux and Mt Castor in the background as we head off. Helen took this one.

We spent several days at Upper Wilkin Hut, waiting for weather, and hoping Joseph's back would improve sufficiently for us to continue our walk. Our walk to the lakes was thwarted by some typical NZ mountain weather, which is capable of making it both stunningly beautiful and miserable at the same time...

By this time (day 4), it had been decided that we would not continue with the whole party over Rabbit Pass as planned, and that we would simply walk back out the way we came. However, Helen and I wanted to see what Rabbit Pass was like, so we got up early enough to see the sun rising on Pollux (or Castor) before taking off up the South Branch.

Waterfall Face from Waterfall Flat, Upper Wilkin, South Branch. The Wilkin River falls on the left are 50m, but the Mt Taurus Falls on the right are 400m!!! The 150m climb of the tricky (some would say treacherous - depending on the weather) Waterfall Face is right in front of us.

However, climb it we did, in fact we climbed up it, and back down (since this was a there-and-back-again day trip to Rabbit Pass). Tricky even in good weather, the Waterfall Face becomes virtually impassable for trampers in the wet or under snow. Here, Helen is descending on our return trip, which we found much more difficult than climbing up.

That day, we saw only two other parties. The one who took this picture, (behind us is the top of the 400m Mt Taurus falls), and a party much later on, as we were descending back to the hut. They had flown into Jumboland early in the day, and were walking from there up to Waterfall Flat in the one day. Several of them were in their fifties or sixties, and they were as tough as nails! Even though we walked only 13km that day, we ascended 800m, and descended the same.

All that was left was to walk out from Top Forks hut the next day. We had to ford the Wilkin at Kerin Forks to continue on the true left bank, but were eventually able to flag a jet boat to come back to pick us up (much to the jet boat driver's annoyance and our expense). Even though we had many great memories of the beautiful area that we got into, we couldn't help feeling that we had missed the target here, and this is a walk that may see a repeat performance some time in the future.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

New Zealand Jan 2001 - Tongariro Crossing

2010-06-21T23:41:00.004+10:00

Day walk to Mt Ngauruhoe, Red Crater, Blue Lake. Tongariro Nat Park

With only four weeks in New Zealand, there is much that you have to simply decide you won't get to see. For us, that was most of the North Island. However, Helen and I couldn't resist the temptation to slip in just one more walk, much to the boys' consternation. In the end, we agreed to leave them watching videos whilst we headed off to walk across the Tongariro.
Our late start was a blessing, as we didn't find any crowds until the South Crater, shown on the left here, below Mt Ngauruhoe. We were unaware that folks were able to climb Mt Ngarauhoe, which was squirting some steam out at the time. Then again, it had its head in the clouds only half an hour earlier.
The Tongariro Crossing is like walking across Mars. Bare, rocky, dry, windy, cold and not enough oxygen. The colours in some of the rocks are pretty amazing, though, as you can see from the two shots of Red Crater below. Emerald Lakes, whilst smelly, aren't even warm.

Below, left to right, Mt Ngarauhoe, Red Crater in front of it, Central Crater, Mt Tongariro above it, Helen, Blue Lake and Mt Rotopaunga above it.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

New Zealand Jan 2001 - Abel Tasman National Park

2010-06-20T21:45:00.007+10:00

We sped north through dull Greymouth, skirted Punakaiki's pancake rocks for a later visit, and made straight for Motueka on the west side of Tasman Bay.
Joseph was too young for us to hire any sea-kayaks, so we walked along the Abel Tasman National Park's paths. This proved to be quite a good choice, as there were only dozens of walkers on the tracks, but there were hundreds of kayakers on the water.
This was a real change of scene, and the only part of the South Island that makes you think of warm climate and palm trees.
Here I met the weta (pronounced witta, which the local person told me only comes out when it's wit).
[Actually, it turns out to be a huhu beetle - and no I didn't make that name up]

It must still rain a lot here, though, as there were lots of tree ferns. There were also lots of sand-flies. Around the campsites, there are feral possums, too, one bailing up Joseph in the dunny at Te Pukatea. The cove of Te Pukatea is simply gorgeous (see photo below). This part of the coast has very large tidal variation (over two metres), making for lots of variety in the bays, and making some estuary crossings impossibly impassable at high tide, so you need to time your walk carefully.

Glen had decided that the sandy paths made for walking in bare feet, leaving him so sore the following day that he and Joseph were dispatched by boat to a spot further north, whilst Helen and I enjoyed a day of unfettered tramping, and sprinted up the track to meet up with them that afternoon.
The last day was a quick walk to Totaranui Beach followed by a boat ride back to Marahau and a drive to Picton to cross over Cook Strait the next day.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

New Zealand Jan 2001 - Young Valley, Gillespie Pass, Siberia Valley

2010-06-17T23:48:00.010+10:00

Young Valley, Gillespie Pass, Crucible Lake and Siberia Valley

We thought we had seen bad sandflies in the Rees/Dart walk. At Milford Sound, we had seen seals sunning themselves in a breeze to keep sandflies off them. Nothing had prepared us for the onslaught of sandflies at Young Forks. Created as a lunching spot on the way to Young Hut, the rangers failed to mention whom it was lunch for. As it turned out, you'd have to say we had fast food for lunch that day.

With two walks under our belts, Helen and I were hoping that the boys would have "hardened up" to walking a bit by now, but Joseph proceeded to fall to bits as the Young valley continued to go up and up and up. It is really gorgeous, with lots of trees, the odd dangerous landslip to cross, and constant riverside stimulation, but not much mitigated it for a ten year old who had had enough. However, there was little else to do but trudge on and whinge, so that's what we did. (Before you report us for child abuse, please consider that only the other day Joseph was remarking how lucky he was to have seen such beautiful mountain areas. I guess time heals all wounds).

We finally reached Young Hut late in the day. To say the setting is worth it is an absolute understatement. Nestled at the lip of a glacial valley, above a waterfall which topples into a densely treed forest valley (the one we struggled up), and backed by a punchbowl of snowcapped cliffs, complete with slow combustion stove, Young Hut seemed like we'd all died and gone to heaven.

The next day (day two), we had to climb over Gillespie Pass. Only about 800 metres, but very steep for a long time. Again, the weather was very kind, and we didn't have to battle the blizzards experienced by folks several days earlier. We met a falcon at the very top, which circled us inquisitively before landing and showing us how much it could ignore us.

That night we camped near Gillespie Stream, in Siberia Valley. Stupidly, we camped under the trees, and again became dinner for the sandflies. Our own dinner was very quick, and a card game in the tent was quickly arranged as our evening's entertainment.

The climb up to Crucible Lake started and ended quite vertically, and in the middle there was a gentle rise, punctuated with a leap across the creek.
So whilst it looks like Joseph is walking on an invisible tightrope, he was actually trying hard to stay airborne enough to clear the creek, in which he succeeded.

Day three saw us visit Crucible Lake. Yet another fairly vertical climb up the other side of Siberia Valley into the feeder valley of Crucible Stream, itself fed by ice falls from the cliffs that surround it. It is well named, being a lake formed by a terminal moraine and backed by rock walls.

By the time we got to Siberia Hut, we were all feeling pretty tired, especially Joseph. Greeting us when we arrived were folks from Israel, Germany, France, Canada and New Zealand, and Glen and Joseph very quickly joined in an internationally uniting card game of Ricketty Kate.
The next day, we had to decide on whether we were going to get dropped by plane up at Jumboland, to walk on to Kerin Forks and Lake Lucidus etc or just catch the plane out. Torpor decided for us, and we were granted a lovely view of the upper Wilkin River valleys, including bird's eye views of the upper lakes. The pilot was very nice to Glen, explaining how to fly the plane, whilst we approached a cliff face at 200 kilometres per hour. He was very good at showing us how to turn tight corners.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

New Zealand Jan 2001 - Mt Cook area

2010-06-14T21:37:00.011+10:00

Mueller Hut

As if to make up for the bad weather of the coast, Aoraki (Mt Cook) allowed itself to be in full view for us for over two days. It is another stunning place to visit, with several glaciers quite accessible. It does rather startlingly underline the fact that NZ is full of falling down mountains. Much of the Hooker Valley is below scree slopes, leaving it looking more like a quarry than a national park. However, as one gets higher (and further away from the "mess"), one can take a more sanctified view of the whole area (probably caused by altitude sickness).
We had chosen to overnight in Mueller Hut, being the lowest hut (a mere 1000 metres above the car park) as well as the most accessible.

It took several hours to climb up the side of Mt Olivier to get to Mueller Hut. To make the feat achievable by the boys, Helen and I took all their gear (we didn't need tents) so that they could go up without packs. This made the feat much more of a challenge for us parents, as we struggled yak-like up the steep slopes.

We celebrated our arrival at Mueller Hut with some snow cones. God, snow is gritty...
Aoraki is doing Phantom Mountain imitations.

Click on the pic for a larger view, or click here for an enormous view!

270° Panorama stitched from 11 portrait prints(!).

L ro R: Lake Pukaki (in distance), Helen, Mt Ollivier (sic) and Sealy Range, Mt Burns at the top of the Mueller Glacier, Main Range's Mt Isabel and Mt Thomson, highest point Mt Sefton (3162m) dropping down to the Footstool and finally to the Hooker Glacier, over 2000m below Sefton.
Aoraki/Mt Cook is the white blob 2800m above Hooker Gl.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

New Zealand Jan 2001 - Milford Sound

2010-06-12T08:23:00.007+10:00

Not a walk, but part of my original diary, so here it is.

I'd originally intended to have only walks in this blog, but I'll toss this little day trip in, as it was a feature of our first NZ visit. Oh, and we did do a little kayaking and walking...

A great part about Milford is driving there. The road tunnel which takes you through to Milford is a really spooky place, being only just wide enough for two directions, and full of fog. It is like driving into a dragon's mouth. On the return journey, just after the tunnel, we met some keas (NZ parrots) who were very interested in our hire car. With their highly inquisitive nature and strong beak, they have made car demolition an art form, and have been known to pull all the rubber from around a windscreen, causing it to fall in! Car aerials are often chiropractically adjusted and windscreen wipers used for jousting.

Known as "the drain of NZ", Milford Sound boasts over 7 metres of rain a year. So all those photos you see of Milford Sound shining in the sun, sparkling waterfalls cascading straight into the sea? Well, your chances are better in summer, but overall, it'll more likely rain. As it turned out, the sun shone for us for about ten minutes as we got on the tour boat.
Either way, Milford Sound is quite stunning, and boatload after boatload after boatload of tourists are taken up past Mitre Peak, the Lion, the Elephant, waterfalls etc out to the heads and back.

Wanting to experience Milford a little more intimately, we enlisted for a kayaking/walking trip. Unfortunately, this was not on the main bay, so we missed the seals and dolphins shown on the brochure. However, we backtracked the Milford track a bit, under the guidance of "Wicked Dave", who made a pretty mean scroggin, and had a speech defect whereby all advectival utterances (eg "Fantastic!" "That's funny" "Great") were replaced with the word "Wicked".

As promised by statistical probability, we got some weather. That's Mitre Peak in the middle.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

New Zealand Jan 2001 - Rees & Dart Valleys

2010-06-10T22:46:00.007+10:00

Rees & Dart Valleys, Dart Glacier & Cascade Saddle
Our first walking trip was the Rees-Dart Valleys. You can tell this was taken in the first hour, 'cos we're all still smiling. Reading the trip notes for this walk... er... tramp (more of a slosh, actually), there is one small line about boggy areas... Please, note how clean the gaiters are. They failed at keeping the mud out of our socks, as they weren't designed for full scale long-term immersion. Thank goodness it hadn't rained heavily in the last 24 hours, 'cos we hadn't tested our packs as canoes...

That's probably Mt Earnslaw in the background. One problem we encountered photographing in NZ is that there is a lot of white about, making for too much contrast. One solution would be to take photos in another country, but I think I'll simply bring a filter with me next time.All through the months of preparation for our trip, Helen had forgotten to tell the rest of us (silly her!) about sandflies. Imagine!? The one critter in New Zealand that is more annoying and badgering than a four year old asking you where they came from. One thing I learnt very early on day two, after I'd got up first to cook brekky, is "don't get up first to cook brekky". Otherwise the sandflies have you all to themselves...

L to R: Mt Edward above the Dart Glacier, Plunkett Dome, the West Matukituki above which is Rob Roy, and rightmost Cascade Falls. If the sky had been clearer, you would also have seen Mt Aspiring.
210 degree view, stitched from 9 photos

Helen and the boys at the foot of Dart Glacier. The black stuff in the background is actually ice. I used to think ice was white, but as you can see from the above pic, a lot of rubble falls onto the glacier. In fact, all of New Zealand's peaks seem to be falling down.The next day we commenced our walk out. It rained. Not heavily, but constantly. All day. In those circumstances, there is not much to do but keep walking, which we did, the boys being propelled foward by an unending retelling of Monty Python sketches, dredged up from my youth.
Actually, the really groovy thing was going out on the jet boat. We had the maniac driver (fortunately our packs were in a boat driven by someone more sedate) who would spin the boat into reverse, and you would liken the experience to having a bucket of ice-cold water tipped over your head, and then sitting in front of a strong fan. It was fun, though.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

New Zealand - Jan 2001, 2006 & 2008

2010-06-07T09:17:00.033+10:00

"We do sell food over here you know". The customs officer glared at us.
"Well, we weren't sure what was going to be available to us, what the serving sizes would be and so on, and we didn't want to spend the first day of our holiday in a supermarket" we explained nervously as the New Zealander waved us through, "… not in such a beautiful country", I added hopefully.

As if you need to add that. New Zealand oozes pulchritude in every corner (apart from Auckland, but we'll get there much much later, and even Auckland has its own appeal).
Permanently capped with white, like soft-serve ice-creams towering over their surrounds, NZ mountains lead one to scoff at Australia's piddling Great Dividing Range. As we flew from Sydney to Christchurch, seemingly under the nose of Mount Cook - or one of its lesser molehills - you could not help but be stunned by the country's sheer vertical scale. The South Island may be skinny, but she's tall - dunno why they lose at netball. And speaking of losing, you have to be careful being an Ozzie in NZ. They can get a bit touchy about cricket and stuff, tho' I could normally disarm them with a comment about keeping the America's Cup, or the Super 7s. Personally, I don't see much difference between Oz and NZ. One letter and a bit of capitalising.
Due to one of those something-for-nothing flukes that never occur in the real world, we were able to fly from Christchurch to Queenstown for no extra cost. Queenstown has a delightful mountain airport where they let the planes down by rope. Despite being surrounded by snowcapped mountains - which think nothing of towering up to 1000m above the town - Queenstown is of lower elevation than Canberra. In fact it is alleged that the bottom of the adjacent lake is below sea level. One of those quirks which - because of the coldness of the water - no one is ever going to challenge.
This is it. The land of the jet boat, the home of the bungy jump, cradle of white-water rafting and nursery of the goal of our visit - tramping! (as the kiwis quaintly describe it).
The Oxford Concise Dictionary defines the verb tramp thus:

a walk heavily and firmly b go on foot, esp. a distance
a cross on foot, esp wearily or reluctantly b cover (a distance) in this way

The kiwis obviously knew more than we did, as we were to find out...

January 2001

January 2006

Wilkin River

January 2008

Karamea River whitewater rafting
Three Passes, Part 1 and Part 2
Nelson Lakes

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Overland Track Jan 2000 - Day 11

2010-06-02T17:48:00.011+10:00

Cradle Mountain

The last day revealed a slight planning hitch. In dropping down to Lake Rodway, we had now given ourselves another 600 metre climb, again half with packs on. That first climb, doing mountain goat practice (the sort of place where you’d yodel if you had any breath left) along the Face Track below Little Horn, nearly finished me off. It is a very exposed area, and in the summer sun, was extremely hot. Just as I was preparing to expire, we stumbled across a stream of the coolest, freshest, most enlivening, delightful, delectable, and delicious water I had ever met. It was ... nice.

Lake Wilks and Dove Lake from the Face Track

We stumbled into Kitchen Hut, Joseph vowing he’d never climb Cradle Mountain, but after another extended lunch, including Tim Tams from some very astute and friendly people, he managed. It was the nice sort of lunch that you can have when you know that you can now finish it all off ‘cos there are no more lunches to be rationed for. An “and this mouthful’s for the emergency snow day” sort of lunch. A “we can offer you this sort of soupy thing to you, mate, and is that really a packet of Tim Tams you’re trying to finish off?” sort of lunch. Ah yes. Very astute people.
Above right: Little Horn from Cradle Summit. The track from Lake Rodway is seen snaking up from the right (so we walked around the "back" of the Horn...) Dove Lake is peeping over the left.

Cradle Mountain, whilst a climax of the walk in many ways (a “peak experience”, you might say), had the experience of it tempered by the sheer volume of people you were climbing with. I have a feeling that it is more like Uluru. Probably more interesting to go around (which we did in this case), rather than up (which we also did).

The climb back down saw the boys already at the cabin long before their bodies arrived. A shame, since the descent past Crater Lake and creek is sumptuously beautiful. But when we did arrive - aah! the showers! And then a quick 6km stroll to Cradle Chalet for dinner. Aah! the beer. Fortunately our determined march was aided by a very friendly woman with a car, a young family and lots of empathy. And then, Aah! The bed. And the sleep that hits you when you finally get to a bed after nine nights in tents. The sort of sleep that says “vinyl?, what vinyl?”. The sort of sleep that says “I’m not walking tomorrow”. The sort of sleep that says “zzzzzzzzzzz”.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Overland Track Jan 2000 - Day 10

2010-06-02T11:00:00.004+10:00

Barn Bluff and Lake Rodway

On the penultimate day, we did climb Barn Bluff, and were rewarded with a stunning view of Lake Will from above it. It literally felt like you could dive off and land in the water. We all felt like we had achieved something, having had to have two goes at it (having had to have???).
Left: Atop Barn Bluff, Mt Oakleigh behind us, Mt Pelion East to the right.
Below: Lake Will from Barn Bluff.

After another high altitude lunch (Barn Bluff is higher than Cradle Mountain), we dropped down to Scott-Kilvert Hut, on the shores of Lake Rodway, which is on the other side of Cradle Mountain. The ground was far too stony to camp (the two reasonable tent sites were taken), so we bedded in the hut. This felt quite strange, and was made more sleepless by a full moon blazing through the skylight. Still, the rats were very considerate, and you had to listen extremely carefully to hear them at all.
Right: Cradle Mtn from Barn Bluff. Lake Rodway is to the right of and well below Cradle Mtn.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Overland Track Jan 2000 - Day 9

2010-05-31T22:25:00.004+10:00

Lake Will and Waterfall Valley Hut

The following day we visited Lake Will, technically at the base of Barn Bluff, though an ascent from the lake would be rather ferocious. Threatening, misty clouds simply evaporated in the sun, leaving sandy beaches, complete with guys talking about surfing! I could imagine that with the right sort of wind, it may get some waves, but the water was hellishly cold (hellishly cold?).

We trudged on to Waterfall Valley Hut, a destination that kept on picking itself up and moving further away, much to our annoyance and the boys’ increasing dismay. “Just around the next bend” and “Just over the next rise”, blurred into “Just wait ‘til I get my hands on the cartographer”, a person who obviously had never factored human tiredness into their map-making.
That afternoon, having set up camp in what seemed like Central Station after the less populated sites of before, we embarked upon our silliest idea of the trip, climbing Barn Bluff then and there. We set off briskly, but being a 600 metre climb, and after getting to within about fifteen minutes of the top, tiredness set in, weather looked more threatening, and we had to turn back. It was a great opportunity for character building, though I don’t think we quite rose to the occasion. Tired, dejected and upset, we all stumbled back down to camp.

Our spirits were brightened by a visiting wombat and quolls. The wombat had a purposefulness about it that reminded me of that possum. I guess it comes from being so close to humans who would like to feed it rather than watch it eat its normal food. Quolls on the other hand, whilst quite fearless about humans, would rather be watched running around, and would flit from place to place so fast that they would be gone before I could even pick up the camera. Think of a Jack Russell Terrier on amphetamines and you’ll get the idea!

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Overland Track Jan 2000 - Day 8

2010-05-30T15:24:00.004+10:00

Pineforest Moor and Lake Windermere

The next day was a forced march around the base of Pelion West (yes, still dominating the landscape), across Pine Forest Moor and onto lake Windermere. Quite a long walk, so Joseph made it shorter by planning his birthday party (including all the presents), a mental activity which consumed several hours.

Windermere is a pretty spot, but with no potable water. This - of course - was where our purifier broke.
Swimming in Lake Windermere. Barn Bluff is in the background.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Overland Track Jan 2000 - Day 7

2010-05-29T14:23:00.003+10:00

Mt. Oakleigh

Pah! I dunno which day we’re up to now. But I remember that the dusk the night before (remember? Mt Pelion West was pulling his doona over) I saw the biggest, fattest, meanest, most determined looking possum I’ve ever seen. He looked like he’d rolled up his sleeves. He’d obviously sorted out who was boss of the camps… it was whoever could stay awake the longest! We were extra careful with storing our food that night, deciding to eat the last five days food then and there… … er… …stuffing the chocolate deep into our sleeping bags … er … well, just tying up packs really tightly, actually - so he left for the adjacent campsite where they fed him port and cigars.
The next day, after passing a rather bilious looking possum, we started for Mt Oakleigh. This was a very strenuous climb, not so much for the height, a mere 540 metres, but because of the added weight of the mud sticking to our boots, and the extra effort to lift them out of knee deep bogs.

Looking south, west and north from Mt. Oakleigh. LtoR: Mt Ossa, Macs Mountain (bg), Mt Thetis, Mt Achilles, Mt Pelion West (with the scar), Pineforest Moor, Barn Bluff (the bump), Cradle Mtn. Forth River Gorge is in the foregoround.

Between that and the baking heat at the top, we were exhausted upon our return, and strolled off to Old Pelion Hut for a bath in the creek (below the lowest water gathering site, and thus widely accepted as the place to swim).
We bumped into a very friendly and fit young blonde Scandinavian woman, who seemed to know many people on the track and who also wanted to have a swim. It was very interesting the number of fathers who came over to chat with me whilst I was swimming. I never knew I was that popular!

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Overland Track Jan 2000 - Day 6

2010-05-25T20:20:00.010+10:00

Mt. Ossa and Pelion East

Following the mosquitoes’ shrill dipteric serenade, we set off next morn to Pelion Gap, where we dropped our packs - along with about forty other trusting folks, (every man and their quoll stops here) - and headed towards Mt Ossa.

The breathtaking views from the top were tempered only by the fact that the climb had already left us breathless, and there are similarly stunning views on the way up. The approach to the summit is like something out of a Wagner opera - and similar perhaps in the sense that the awesome æsthetic rewards come after some sustained arduous efforts! The circle shows two people, to give you an idea of scale.

It is true though that you can see half way across Tasmania on a clear day. Even on a clear sunny day, the wind at the top was icy, and we were very pleased to have a reason to don some of the clothing we had packed with such meticulous forethought.
On the left, Glen, Andrew, Joseph and a huge cushion plant in flower. Mt. Oakleigh is in the background, looking very small.

LtoR: Mt Pelion West, Barn Bluff, Cradle Mtn, Forth River Gorge, Mt Oakleigh, Lake Ayr, Mt Pillinger, Pelion East, Dean’s Bluff, Joseph & Helen Purdam, Cathedral Mountain, Falling Mountain, Mt Massif Click on the pic to see a larger version, where the banding is not so obvious.
We followed this climb with an afternoon ascent of the much hairier Pelion East - the large dark nipple on the above photo - a peak we were glad to get up and down safely. We took the wrong ascent, and had to contend with fairly loose scree and exposed climbs.

We headed down hill to Pelion Plains, pitching camp - after Joseph’s compulsory daily dummy-spit - where we could watch the sun set behind the ominous Pelion West. This awesome mountain entertained us that night by wearing a beautiful hogsback cloud that would continuously form on one side, curl its fingers over the top and evaporate on the other side. As the sky darkened, the cloud took on more the tufted look of an old man’s shock of silver hair, before settling like a comfortable fluffy doona to keep him warm overnight.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Overland Track Jan 2000 - Day 5

2010-05-23T14:08:00.005+10:00

Falls to Pinestone Valley

Fergusson Falls, on the Mersey River

We passed more folk the following day, including two guys who were carrying footballs and fresh food. Each had a pack weighing about forty kilos, and they needed to help each other to hoick their packs on. I imagine that if they both fell onto their backs, they’d be stranded like Galapagos Island tortoises.

D'Alton Falls (right), also on the Mersey, spills into quite a deep canyon.

We passed Kia Ora Hut, having yet another bath, this time below Kia Ora Falls (Kia Ora Creek is a tributary of the Mersey), to reinvigorate ourselves before going on and camping at PineStone Valley, a pretty spot below Mt Ossa (Tassie’s highest), and whose other claim to fame is that at night, the sound of the mosquitoes is absolutely deafening.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Overland Track Jan 2000 - Day 4

2010-05-22T10:02:00.007+10:00

Windy Ridge and Hartnett Falls

It’s amazing, when you want to get somewhere quickly by a slow means, how much longer it seems to take. Trudging out from Pine Valley to pick up the Overland Track again seemed to take forever, and that was to get to a point that we had departed from 2½ days earlier. By the time we had reached Windy Ridge hut (effectively less that one day’s walk from the start), we were all spitting and snarling. Joseph was refusing to move his boots one more step, and I was threatening to use mine to hurry his pants along (well, not really, but it sounds more dramatic when put like that). After an extended lunch including a long cards sessions (any Uni student or senior public servant would be familiar with this) and enjoying viewing the Acropolis and Mt Geryon from the other side, we set off again over DuCane Gap, quite a vigorous climb from either side. Having earlier plagued all oncoming traffic with questions are to how far was Windy Ridge Hut, we now took great delight in telling exhausted parties how far they had to go, a sadistic pleasure which fuelled our own efforts and put a spring in our step.

We passed many groups at this time; families of up to a dozen or so with kids younger than Joseph and fathers struggling pathetically under combined weight of billy cans and teddy bears. “Poor buggers”, I smiled to myself, conveniently forgetting the fact that I was carrying the food, fuel and share of the tent of two boys who were each eating more food than I was.
One thing that astonished me, especially when passing nubile young couples, was their smells. Whether days away from sense-deadening cities had made me more “olefactorily aware”, or whether they just felt they had to smell stronger to mask more b.o., I don’t know, but passing some couples was more like walking through the “ladies’ paint-and-sniff” counters of Grace Bros. or D.J.’s. Still, I guess you never know when you might bump into some marsupial mayor or rodent royalty. Or were they trying to impress each other??? “Five days into the track and smell me!!! I’m still a rose! Aren’t I amazing?” Maybe I was envious of the fact that they could afford to carry the extra two hundred grams of underarm pong repellent.

Truly, sometimes I could smell people coming before I could see them. This got me thinking. I wonder if they could smell the subtleties of the bush that I seemed to be experiencing. The native beech forests were wonderfully musty and spicy, and later we would be brushing past boronias in full flower, filling our noses with their fragrance. But what were these walking perfume-counters smelling? Then it struck me… By dousing themselves scentsless, they would avoid smelling stinky unwashed bastards like me!!!

Having crested the lofty and scent-laden DuCane Gap, we found a campsite that night that made me think we had died and gone to Hikers’ Heaven. (Come to think of it, the early climb had nearly killed us!) We pitched tents on a soft leaf litter surrounded by native beech forests, twenty metres from a waterfall on the Mersey River. Feeling in need of a swim, we stripped off - swimmers were far too heavy to carry - and skated across the rocks before plunging in. The water was indeed very very cold, reducing all claims to manhood to a mere vestige, but the skating was not due to ice but slippery moss, which in fact was what caused the plunging. The boys turned this to their advantage, creating a water slide to slip down.
Dinner, including a dessert of custard and stewed apricots, was cooked and voraciously eaten above the waterfall, the rock platform providing enough tables for all parties, even though none of us had booked ahead.
As the sun set on our literally gorgeous b.y.o.d. (bring-your-own-dinner), I couldn’t help thinking that folks would pay a hundred dollars a head to eat like this. All you need to do is invest in several hundreds of dollars of camping gear, walk several days to starvation to hone your appetite, and it could be yours for free!

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Overland Track Jan 2000 - Day 3

2010-05-21T08:16:00.006+10:00

The Acropolis

The other day walk available to us from Pine Valley is to climb westward into the Labyrinth. This is a beautiful area covered in tarns and surrounded by rocky peaks. For some reason, it is also infested with the most aggressive ants I’ve met. As soon as you placed a foot anywhere, they would start to converge. Must have been the echidna’s day off…

Above: The three-headed Mt Geryon and The Acropolis from the Labyrinth. Lake Elysia is in the foreground.

Many of the peaks, rivers and lakes in the district are named after classical Greek characters, which makes for a very dramatic way of interpreting the landscape. The Labyrinth is sometimes difficult for the neophyte to negotiate even in good weather. In a white-out, it would be deadly.

Above: 180º view, looking west, north and east from the Labyrinth. Left to Right: Walled Mountain, Lake Tartarus, Mt Eros, Mt Hyperion, more of the Labyrinth, Mt Massif, Mt Geryon and the Acropolis

Pine Valley and the surrounding day-walk areas - The Labyrinth and the Acropolis - make a brilliant introduction to the Cradle Mountain/Lake St Clair National Park. They are breathtaking, in every sense of the word! The Pine Valley campsite was fun, too, being well attended by pademelons (Rufous wallaby), including babies who would occasionally race through camp like a super ball, cornering as if they were ricocheting off the ground. The other animals to really welcome us here were the mosquitoes, but we’ll talk about them more later…

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Overland Track Jan 2000 - Day 2

2010-05-16T21:51:00.006+10:00

The Acropolis

The Acropolis (left) with about 600 metres of climbing, was the first and the most demanding day trip we did. Here are Helen and the boys stopping to breathe. Because of the height, it also offers some stunning 360 degree views, letting you look straight down the Lake St Clair valley (in background), as well as straight across to Mt Geryon, a very dramatic rocky outcrop. The Acropolis itself was covered in flowers. (Do excuse the clunky panorama, but it was compiled over ten years ago, before both ptgui and cheap archiving...)

Stitched from 5 and 4 photos using ptgui
270 degree from The Acropolis looking south and west, then north west to north east.
Top: From left to right, Mt Gould, the Labyrinth, Mt Eros, bit of Mt Geryon
Bottom: Mt Geryon, Mount Massif, Mt Ossa (b/g), Falling Mountain (and that's only the left half of the horizon!), and in the f/g a bit of the Acropolis.

The barrel distortion and dark fringes on this old camera were phenomenal, making for some badly banded panoramas.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Overland Track Jan 2000 - Day 1

2010-05-14T08:40:00.008+10:00

Lake St. Clair to Pine Valley

This boat took us 14 km up Lake St Clair to Narcissus Hut, where we began our 11-day walk through to Cradle Mountain. The boat is leaning to one side 'cos of the weight of my pack, nearly 28kg (60 pounds)!

Mt Ida is about half way up Lake St Clair, on the eastern side. Strangely, Glen and Joseph didn’t get sick on this boat, despite losing their brekky on the Devil Cat. Maybe it’s 'cos they were allowed drive a bit on this boat (Lake St Clair is a long way to sink, but not too far to swim…).

Tassy Parks and Wildlife Service have had duck boards on wetter patches of the walks for decades now, to help control erosion. Whilst they definitely take away the impression of walking in the wilderness, they certainly help in reducing track erosion. In some spots without boards, the mud can be knee-deep, and the track becomes up to ten metres wide trying to avoid it. We saw very little mud this time, but enjoyed a good slorp when it was available. This is Mt Gould, as we trudge off towards Pine Valley, our first stop.

Fallen trees make a road in Pine Valley.

We decided to do the Overland Track south to north so that we could stop at Pine Valley for a few days and eat some food before having to shift camp again. This was a Good Idea.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Overland Track Jan 2000

2010-05-13T09:08:00.013+10:00

Lake St Clair to Cradle Mountain

Well, after months and months of planning, the Purdam family finally got away for several weeks to tour Tasmania, including a 10½ day bushwalk on the Overland Track. We were blessed with perfect weather, despite it snowing two weeks before our trip, and four days after we’d finished. We’re still looking for the person who must have sold their soul to the devil for us to get such a great window in the weather. The 11 day trek was a wonderful challenge for the boys (then 9 and 12), who rose to the physical task admirably. We all became much fitter as we went on.

Rough calculations tell me that we walked about 120 kilometres and climbed over 5000 metres, over half of that height with packs on. Many people do the Cradle Mtn/Lake St Clair track in 4-5 days, and consequently miss a lot, often only climbing Mt Ossa and Cradle Mountain. Ascentaholics as we were, we saw this beautiful mountainous area from seven different peaks, including The Acropolis, The Labyrinth, Mt Ossa, Mt Pelion East, Mt Oakleigh, Barn Bluff and Cradle Mountain. Even though Mt Ossa (the highest peak in Tasmania) is not as high as Mt Kosciuszko, I think it should be considered Australia’s highest peak simply because it looks more like a mountain, the benefit of being in an area that was glacial during the last ice age.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Frenchman's Cap Jan 2003 - Day 6

2010-05-08T15:38:00.006+10:00

Mary Creek Plain to Victoria Pass

Sadly, the tent leaked profusely and puddles were very evident the next morning. I had devotedly seam-sealed all seams in the tent, but the rain sweated through where the floor joined the wall (a vulcanised bond). This was most disappointing, as both fabrics are supposed to be water proof, but I think the joining process has left them less than so. We later found a small hole in the floor and resealed the corners later, to make a much happier tent. During the night, the expelled leeches had gathered in the fly. Getting out in the morning then became a running of the gauntlet as the hungry little vampires had attached themselves to everything I had to brush past. The boys elected to have breakfast inside, but we all agreed to leave as quickly as possible.

Remarkably, the clouds broke and we ended up climbing up to Flat Bluff in sunshine. By the end of the day, sunburn was feeling unavoidable, despite the sunscreen. Flat Bluff was an incredibly beautiful place, covered in delicate plants and flowers. We felt like vandals even walking there. A very strange mix of emotions. We pushed on through increasingly scratchy scrub (richea scoparia) up to the Ragland Range, where we met the fire-trail.

Very easy walking which we thought we'd spice up by making a "short-cut" over Bub's Hill down to Victoria Pass and the Lyell Highway. Seemed pretty straightforward. The spur basically went down. As counselled by Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings, short cuts make long delays, and we found ourselves struggling through thickets of teatree and rainforest scrub as our deadline with the bus grew nearer and nearer, kids grew wearier and wearier, and parents grew crankier and crankier. However sheer grunt prevailed and we hit the highway in time. By now the temperature had resumed in the mid 30sC and we were very pleased to simply sit and wait for the bus.

The trip proved to be a really good mix of good fun, some big effort and grand views, spiced up with some traditional rain, hail and sunshine and a touch of vampirism.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Frenchman's Cap Jan 2003 - Day 5

2010-05-08T15:33:00.005+10:00

Irenabyss to Mary Creek Plain

Very few photos were taken this day (this one is of the rafting party departing from the opposite bank), as it rained incessantly and views were restricted. Despite a trail not being marked on the map, there is a pad (in places indistinct) to follow up from the Irenabyss, and most of the way to the Mary Creek plain. It rained and rained and rained, making lunch pretty cold and miserable. However the landscape was still beautiful. We reached the Mary Creek plain and discovered that it is a very wet button-grass plain. Not muddy - because there was no track - but extremely wet underfoot and very uneven. Broken ankles felt inevitable but fortunately none eventuated.

We searched for flat spaces to camp but alas there are none. Anything near flat was muddy. It was whilst we were scouting (ultimately unsuccessfully) for good camping sites that we realised Mary Creek's other great minus - a secret hidden amongst the grass. It was crawling with leeches. The combination of the weather and leeches made this stopover particularly unpleasant, and there was little else to do other than hastily erect our tents, dive in them and spend the rest of the day finding leeches on our clothes and removing them into the fly of the tents!

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Frenchman's Cap Jan 2003 - Day 4

2010-05-03T09:33:00.005+10:00

Lake Tahune to Irenabyss

It rained that night, alarming us with some moisture at the feet of our sleeping bags. We had paid a lot for this tent, as storm-proof (okay, storm-resistant) four-person tents are very hard to come by, and were disappointed. What if it rained a lot? That does happen in Tasmania. Anyhow, the overnight rain had made for a good photo opportunity, which Joseph made the most of. We decided to ignore the coming weather and walk out from Frenchmans northwards, rather than back the way we came. This meant descending 1000 metres to the Irenabyss, crossing the Franklin river without a bridge, at a point that is not fordable (either swim or paddle), and walking out over the Mary Creek Plain - another soggy bog (with a surprise creature awaiting us, more of that tomorrow). Sounded like fun.

As we left to climb North Col a second time (this time with packs on), it started to hail. Then - in typical Tasmanian highland in summer fashion - it started to snow. We were delighted as the exposed quartzite became even whiter. By the time we left the North Col, however, it had hailed again, an icy, sleaty wind had whipped up, and we had an 8-9 km walk along an exposed ridge before our descent. Once we had reclothed the kids and ourselves in some warmer gear, we continued on. Finally, after weeks of alpine walking in good weather in the previous years, our preparation had paid off, and we didn't feel so nerdy about all our warm clothing.

The track to the Irenabyss from Lake Tahune is as hazardous as it is spectacular. Following an exposed ridge above several alpine cirques, you then descend very steeply and "slipperily" to the Franklin River. Much of this is achieved on one's bum, mostly unwillingly. Here you perfect the art of falling on your pack, to avoid breaking arms and necks. After a chilling trip from Lake Tahune, we tumbled down to the Franklin river.

We were ready. We had carried lilos in to cross the Franklin river, however all that was rendered unnecessary when a rafting group arrived. They wanted to camp there, too, and agreed to carry us across in exhange for letting them use "their" site. We were happy to oblige, as the northside campsites were nicer, though smaller. Despite the earlier chill of the day, we paddled up the Irenabyss on our lilos. This is a deep chasm cut by the river and the river slows down appreciably. Paddling through and just lying there looking up at the walls is very peaceful.

The Franklin river is much warmer than Lake Tahune, made obvious when you paddle over to where Tahune creek joins. Freezing!

There are some remnant Huon pines on the Franklin here, too. Most Huon pine has been removed from Tasmania by loggers over the past one hundred years and the Tasmanian environment continues to be threatened by rapacious logging.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Frenchman's Cap Jan 2003 - Day 3

2010-05-02T13:12:00.006+10:00

Frenchmans Cap

There is no way to do this view justice with photos. The panorama above was assembled from about six photos. I did a second layer to get more of the feeling of height, but it was too distorted! The eastern face of Frenchman's Cap - shown left - at over 300 metres (1000 feet), is the sheerest vertical drop on the Australian continent (and makes for great rockclimbing). In the pic above, you can see Sharlands Peak, Barron Pass (about 1/4 way along) and Philps Peak. Below Philps are Lakes Cecily, Gertrude, Magdalen and Millicent. Clytemnestra is shown from the north and above, this time.

There's no mistaking, this is why you walk through over half a day of mud and climb up and down hundreds and hundreds of metres. On the clearest of days, you can see to the coast, to peaks in Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair NP, and in many directions it is easy to ignore any sign of human intrusion.

In the middle of the photo to the left you can just see some specks on the "knee" of the edge, probably Glen and Joseph. They like heights.

Right, two families atop Frenchmans. Back row, us Purdams, Glen, Helen, Andrew and Joseph. Front row, Sally, Matt, Jenny and Glen.

By the time we had descended, some cloud had blown in, billowing over Frenchmans Cap. If we had stayed at Lake Vera the previous night, we would have had a much more restricted view from the top of Frenchmans that afternoon. It rained that night, hailed and snowed the next day.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Frenchman's Cap Jan 2003 - Day 2

2010-05-01T21:49:00.007+10:00

Loddon River to Lake Tahune

The Loddon Plains are button-grass plains, and over the years, wear and tear from walkers has penetrated the thin shell of soggy vegetation, bursting down to the muddy layer beneath. In places, this mud is nearly waste deep. Environmental etiquette demands that you walk through the middle of the mud, to avoid making the track wider and braided. One can make two points on this:
1. Wading through deep mud is exhausting and treacherous on knees and ankles, as you can't see the surface your feet are trying to get a purchase on.
2. Many folks aren't playing the game, as the track is braiding and spreading up to about ten metres wide, making it look more like an Amazonion estuary
Whilst a fair bit of trackwork has been done here, I can see that Tassy Parks will probably stop soon. The mud keeps the numbers down in the park!

We lunched at Lake Vera. The plan had been to stop and overnight here, but weather predictions suggested that we best be on Frenchmans Cap tomorrow sooner rather than later.

The climb from Lake Vera to Barron Pass is about 300 metres or so and fairly steep. It runs alongside a rushing stream for much of the time before climbing into the pass. The view is huge, absolutely breathtaking (the climb has something to do with this) and very hard to photograph. The panorama above is made up from about ten shots in two layers. Left is White Needle, about 500 metres away and another 100 metres up. The three lakes are Gertrude, Magdalen and Millicent, 2-7 km away and 500 metres below. Above them is Clytemnestra, 8km distant and 100 metres up. The eastern face of Frenchmans Cap is obvious, though bigger than it looks on the photo. It is about 6-7km away and another 500 metres above us. To the right is Sharlands Peak and some of Nicoles Needle, 50 metres away and 100 metres up.

Looming 500 metres above, yet still over a kilometre away, Frenchmans Cap completely dominates the Lake Tahune valley, gouged out by a glacier millions of years ago. 22 years ago, this made a great photo (twice as high) with the lake in the bottom. In that time, though, trees and shrubs have grown, and the lake is no longer visible from the hut. The dead white tree trunks are skeletons of King William Pines, excruciatingly slow growing native pines that were burnt in Tasmania's worst bushfire in history (it obliterated the south half of the state, killing many people) back in the 1960s. Because they are so slow growing, it will be centuries before they become visible in this area again.

The Artichoke Valley and Lake Tahune area are amazing pockets of microclimates for all sorts of interesting flowers, many of which are in bloom in January. The Telopea (called Waratah in NSW, where most telopea species are found) is a remarkable flower both in its form and colour. The whole Frenchmans Cap area never ceased to delight, on both the large scale and the small.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Frenchman's Cap Jan 2003 - Day 1

2010-04-30T08:58:00.008+10:00

Bus stop to Loddon River

The first day was supposed to be a leisurely late afternoon stroll into the Loddon River from the Lyell Highway - arriving before dark - which became less leisurely as bus-mishaps delayed us, leaving us to start at 7.30pm. Close to the start of the walk, we crossed the Franklin River (pictured left). The Franklin has become a symbol in Australia of survival of the bush from corporate greed and rampant "progress". It and the Lower Gordon River were going to be dammed - but after many protests - the decision got overturned. We were to return to the Franklin - which curls west and then south around Frenchmans Cap - when we walked out from Frenchmans northwards over the Mary Creek plain.

Things have changed a bit on the track. The bridge over the Loddon is no longer a log and a wire (tricky when the river is up a metre or so). On the right, you can see the log at the back spanning the width of the river. The wire has been removed. The bridge is now a suspension bridge, shown below.

We arrived at the Loddon River just on dark, bumping into Glen and Jenny and their kids who had also arrived just minutes before us. So we all scrabbled around in the dimming light to find some tent sites before catching up with each other and then going beddy byes.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Frenchman's Cap - Jan 2003

2010-04-29T09:02:00.007+10:00

Index

This five day trip to Frenchmans Cap (south-western Tasmania) was the first of two walks, designed to get us fit enough for the second and more gruelling seven day walk, a traverse of the Western Arthur Range. Knowing that the novelty of chocolate and lolly-laced scroggin was fading, we resorted to a double-whammy of distractions/attractions for the boys by doing this walk with another family - Glen, Jenny, Matt and Sally - and two more lads, Liam and Jack (we were staying with Liam's wonderful family before and between these walks). This turned out a good distraction for Helen and I as much as for our boys, and has whet our appetite for more similar convoys.

The walk we took was not the usual in-out route which covers the Loddon Plains twice, but a through route, catching the bus at Victoria Pass. This took us 1000 metres down from Frenchmans Cap to the Franklin River, crossing it at the Irenabyss, a beautiful chasm of still water, and then out over the Mary Creek Plains, Flat Bluff and the Ragland Range. This presented a unique set of challenges, including a potential swim of the Franklin river with packs, and an extremely damp and leech-infested campsite.

For Helen and me, Frenchman's Cap was a long-awaited return of about 25 and 22 years each. It's amazing what one can and can't remember about such things, after such a time. I had vague recollections of the Sodden (or is that Soddin'?) Loddon Plains - mainly that they were drier than expected, with lots of burnt trees. Neither was true this time. They were muddy and green. My first impressions of climbing to Barron Pass were pretty unforgettable, though. As you straighten your back after a "bit of a grunt" (a steep climb), you are whacked in the face by the south-eastern face of Frenchmans Cap, a 1000 foot sheer quartzite cliff. This was true again this time.

Day 1 - Lyell Hwy to Loddon River

Day 2 - Loddon R to Lake Tahune

Day 3 - Frenchmans Cap

Day 4 - Tahune to Irenabyss

Day 5 - Irenabyss to Mary Ck Plains

Day 6 - Mary Ck Plains to Victoria Pass

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Western Arthurs Jan 2003 - Day 7

2010-04-01T08:44:00.009+11:00

Lake Vesta to Huon Campground

So we got down Moraine K quickly enough, and soon found ourselves negotiating a "shortcut" to cut off several kilometres of track. We had picked a route that minimised scrub bashing, but had no option but to plunge through some pretty think stuff. I think in the end we perhaps saved half an hour. We were rewarded, however, with some beautiful intimate shots of nature at her finest, made more luscious by the fact that the rest of the day was spent trying to get from shady spot to shady spot, as the Arthur Plains warmed up to high 30s.

Because my shots here were more about the scenery, I neglected to tell you that we had enoyed the pleasure of the company of Liam Correy for our trip. Liam was patient with us and knew how to wait. And I deny all rumours that we invited Liam along with us so that he could take our family snap!

Atop Mt Scorpio, with only the sky above us.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Western Arthurs Jan 2003 - Day 6

2010-03-30T09:21:00.008+11:00

High Moor to Lake Vesta

We started early to give ourselves lots of time to get through this section, as we didn't know how difficult it might be. As it was, the Beggary Bumps weren't really that much of a problem. However, there was the odd treacherous spot, one offered by the "Tilted Chasm", a scree-strewn gully which, because of its width and steep sides, could only be negotiated one at a time, otherwise cascades of loose rock could be sent down on the poor gauntlet-runner before you. It was begun with a pretty ugly, handholdless clamber, before the fun began. Think of a bowling alley where you are both the ball and a skittle. Here, Glen is making his way down (almost directly in the middle of the picture). The whole thing made for quite slow progress, as it took about ten minutes each to get down, and we were a party of five.

Next before us was the dramatic, though pretty basic, Taurus Spur. As described in yesterday's view, we traverse from left to right before curving back leftwards. The unmistakable gap "between the horns" of Taurus are in the middle of the picture. We then cut down below the face of the eastern horn to the broad saddle to its left before dropping to Haven Lake. At the back is Mt Aldebaran.

So we got to our evening goal, Haven Lake, in time for lunch. It is a pretty spot, though many point out that it is not such a Haven in bad weather. However it looked sheltered enough for us in the good weather whilst we were there. It is the last platform and dunny spot before descending Moraine K. It has some beautiful King William Pines about the place.
Those getting here early enough could probably have a go at Mt Aldebaran in the afternoon. However, we decided to press on past the gorgeous Lake Serona and Mt Scorpio to Lake Vesta.

Looking back at what we had done already today, we see, from left to right, and ignoring the miraculously unnamed tor in the foreground, Haven Lake, ridging back to Mt Taurus, ridging down the right behind the tor to the Dragon, the Beggary Bumps (with Lake Mimas in front and Mt Shaula to the right), and Mt Columba in the background.

Our final high spot was Mt Scorpio. Most things felt dramatically "down" from here, especially eastwards, as shown here with Promontory Lake, Lake Juno and a snatch of Lake Vesta. I believe the boys were safe, though this photo will never help me think so. That stomach lurching effect has nothing to do with the camera lens - which is your average lens - it's to do with looking down from a height!

So our final campsite was snuggled down at Lake Vesta, adjacent to Lake Juno, pictured here. It was an extremely pretty site, but not encouraged for use as it is less able to deal with campers than the more prepared sites. As usual the "bath" water was freezing, and we left it to the boys to spend a ludicrous amount of time splashing about in it, pretending to be ice breakers. An apparently appealing way to spend the end of a long day.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Western Arthurs Jan 2003 - Day 5

2010-03-29T09:07:00.007+11:00

High Moor

Mt Columba East and High Moor Saddle above High Moor camp site. You can see the trackworker's hut as well as the camping platforms with our tents on them. Being a more recently upgraded site, you could see how years of use with folks walking and camping anywhere had degraded the alpine environment. Whilst "artificial", the value of the camping platforms was obvious.

We ended up stuck here for one day, cloud bound in high wind. We probably could have walked that day, but it would not have been much fun, and considering that negotiating some of the Beggary Bumps is tricky, not much of a good idea. We had planned lots of spare time - many folks do the traverse in four days - so made today a rest day.

Our next day's work was all ahead of us here. We follow a ridge on the left to the ridge running left to right above Lake Callisto, called the Beggary Bumps. Three quarters of the way along that ridge is "The Dragon", and Tilted Chasm. All of these obstacles needed traversal either over or under, and were to make for a really fun day! The ridge then swung left up to Mt Taurus (not very clear here), past Lake Haven (obscured) before continuing left to Mt Scorpio.

Whilst we were stuck cloud bound at High Moor, 900 kilometres away in our home town of Canberra conditions were very hot, very windy and bone dry. That day lost 500 houses razed by bushfires in a firestorm that raced in at up to 200 km/h. Four people died, two more are still in hospital six months later, and countless hundreds, probably thousands of animals were incinerated in the bush. A disaster.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Western Arthurs Jan 2003, Day 4

2010-03-28T23:40:00.006+11:00

Lake Oberon to High Moor

The next morning dawned bright and sunny and the day rapidly became warm as we headed up Mt Pegasus, the first of two significant climbs/traversals today, to take us to High Moor. Looking back, we see Mt Sirius rising sheer above Lake Oberon. You can see the faint track crossing the flat at the bottom to the campsite.

Up to now, our campsites have been on lake edges, traditionally about 200 metres below where we traverse, which is mostly along the ridge line. This makes for an extremely interesting, but very "uppy downy" day's work. Nothing like Nepal, perhaps, but the best that an old continent like Australia can do.

Descending from Mt Capricorn, the second peak of our traverse today, is remarkable in how steep it is. It would be quite treacherous in the wet, and looks like it will crumble away in the next decade. It was definitely not wet on this day, however, and we were left desperately thirsty after two climbs and some good Tassy highland sun (see picture of a thirsty Joseph below...)

We finished our final half-hour of the day's walk dragging our tired and thirsty selves over the saddle above High Moor. Arriving at the High Moor campsite, we were delighted to find a reliable water source, and surprised to find a track worker's hut - dropped in there like a lost and lonely caravan-without-wheels. However, no-one was about and indeed we didn't meet anyone from Lake Oberon until Junction Creek three days later.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Western Arthurs Jan 2003, Day 3

2010-03-27T21:51:00.006+11:00

Lake Cygnus to Lake Oberon

You can see the track meander towards the sandy shore of Lake Cygnus. The campsite is to the right of the lowest section of track, set amongst the edge of the scrub.

Square Lake is an extraordinary ... well, cirque is not the right word ... "squarque".
Surrounded by sheer walls (mainly rock) on three sides, it sports a cave up the north-western side, which is quite explorable. I took this interestingly framed pic from just inside the cave, the roof creating an artificial mountain range, the true skyline being reflected in the lake, and imitated by the near "shoreline".
The approach was filled with scratchy pandanii, which dot the lower section of this photo.

From Mt Sirius (just "upwards and right" from Square Lake), you can look eastwards and see a lot of what you need to do the next day. Here are Lake Oberon, with Mt Pegasus behind it and the ridge to Mt Capricorn and Dorado Peak behind that (but we don't go over Dorado, we continue to the right, into the misty High Moor).

Lake Oberon was another particularly pretty lake. Honestly, the Western Arthurs is full of 'em. It is one of - if not the - largest lakes in the area. And they're all really cold, even in mid summer.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Western Arthurs Jan 2003, Day 2

2010-03-27T21:24:00.009+11:00

Junction Creek to Lake Cygnus

Well, one good thing about climbing 600m up Moraine A in the rain and drizzle, is that you don't get as hot as you would on a sunny day. Even so, if we weren't already saturated by brushing past so much wet foliage, we'd have probably been saturated by our own perspiration. It is very strange feeling so hot when all around you is so cold. Clouds clinging to the top of the range reduced visibility to about 50m, and at times the whole party ahead of me would disappear from view.

"Ah!", thought I. "This is the Western Arthurs weather people tell you about!"
Actually I was wrong. It's not, because it wasn't a blizzard.

The creator of these steps was either an engineer or an artist. They are remarkable either way (both up and down!). Lake Cygnus was down there somewhere. We had purposefully made each day short so that there lots of time to rest, eat, avoid whiteouts, and so on. Tassy Parks and Wildlife have been working hard on the traditional campsites up the top of the Western Arthurs. There are camping platforms at Lake Cygnus, Lake Oberon, High Moor, and Haven Lake. Whilst they take the wildness out of camping, they certainly help keep the place from deteriorating. It is such a delicate alpine environment that "wild camping" is just not appropriate.

In fact, whilst walking to Lake Cygnus, you can see some fenced trial areas where they have been measuring the wear and tear of traffic on alpine meadow. And actually you can see the traffic damage all along the track wherever they haven't done trackwork. It is a real paradox. The place is being loved to death.
After the cloud cleared, we climbed back up to get a clearer view of what we'd missed in the bad weather earlier that day. The trial areas are near this view.

Mt Hesperus is a beautiful peak. Moraine A is beyond the right hand spur. The couloir on the right drops down to Lake Pluto, which is adjacent to Lake Neptune. The picture above of Helen and the Lakes in the background gives and idea of how far that gully drops.

From couloirs and long drops to boudoirs and short ones. One thing about the "developed" campsites is that they (and Junction Creek) each had these "atomic" dunnies. They are fantastic! Just unscrew the lid, turn around without looking down, do your business, and then screw the lid back on. Net time taken, about one minute with the right sort of diet! These things alone have done much to reduce the incidence of giardia and similar bugs up in the mountains, and certainly reduce the incidence of poorly buried paper all over the place (witness some of the emergency huts around Dove Lake at Cradle Mtn).

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Western Arthurs Jan 2003

2010-03-27T18:17:00.013+11:00

Index

Well, having warmed up with our Frenchmans Cap walk, we next embarked on a wonderful traverse of the Western Arthur Range.

Located south of Lake Pedder, the Western Arthur Range stretches south-east then east before turning south to become the Eastern Arthur Range, with Federation Peak acting as the full stop. Whilst less than thirty kms end-to-end, the Arthur range is one of the most spectacular and memorable parts of Tasmania to walk in.
We did the traverse of the Western Arthurs from west to east (right to left as seen from this photo), ascending at Alpha Moraine and descending at Kappa Moraine, two of many (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta, Iota, and Kappa) lateral moraines created during the last glacial period which scoured the area to form most of the features seen today.

Day 1 - Huon Campground to Junction Creek

Day 2 - Junction Creek to Lake Cygnus

Day 3 - Lake Cygnus to Lake Oberon

Day 4 - Lake Oberon to High Moor

Day 5 - High Moor

Day 6 - High Moor to Lake Vesta

Day 7 - Lake Vesta to Huon Campground

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Western Arthurs Jan 2003, Day 1

2010-03-27T18:11:00.007+11:00

Huon Campground to Junction Creek

Junction Creek, about 8km south from Huon Campground, is a designated scrubdown area, to prevent phytophthera cinnamomi ("dieback" - a root-killing fungus) spreading into uninfected areas. So having just successfully navigated several muddy or wet pools, you have no option but to stand in the freezing stream with a scrubbing brush getting all the mud off your boots whilst they fill up with water.

The weather was undecided as to whether it was going to be fine or not, leaving the approaching range looking rather formidable in grey cloud. Shown here is Mt Hayes (behind the tree) and Capella Crags. Moraine A is rightmost, ascending off-camera to the right to Mt Hesperus.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Dhaulagiri Circuit Oct 2006, Days 15-16

2010-01-07T22:19:00.003+11:00

Scampering down the Kali Gandaki

We hadn't planned on this. Our plane had been cancelled, and in Nepal, they put you to the back of the queue when this happens. So there was nothing left for it but to try and get back to Pokhara by land before that plane left, otherwise Glen and Siobhan would miss there flights back to England. So we decided we'd try and get down the Kali Gandaki valley in two days, a trip that normally takes four...

So we had to get from Jomosom to Pokhara in two days, and it was already noon. And the walk normally takes three (for Nepalis) or four days.
We managed to convince a tractor driver and trailer to cart us to Lete. It travelled at about three times walking pace. Pretty good considering the condition of the road. We were tossed about in the trailer like salad ingredients.
Below Tukuche

Rupse Chhahara, Kali Gandaki Valley, Dhawalagiri Zone, Nepal.
I think Helen took these.

Kali Gandaki valley (below Rupse Chhahara)

An example of the incredible force of erosion created by the Kali Gandaki plunging some thousand metres through the Himalaya.

Where did you want your fridge?
I thought it cute that this porter was advertising his food source.
Porters in Nepal generally work as labour-for-hire, as there are many "roads" that are for foot-traffic (including mules and yaks) only.

But there are places on the track down the Kali Gandaki valley (tunnels, low overhangs, that sort of thing) where this fridge won't go.
I wish him luck, and I'm somehow certain that he'll find a way.

Tatopani

Donkeys are the pack animal of choice in the Dhawalagiri area.
Helen took nearly all of these pics.

There were 17 in the bed and the little one said...
From Tiplyang (Tipling), we were able to catch a 4WD to Ghaleshwar, where we could then catch a 4WD bus to Pokhara.
Imagine the surprise of our sherpas and kitchen crew, who left (entirely by foot) a day and a half before us, to be caught up by us at Tiplyang just as they were to get on this 4WD to head home. Imagine the anguish on the driver's face when he realised this meant 17 people were to be somehow crammed into his 4WD (there were others who wanted to travel as well). With two on top, four in the front, five in the middle and seven in the back, we managed. Tahnkfully the trip wasn't very far before we changed jeeps (to walk around a rockfall that was not navigable by motor transport).

And so we made it at last to Pokhara airport.
In that time, the odds of us making it onto a Jomosom-Pokhara resheduled flight were pretty small. Even though we were scheduled on the first flight of the day on the day our flight was cancelled, rescheduled flights move to the end of the subsequent day (about flight five or six). This minimises rescheduling other flights. The first day after the cancelled flights, we counted only three flights overhead. The next day we were in Pokhara anyway. And now we were off back to Kathmandu.

Pokhara Airport

Andrew, Helen, Jose and Glen in front of Dhaulagiri I (8167m). Taken at French Pass (5300m).
This was taken by our guide, Thakur, whom Helen and Andrew look forward to joining again in 2010 for a trek around Manaslu...

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Dhaulagiri Circuit Oct 2006, Days 12-14

2010-01-06T21:41:00.001+11:00

Descent

We dropped 800m one day and 1500m the next, from Hidden Valley (5011m) to Marpha (2667m) and then went upstream to Jomosom (expecting to fly out).

The sunlight on the snow gave some really sparkly effects.
Climbing towards Dhampus Pass.
Hidden Valley, Dhawalagiri Region, Nepal

Glen and Joseph chairing Thakur "off the field". Tukuche Peak in the background.
Taken at Dhampus Pass (5270m), the "exit" of the Dhaulagiri Trek from Hidden Valley, which begins our descent (eventually - you feel like you are walking in the sky for a few hours before you really start descending).

Frequently, Helen will spontaneously take the most amazing photos.
This was descending from Dhampus Pass towards Marpha.
Mountain cloud had enveloped us, and the scene looked like something out of "Kurosawa's Dreams". Windy, foggy, and desolate.

Demoiselle Cranes (anthropoides virgo) .
Some of the porters, when they heard them but could not see them, hurried down the hillside in fear of witches!
Above Marpha.

Taken from Yak Kharka above Marpha, Kali Gandaki valley, Nepal
Mustang on the left, Glen in the middle, Nilgiri on the right, Kali Gandaki 1500m below.

Above Marpha, Mustang Region, Nepal

Marpha, Mustang Region, Nepal
One of the few that I actually took.
btw: on the opposite side of this rustic looking roof was a dish for satellite television!

Jomosom

And thus we got ourselves down to Marpha and then Jomosom. The next day we spent wandering about waiting for our plane to come in, but the Kali Gandaki valley, up which the flights come, carves itself between two of the ten highest mountains in the world, meaning that the weather can be a little unpredictable. This time, just lots of low cloud. You can't fly through cloud with great confidence in Nepal, as the clouds have rocks in them! Once we realised our plane was not going to come in that day, we decided there was only one thing to do... march back to Pokhara (well... with some motorised assistance where there were roads...)

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Dhaulagiri Circuit Oct 2006, Days 9-11

2010-01-05T06:32:00.001+11:00

Chhonbarang Glacier

The next three days were spent picking our way up the Chhonbarang Glacier, past various Dhaulagiri Base Camps. We camped at Japanese Base Camp, Dhaulagiri Base Camp and Hidden Valley.

Heading up the Myagdi Khola towards Japanese Base Camp.

The first of several days on the Chhondarban Glacier. We even slept on it...
Japanese Base Camp (4168m)

The Chhondarban Glacier had some tricky sections that needed some care and some step cutting to get over. In this section, our guide - Thakur - and one of his sherpas - Galgeon - were scouting the ridges to find a safe route. Our other sherpa - Khaji - was taking the rest of the porters through an alternate route.
Check out the stunning geology of this region!
Chhondarban Glacier

Sunrise from Dhaulagiri Base Camp (4760m).
The two obvious "peaks" are unnamed foothills of Dhaulagiri I, lurking behind at 8167m.

Family Snap #498
With Dhaulagiri I (7th highest mountain in the world) in the background

Just coming off the lateral moraine below French Col at the top of the Chhondarban Glacier

View south from below French Pass

180° Panorama showing lateral moraine ahead (left) and behind (right) at the upper reaches of the Chhonbaran Glacier
We're at about 5100m. Tukuche (centre) is 6920m, Dhaulagiri I (8167m) is to the right, slipping away down the valley.

Taken: 8th October 2006 Stitched from 12 shots with ptgui
LtoR: Tukuche Peak, Dhaulagiri I, Sita Chuchura, Hongde Himal (west of Hidden Valley)
Joseph, a porter, Siobhan, Andrew with GPS, unknown, Glen peeing
Helen took the photos, I stitched them.

Taken from French Pass (5374m) looking back towards Dhaulagiri I (8167m)

Tukuche Peak and our Toilet Tent by the light of the setting moon and approaching sun

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Dhaulagiri Circuit Oct 2006, Days 7-8

2010-01-03T23:03:00.001+11:00

Conifer forest and subalpine (3000m-3500m)

The next two days were spent climbing another 500m to 3500m and then acclimatising for one day in the sub-alpine area (come to think of it, it's probably alpine!) known to us as Italian base-camp.

Climbing towards "Italian" Base Camp. We could see white stuff again, but that wasn't Dhaulagiri I.

Taken from Italian Base Camp

The Dhaulagiri Himal, from above Italian Base Camp.
LtoR: Tsaurabong, Dhaulagiris V, III and II.
LtoR: Galgeon, Thakur and Helen

Galgeon, Thakur and Helen. Acclimatising day walk above Italian Base Camp.

Hard to photograph, as you normally hear them before you see them.
There are sections of the trek further up that are exposed to avalanches, but we had no trouble, as there was very little snow around.
Near Italian Base Camp

After resting for a day, it was time to press onwards and upwards. The next few days, we'd be travelling along the Chhonbarang Glacier, past Base Camp and towards French Col and Hidden Valley.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Dhaulagiri Circuit Oct 2006, Days 5-6

2010-01-02T17:40:00.001+11:00

Jungle (2000m-3000m)

The next two days were less up and down, and more just up, as we continued alongside the Myagdi Khola from Bagara up to Sallagheri, through jungle. This was cooler and at times wetter than the lowlands.

The Nepali people are remarkably inventive in creating things out of what's at hand.
Here, a bridge over a rockfall is created out of logs, branches, and leaves...
Between Bagara and Dobang

Buffalo grazing in the jungle.
Near Lapche Kharka

The jungle before Dobang is beautiful, with bamboo groves all through.
We wasted a lot of time looking for bamboo shoots to pick for dinner (they were very very chewy...), but it became a great game for Glen and Thakur.
Near Dobang

Helping out her aunt who ran the last hotel before Marpha ("last beer for eight days" was written somewhere...) was this photogenic girl, Lakshmi.
The kids learn to work hard in the villages. Lakshmi and her aunt had walked with us from Bagara, and even offerred to carry some fuel for us. What was remarkable was how beautifully dressed they were. And they didn't get dirty walking through the mud like we did. Some people just leave light footprints on the earth, I guess.
Dobang

Fresh raspberries slowed us down a lot on the way to Salagari.
Myagdi Khola, above Dobang

This one wasn't very "loggy", and was in fact a little rickety.
One of the porters stumbled on it, and we lost our sugar bowl amongst other things.
The porter was fine.
Upper Myagdi Khola, near Choriban/Salagari

Another testimony to Nepali pragmatism. This ladder over a rockfall was a beauty.
Near Choriban/Salagari

When it's raining, there is nothing more cheerful than a fire to help you get warm and dry out. Our guide Thakur found some old porter's baskets which helped get the fire going.
Choriban/Salagari.

By the end of day 6, we had climbed to about 3000m, and were just about to leave behind not only market gardens but also the jungle.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Dhaulagiri Circuit Oct 2006, Days 1-4

2010-01-01T16:34:00.007+11:00

Lowlands

Shiva Temple on the banks of Pokhara Lake.
We were here for quite a while waiting for our bus from Kathmandu, which had got caught behind a bus crash earlier that morning, and was delayed by five hours.

Our bus lost its headlights about an hour before we got into Beni. This was very capably dealt with by one of the guides, who climbed onto the roof of the bus and lit the way with his headlamp. It was slow going, and we finally got into Beni around midnight. We were very tired by then.

Rice paddies on the Myagdi Khola just upstream from Beni

Ram Babhu, one of our kitchen hands, carrying everything including the kitchen sink.

Maize is a big staple in this area. It is often used for popcorn, but also pounded into cornmeal. At the time of our trek (September/October), lots of maize was being harvested and dried.
Near Ratodhunga

The first bit of white we'd seen from the ground (since Macchupuchare seen from Pokhara). After two and a half days of walking, we finally saw some of our destination range as the Myagdi Khola valley took a right turn and headed north.
Darbang

Yes. It's a long way down to the Myagdi Khola. The track had a nasty habit of climbing up and down, rather than sticking with the river. In the heat of the afternoon, this got pretty hard.
Siobhan, Glen, Jose, Helen, Thakur (guide) and Galgeon (sherpa), having a break after a particularly taxing climb.
Near Chibang.

We pressed on this long day and made it to Jugapani (lit. "leech water"), where we waited and waited for our tents. Fortunately, the kitchen was with us, and we bought some ingredients from the locals and had a delicious dinner. The porters had been very slow on this long day, and most didn't make camp that night, but the tents eventually arrived and we put them up in the rain. The locals made us welcome and let us eat our dinner one of their huts.
Jugapani (often indicated as Naura Bhir)

Whilst our sleeping places weren't gaining much altitude, we could still go up and down up to 800 metres in one day. Thakur told us that last time he was through here, they had just burnt all the grass. It was a beautiful though exhausting climb up through the meadows this time. That is still the Myagdi Khola in the background.
Near Bagara (Bhogara).

Local women pounding grain (probably maize or millet).
Bagara (Boghara)

Dashain is culturally a bit like Christmas, in that all over Nepal, families get together and feast. Though religiously, it's a fifteen day Hindu festival celebrating the goddess Durga. On the tenth day, tikka is applied to the forehead by the elders. These kids have white tikkas (more commonly you will see red ones) with lots of rice (for prosperity).
We celebrated Dashimi (tenth day of Dashain) in Bagara in the morning with a big donation to the local school fund, and aiding an older woman who had a very nasty infection on her leg (bathing it in Betadine, and administering erythromycin). Up in these regions, people die from infections like this, so it was a really good feeling to see her so markedly improved the next morning. I just hope she finished the full course of antibiotics that we gave her.
Bagara (Boghara).

So after four days of walking from Beni, we were now at Bagara, at 2080m, which brought to an end our "lowland" section of the walk. Whilst each night saw little gain in height as we followed the Myagdi Khola, we often had to climb high over steep ridges to avoid landslips or cliffs. Often hot and sticky, as we were post-monsoon, the area was rich with market gardens.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Dhaulagiri Circuit Oct 2006

2010-01-01T15:12:00.014+11:00

Trekking around Dhaulagiri I, the 7th highest mountain in the world

This was a very different trek to our previous one in the Everest Region. That was a "tea-house trek", where you stay in little simple hotels where you can buy a meal and sleep in a private room with your sleeping bag on a bed. This time it was going to be an "expedition" where we would be camping each night. Whilst it can be done just on your own, carrying all your own stuff - which is what we have done all our bushwalking lives - most expedition treks will employ up to twenty staff to carry the many supplies needed for the two weeks. This greatly supports the people of Nepal, and gives porters better pay and conditions than those who otherwise schlep stuff into the highlands for the hotels. Yaks generally aren't used on the Dhaulagiri treks due to the occasional laddering needed!

Following the Myagdi Khola upstream from Beni, the first four days were in "lowlands" (~1000m), farms and rice paddies. Very hot.
Next 2 days were in wet jungle (partly used for raising buffalo, partly used for raising leeches).
Next three were spent climbing up through conifer forest to ~3500m and acclimatising in sub-alpine meadows.
Next three were spent on the Chhonbarang Glacier before climbing over French Col (5360m) to overnight in Hidden Valley (5100m).
Quick descent of two days to Marpha and Jomosom.
We were to fly out from Jomosom, but the flights were cancelled due to bad weather, so we compressed a four day walk into 1 1/2 days of marching and tractor/jeep transport down the Kali Gandaki valley to get back to Pokhara.

Wed 27/9 Kathmandu -> Pokhara -> Beni (830m) Long day due to bus delay.
Thu 28/9 -> Singa (850m) -> Babiyachaur (950m) Hot. Nice rice paddies.
Fri 29/9 -> Dhandkharka -> Darbang (1180m) Hot.
Sat 30/9 -> Naura Bhir (1449m) Hot with some big climbs/descents.
Sun 1/10 -> Bagora (2080m) Also hot with some big climbs/descents. But short.
Mon 2/10 -> Bainsikharka (Lapche Kharka 2310m) -> Dobang (2545m) Pretty jungle.
Tue 3/10 -> Sallaghari (3107m) Pretty jungle, river, rain.
Wed 4/10 -> Italian BC (3617m) At last some height!
Thu 5/10 Rest Day (climb to over 4000m) And some more height!
Fri 6/10 -> Japanese BC (4168m) And some more height.
Sat 7/10 -> Dhaulagiri BC (4758m) Okay. Some more.
Sun 8/10 -> Hidden Valley (5100m) MORE? (And freezing nights).
Mon 9/10 -> Yak Kharka (4200m) At last going down again.
Tue 10/10 -> Marpha (2680m) -> Jomsom (2750m) Back to fresh vegetables!
Wed 11/10 Try to fly out
Thu 12/10 Can't fly out Tractor/trailer -> Lete (2682m), Walk -> Rupse Chhahara (1560m) Gee we can walk fast.
Fri 13/10 Walk -> Tiplyang (1040m), Jeep -> Galeswor, Bus -> Pokhara
Sat 14/10 POK -> KTM

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Blue Mountains - Nov 2009 Kanangra to Katoomba

2009-11-16T22:37:00.006+11:00

1-3 Nov 2009, while an early-season heatwave was hitting NSW, we walked 44km in 1 and two half days in 35 degree C temperatures.
One thing about the Blue Mountains: when you are ‘up on top’, there is little water about...

Starting at Kanangra Walls, we head north on the true right side of the Kanangra Gorge, over Kilpatrick’s Causeway, up Mt Stormbreaker to Cloudmaker and then drop down to Dex Creek.

Next day, we continue north over Strongleg Ridge, down 900m to the Cox’s River, and back up the other side, climbing Yellow Pup ridge and finishing at Mobb’s Swamp.

Last day we head east to Medlow Gap and climb again, up Taro’s ladder onto Narroeneck Peninsula, which we follow north again back to where a taxi could pick us up.

The view down the gorge from Kanangra Walls Lookout.
Left: Thurat Spires
The route we took started on the right running along Kanangra Walls, Kilpatricks Causeway, below Crafts Wall, over Mt Berry, Mt High and Mighty, veering right at Mt Stormbreaker, and proceeding up Rip, Rack, Roar and Rumble Knolls to Mt Cloudmaker before dropping over the back to Dex Creek.

Lunch had beautiful views, though finding shade was problematic.

There was lots of interesting vegetation...

We survived potential heatstroke climbing the Stormbreaker/Cloudmaker ridge, with the charmingly named knolls, Rip, Rack, Roar and Rumble.

The next day, as temperatures climbed again, we headed down the aptly named Strongleg Ridge.

Cox’s River was a very welcome and delightfully pretty cooling-off spot. But the valley simply got hotter and hotter, so we headed up Yellow Pup ridge towards our second campsite.

We stayed in a camping cave that night, entertained by a flashy lightning show as a little thunderstorm dropped some welcome rain around us.

That of course led to quite a steamy morning, and it took only a few minutes for us to become saturated as we brushed through the wet scrub.

Happily, the wind blew, and we were kept cool by the evaporative effect, especially as climbed the last ridge below Taro’s Ladder. Named after Blue Mountains walker extraordinnaire, the "Duke of Clear Hill", Walter Tarr (d 1969, aged 90-something). This set of spikes replaces the ladder Walter placed here in the 1930s.

Up on Narrowneck Peninsula, the flowers were outstanding!

Ruined Castle and Mt Solitary.

Taken from the southern part of Narrowneck Peninsula, looking east towards the Kedumba valley.
We had only visited the Ruined Castle and Mt Solitary in April 2009 (6 months ago).
That's probably Lake Burragorang on the right.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Cwm Idwal and Glyder Fawr

2009-10-27T10:03:00.004+11:00

Cwm Idwal and Glyder Fawr

3 Sep 2009

Dagnabbit! Bad weather predicted again! With gales on the peaks, AGAIN!

So yet again our plans were changed.

We decided to walk around some lower lakes (Llyn Geirionydd and Llyn Crafnant) in the nearby Gwydir Forest in the morning, and found the weather clearing a little,

though still with a ceiling of about 850m, keeping the peaks in cloud.

But the generally better feel in demeanour encouraged us to wander up into Cwm Idwal in the afternoon, and see if we could poke our noses up onto the range from there.

We followed the Miner's Track from Idwal Cottage up to the stile over the stone wall in the saddle between Tryfan and the Glyders. It had stayed fine in that hour, but when we got to the saddle, it was howling a gale, buffeting us alarmingly, and sounding like a locomotive coming through a tunnel, so we decided that Tryfan would be a little unsafe and a lot unenjoyable on the ridge and so backed down.

Ever hopeful, we poked our noses up via the Devils Kitchen.

By the time we got onto the range, the weather was definitely lifting a little, and we decided we'd make a dash for Glyder Fawr, only a further 250m vertically up. The weather proceeded to clear off, and we finally got some great views of Tryfan and the Carnedau in one direction, and Snowdon in the other.

Murphy's Law then intervened, and just as we got to the top of Glyder Fawr, it closed in yet again, and vis dropped to about 100m. Phhhhthhhhphhhtttt!

That was our last chance of a peak that wasn't clouded. So close!

Still, we had good views on the way up, and the ascent and descent virtually to ourselves, so it wasn't too disappointing.

Distance:

7.4km in morning (Gwydyr Forest)

10km in afternoon (Cwm Idwal & Glyder Fawr)

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Scafell Pike

2009-10-24T23:05:00.003+11:00

First posted on walkhighlands.com.

Scafell Pike from Eskdale or "Is it never fine in the UK?"

or "Being A Tale of the Her who Lost Her Spectacles".*

1 Sep 2009

Our big plan today (walk #5) was to walk from Eskdale (southern side) to Scafell Pike following the Esk River all the way to Esk Hause, and then traversing back south over Scafell Pike, Sca Fell and Slight Side back to the YHA Eskdale. Such was the plan...

The day dawned as clear as it had been in the last ten days, and we set off from the YHA east along the road and then north past Taw House ...

It was at times sunny, but there was a lot of dark cloud around as well as we made our way north up the Esk river valley...

Because of heavy rain the night before, we took the higher route, past Scale Gill waterfall, and thence past some crags already under cloud to meet the River Esk at the bend in its final upper valley (around 218050).

We followed the track on the true right of the River Esk all the way to the top.

Up til now the weather had held off, and we actually sort of had views north towards the Gables, Buttermere, Glaramara and those guys, but as we headed towards Great End, the weather closed in. We decided to skip Great End, and head for Scafell Pike.

The cloud got thicker but we found the cairn with a dozen or so people (we'd seen only two others up til then) eating their lunches and shivering. Here is where Helen unfortunately left her glasses behind. I expect the bad weather that blew in over our lunch distracted us, as we decided to leave fairly quickly. We decided to basically head back down, as the traverse over Sca Fell and Slight Side would have left us exposed to bad weather (and whilst it wasn't snowing, it was bad) for another two hours.

Then the weather got really squally, haily and serious, as we tried to find our way down the only route that didn't have threads of cairns. Compass time, as we couldn't even find features fifty metres away. We stumbled across two cairns on the way but by then didn't care, as we knew we had to bail and - having headed south east enough - just dropped south over Broadcrag Tarn to the valley that becomes How Beck. It's nice when you can see down, even if you can't see in any other direction!

Once the squall had blown over, it was possible to see our way down, and we quickly regained the track that follows the stream.

This dropped us down to the Esk valley, and we made our way back to the YHA, warm showers, dry clothes and a meal cooked by them and washed down with some of their wine.

Oh, and the glasses? A generous fellow - Michael Th - picked them up the same day and posted them to Helen's optician. The optician tracked us down only yesterday, two days after we had bought a replacement pair at their other shop!

*Our second reference to something Jethro Tull-ish on our walks in the UK.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

The Storr

2009-10-23T09:06:00.000+11:00

This walk report first appeared on walkhighlands.com and follows the route described there.

The Storr (Isle of Skye) or Lean to the Right as Ya Go

29 Aug 2009

We thought we'd pay a visit to the Old Man of Storr, and thence head up to The Storr for an easy walk.

Continuing our impeccable choice of weather, we were hit by a squall just as we were leaving the Old Man (pictured),

and which continued until we had done most of our descent on the southern side of the Storr.

So again our Memento From the Top is two foolishly grinning faces in thick grey air.

The Storr never got its head out of the clouds that day.

Not much more to say, as the route has been really well described except to say stay well west when descending from the cairn in low vis, so as to keep right of the first gully, and that the further north of the two ascent routes described (ie the gentler climb) is easier to pick in close fog.

What was remarkable to us was how strong the wind was. Definitely our windiest walk, though not quite blowing us over.

After that, we visited Kilt Falls and saw the most magnificent double rainbow from the cliff. At times, nearly 3/4 full.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Sgurr na Stri

2009-10-15T22:29:00.011+11:00

Originally posted to walkhighlands.co.uk (which has a nifty topo-map of the route).

An alternative (and much shorter) route for Sgurr na Stri.

30/8/2009

Having finally decided that Lower was Better as far as summer views in the UK were concerned, we decided that rather than get to the top of Blàbheinn and see nothing, we'd get to the top of something much smaller, and hopefully see something, and Sgurr na Stri showed much promise, being “amongst it all” in the Cuilins, yet only 500m high.
Because we were heading off the Isle of Skye that day, we didn't want to do the 9 hour round trip from Sligachan, and so devised our own route (not having any resources with us apart from a the map and a hint from the Walk Highlands description saying that you can get down east from Sgurr Na Stri having walked a few km north).

Having flagged down on the side of the road someone who might be knowledgable (okay, they were kayakers, but one of them had done SnS from the east side only two years previously, sans kayak), we firmed up our plan. We were going to

1) walk in from Kirkibost via Am Màm and Camasunary,

2) ascend over the flat at 505185 and then via the western gully on the southern end.

3) descend east via the route hinted at on the Walk Highlands notes

4) reverse part (1)

Total trip time: 4 1/2-6 hours walking.

Total length: 17 km.

Total climb: 130m Kirkibost to Am Màm. 150m down to Camasunary.

500m up to Sgurr na Stri. And reverse for return half of trip.

Bogginess: 3/5, 4/5 in places, plus one river crossing twice.

Stars: 5

Start: 546173

View in Google Earth

1. Kirkibost/Kilmarie to Camasunary and crossing Abhainn Camas Fhionnarigh.

Drive south through Kirkibost and park in the obvious car park that appears on the left as you round the left bend and start driving up the hill. (Apparently Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson had a shack around here). The trackhead is opposite, and heads west. It is a vehicular track, and solid underfoot for the most part, with a few shallow fords that are easy to tip-toe over. A very pleasant view of Camasunary and Sgurr na Stri is to had from Am Màm, and it is a good opportunity to have a good look at the gullies on the southern end of Sgurr na Stri.

The Abhainn nan Leat which drains south of Blàbhienn has some nice gurgly bits you can listen out for as you descend to Camasunary. The deserted building - reached after about an hour from the start - is interesting, and soon, after plodding over some softer, damper soil, you find yourself at Abhainn Camas Fhionnarigh, the outlet of Loch na Creitheach. The bridge had obviously disappeared a while ago. Except in spate or king tide, however, it should be passable with a shallow wade.

There are several shallow crossings to be found as you head north from the decrepit ex-bridge. We only got knee high. Some may choose to take their boots off for this, but we didn't, so as to have surer footing on the stony river bed.

2. Abhainn Camas Fhionnarigh to Sgurr na Stri.

Whilst this part of the route is not exposed, it may become subject to erosion if many people take it, so you may choose to do a reverse of step 3 to ascend instead. Also, it would be unwise to do this route in anything more than light rainfall.

You can either head directly north from 505181 (suggested by another walker), or strike west from further east, but either way, make your way up to the flat top at 505185. From there, strike diagonally up north west to the westernmost of the two gullies. If you are lucky, you may find the odd steps or two from a very faint path. These become more obvious as you get nearer to the top. Also on the way up, you may pass some unnerving pieces of aeroplane and contemplate the saying about lightning not striking the same place twice. The ridge in between the two southern gullies eventually recedes into a small depression about twenty metres below two “summits” (east and west) of Sgurr na Stri (my GPS made these out to be only two metres different in height - the westmost the higher). It is an easy slab scramble up to either, and both boast fantastic views, but slightly obscure each other. The eastern peak has broad views toward the mainland, and the western has the legendary stunning view of Loch Coruisk and the Black Cuillins.

This took about 1 1/2 hours from Camasunary.

3. Sgurr na Stri to Camasunary and then Kirkibost.

Head north following the gully between the two summits. There is a track that will become more obvious. Keep to the east as the eastern of the ridges comes down to join you, but stay high until you are more than halfway to Sgurr Hain. At about 499201, there is a track that traverses down on an angle to the top of the northernmost gully of the basin that drains the eastern side of Sgurr na Stri and its saddle to Sgurr Hain. This track makes the steep descent at the top relatively easy and safe. The path, indistinct at times and soft at other times, generally follows the northernmost large stream as it decends to Abhainn Camas Fhionnarigh. Choose an appropriate place to cross back over and head back to Camasunary (about 1 hour descent), and thence back to Kirkibost/Kilmarie via Am Màm (another hour).

And a few more panoramas

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Beinn Alligin, Torridon

2009-10-14T00:20:00.002+11:00

Walk report for: Beinn Alligin
Munros included on this walk: Sgurr Mor (Beinn Alligin), Tom na Gruagaich (Beinn Alligin)
Date walked: 28/08/2009
Time taken: 6 hours
Distance: 10 km

Beinn Alligin
Observation #1 - Weather Forecasts are not always what they seem...

28/8/2009

Aw cripes, we thought, as we looked at the weather forecast. Front coming in, -9C at 900m, gusty winds, possible thunder.

We had only one day to have a crack at Beinn Alligin. Let's curl up and whimper now.

However, because we'd be sheltered from the prevailing wind by the Coire on our ascent, we decided we'd at least try and sneak up to the first peak, Tom na Gruagaich. From there we could easily sneak back down or, weather permitting, push on. So kitted up ready for snow, we started up the west track, stopping at the stile to remove several layers of poly. It was indeed dark, and blowy, and rainy at times, but we pushed on doggedly, stopping only to look quizzically at the sky and sniff the air. Hmm. Dark, blowy and rainy.

By the time we'd reach 600m height, we were in cloud, but still not too bad. We arrived at Tom na Gruagaich some 2 hours - all uphill - after our start, having followed the very reliable track. If you know the general direction of the track, it is always there for you, except perhaps from the cairn to TnG's trig point, but that's just a matter of walking uphill. Visibility was down to about 50 yards some of the time, less when looking upwards.

Now more confident about the weather, we pushed on, down the barely visible spur. As we descended to the col, suddenly the view northwest opened out amongst the cloud and we got glimpses of An Ruadh - Mheallan and other lower hills. Sleet and high wind kicked in then, but had started to blow over by the time we got to Sgurr Mhor just over an hour after Tom Na Gruagaich. Wasting little time, we dropped down towards the Horns. As soon as we'd gotten out of the line of fire, there was very little wind, the sleet had stopped, and it became eerily quiet. And very pleasant.

The weather proceeded to open out for the rest of the trip, opening up views north and west, whilst we toddled our way up and down the three Horns, which were really good fun to scramble over. All very straight forward, so long as our eyes were open, as the track was pretty obvious all the way, and leads over a relatively new bridge at 882597 (where the track crosses the creek on the map), removing the need to do a creek crossing of Allt a Bhealaich.

The waterfalls of this creek and Abhainn Coire Mhic Nobull were really pleasant features of the remainder of the walk, which took us a relaxed 6 1/2 hours.

This walk - even in at times bad weather and poor vis - Five Stars.

And a few panoramas...

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

The United Kingdom

2009-10-11T16:40:00.011+11:00

Having decided to fly over to niece Becky's wedding, we thought we'd make a short walking holiday of it, by driving around England, Scotland and Wales, and sample some of the best day-walks the country has to offer.
But for the weather, it would have been awesome!
But the weather itself was awesome, meaning there was very little in the way of views.
But weather is not to be taken for granted in the UK.
But not to worry. We may return!

Glen Nevis, Scotland, Aug 2009

Beinn Alligin, Scotland, Aug 2009

The Storr, Isle of Skye, Aug 2009

Sgurr na Stri, Isle of Skye, Aug 2009

Scafell Pike, England, Sep 2009

Glyder Fawr, Wales, Sep 2009

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Ring of Steall. Not!

2009-10-11T16:02:00.005+11:00

A mini-arc of the Ring of Steall, Mamores - or - Welcome to the Western Highlands!

25/8/2009

Originally posted on Walkhighlands
This was really an after-thought, to attach a munro walk to a visit to Glen Nevis, the naming-place of our first son (a beautiful picture of it out of a Scotsman Calendar was our inspiration). We even brought him along, now 22 years old and keen to see the place after which he was named. And as we found, Glen Nevis really is a beautiful place, and Steall Falls and the gorge of the Water of Nevis both quite spectacular.

So the plan was to visit the Glen and then continue up onto An Gearanach, proceed clockwise down and up and exit north west off Sgurr a'Mhaim, with a potential bombing-out before the Devil's Ridge if required.

It was straightforward enough making our way from the carpark up along the gorge to the three-wires (I was going to ask why they weren't joined so as to be more stable, and then I realised you could possibly slide a carabiner along them as they are). Carefully sploshing through the mud either side of Steall Falls was fun and a fairly easy acent was made up the zig-zaggy stalkers path. A quick snack was had in the grassy spot below An Gearanach, enjoying the patchy (due to rain) view up the Glen, in the lee from the South Westerly that was getting stronger.

By the time the snack was finished, rain had begun, and the wind had freshened. By the time we got to the top of An Gearanach, it had blown in fierce, and whilst visibility wasn't bad, being able to look up to actually see was problematic, due to the icy wind. Hadn't considered snow goggles for this trip!

Even after the simple traverse to An Garbhanach, it had been so blustery and sleety that aforementioned son asked how much more we were going to do. Taking the hint, and realising that we had at least another hour of walking into the sleet if we continued, we decided to bail east and anti-clockwise, making our way north high above the Allt Coire na Gabhalach, sometimes on an old bench track, continuing on above some ten or so deer, and skirting above the An Cearcallach to join the original track as it dropped down to the Nevis valley again.

Passing below the Steall Falls this time was quite spectacular, as the volume had doubled, perhaps tripled on what we had passed only two or three hours earlier. Helen and I had to link arms on our crossing, and the stream bottom was only barely visible (we figure that if you can see the bottom, you're probably okay - that's a rule of thumb we've used in NZ before, anyway).

The Water of Nevis thundered through the gorge, leaving us not disappointed, but impressed.

So the day was not what we - as naively optimistic Aussies - had hoped, but actually still had an interesting and beautiful trip, and learnt much about Highland weather.

A few more pics...

Panorama over Glen Nevis

The Steall Falls catchment.

The upper reaches of the Water of Nevis

One of the few shots taken on our descent...

The Nevis Gorge, Before and After

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Everest Region December 2003 - Day 20

2009-07-25T10:11:00.004+10:00

You can see a slideshow of my best pics from Everest on flickr.
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With the ridiculously gullible optimism that only first time travellers to Nepal can have, we got to Lukla airport at 8.30am, well in time for our promised departure of 9.30am. We discovered how cold the airport terminal building is over the next five hours as we waited and waited for our plane to come in. We were luckier than many, as some folks had been waiting for their plane since the previous day. Welcome to Lukla Airport!

In the end, the Nepal Army bailed us out with a loan of what seemed to be one of their paratrooping planes, an M28 SkyTruck, hailed by some as "ultimate tool for aircraft operating under severe conditions", and very suitable for the Himalayas. With packs at our knees and sideways bench seating, it marked an appropriate end to our trekking trip. At least we had seatbelts, though Helen and I had to share, and at least we didn't have to wait overnight.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Everest Region December 2003 - Day 19

2009-07-25T09:48:00.006+10:00

Phakding to Lukla

You can see a slideshow of my best pics from Everest on flickr.
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The main reason we were taking it easy and making such a short day was that we had to be in Lukla in time to confirm our plane tickets out, and the ticket office has fairly random opening hours. As such, we arrived in Lukla for lunch, and spent the rest of the day playing pool, listening to the lodge's sound system, mooching around the few useful shops, and of course waiting for the ticket office to miraculously open. Like many bookstores in Nepal, the bookstore had stacks of postcards of thangkas (Buddhist sacred paintings).
To the right is a picture I took at the Tengboche ghompa. Sadly, I can't tell you anything more about it, except that it is in the entrance on the left hand side.

The Porter's Progress Association held a film night which we got along to, where they present suggestions on how to make a better lot for porters in Nepal. Sadly, that group has folded during the turmoil of the Maoist time, but the Himalayan Humanity website has some information to help you engage porters fairly.

You can see from these pics that porters in Nepal have to work hard. It's a little sad that so much of their work is to lug cases of beer up the mountains for consumption by tourists.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Everest Region December 2003 - Day 18

2009-07-25T09:34:00.004+10:00

Khumjung to Phakding

You can see a slideshow of my best pics from Everest on flickr.
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We hurtled into - well, skated into - Namche, but not before stopping at Everest View again (Glen had missed it on the way up). Nabin took the best family snap of the holiday. With Taboche and 5610, Everest/Chomolungma and Lhotse pretending to be volcanoes, Ama Dablam and Tengboche monastery (not visible) behind Glen, we award Nabin with “Best of the 1000”!

A baby dzho - a cross between a yak and a cow, on the snow just entering Namche.

The boys literally skated all the way down from Namche to the Dudh Koshi river (and part of the way back up the other side, too!). By now the snow had had several days of thawing and refreezing overnight, rendering the whole track as a skating rink.

On this day particularly we noticed many Khumbu kids having snowball fights, skiing down slopes on pieces of wood tied to their feet, luging down on sheets of plastic, skating on their shoes, and generally having a fantastic time.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Everest Region December 2003 - Day 17

2009-07-22T13:35:00.007+10:00

Luza to Khumjung

You can see a slideshow of my best pics from Everest on flickr.
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Looking back from just outside of Luza, we see Kyajo Ri (6186m), Cho Oyu (8201m) with the long snowy eastern wall, and probably the Kangchung Peaks, and of course the Dudh Koshi valley. We spent most of this exquisite morning traversing up high (400m above the river) on the western flank of the valley. Helen went absolutely berserk with the camera (fortunately a digital), taking 143 photos in one day! (We had previously averaged about 35-40).

I love this picture. It depicts the glorious conditions that we walked in that day. So long as we stayed on the track, we didn't have to bother about the foot of snow that had fallen. The constant grey and yellow-brown of the cold and barren winter landscape had been hidden under a white fluffy duvet. This part of the upper Dudh Koshi valley is superb. The feeling of height above the valley floor is significant and exhilarating. One thing that really improved our experience of this place was that we were walking downhill instead of climbing uphill!

Kangtega and Thamserku above Phortse, itself above the Dudh Koshi. Andrew and Glen are on the right hand side. We descended over 700m from Luza to Phortse Tenga, only to find we now had to ascend 300m to Mong. Mong is a brilliant place, perched like an eagle eyrie 700m right above the junction of the Dudh Koshi and Imja Khola.

Panorama from the eagle eyrie which calls itself Mong. Perched 700m right above the junction of the Dudh Koshi and Imja Khola.
Cholatse, Taboche, the village of Phortse, Ama Dablam, Tenboche (the monastery is partially hidden by the near trees), Kantega and Thamserku, and to the right, the Dudh Koshi Valley and the Everest View Hotel beyond the obvious tree. If you're not sick of QTVR panorama's, here's yet another one.

The day was getting on (you can see the low angle of the sun) and we had to keep going to get to Khumjung. We grabbed a quick family holiday snap (left), and decided to take the high road again, to see what "the stone steps" were like.

This was probably the worst day to do it, because the snow had turned each step into a luge track, with ice rendering every tread on an outward angle. Despite this treachery, we made it to Khumjung in time to find a lodge.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Everest Region December 2003 - Day 16

2009-07-21T20:47:00.009+10:00

Gokyo Ri, Gokyo to Luza

You can see a slideshow of my best pics from Everest on flickr.
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The father of the household which runs Cho Oyu View Lodge returned from Namche that evening, with yaks laden with wood for the winter's heating. His smiles and laughter added to the already great good humour of his wife and daughter. They were really a delight to stay with. He is also a tuneful whistler when herding his yaks.

About twelve to eighteen inches of snow fell over night. The only trail that was clear was the one trodden to the outside toilet (there were several parties at the Cho Oyu View Lodge - including John and Gayle, who had caught up with us again the previous evening, having crossed Cho La and the Ngozumpa Glacier before the snow hit). It was still snowing on and off the next day. Despite the capricious weather, and the effort needed in pushing a path through fresh snow, Helen and I decided to have a go at climbing Gokyo Ri.

120° view left to right: Peak 5940m (surrounded by Gaunara (Gyubanare) Gl, not visible), Cholo (6089m, snow above the black face), Peak 5655m directly in front of Everest / Chomolungma (8850m) and Lhotse, three dark peaks leading to the prominent Jobo Lhapshtan (Arakam Tse, 6423m) and Cholatse (in cloud), Kangtega and Thamserku are in the south-south-eastern distance. Snow is coming in from the direct south over the flanks of Pharilapche. To see a QTVR panorama of this, click here.

The climb up Gokyo Ri through the snow was really hard work, and we'd skipped brekky, and I was now feeling absolutely stuffed. I didn't quite make it as high as Helen, but still managed to snap a few brilliant close ups of Everest/Chomolungma in a very rare showing through the cloud. Behind Peak 5655, the South Summit is clearly visible, as is the steepness down to the South Col. The Nuptse Ridge is leading to Lhotse.

We got back to breakfast, hot tea, cards and an hour's rest and recuperation before heading off. Gayle and John had been teaching new card games to the boys, which we made great use of for the rest of the trip.

Right: Nabin, Glen, Gayle, Andrew, Helen, John, and Joseph.

The stream that runs into and out of the Dudh Pokhari and onto the second and first lakes becomes the Dudh Koshi. Here, we are crossing the bridge over it before it descends about 200m in 1km at the end of the Ngozumpa Glacier.

Whilst it snowed on and off most of the day, it made for quite novel trekking for us, so we sort of enjoyed it. Our gear stopped us from getting cold, and we felt smug at spending so much money on acquiring it. All the trekkers had abandoned Gokyo at the start of the day, stamping down the snow to make quite a track for us. So whilst we enjoyed a relatively painless (though at times icy) descent, we marvelled at the ability of the first party to find the exact path through at times deep snow.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Everest Region December 2003 - Day 15

2009-07-20T23:25:00.010+10:00

Gokyo Lakes

You can see a slideshow of my best pics from Everest on flickr.
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If you would like some more background sound from Taboche Tsho whilst you browse, then click here. The other lakes sounded similar, but Lake 2 was probably the most "Bel Canto" of the lot.

As we wandered up the Ngozumpa valley, we encountered some very strange ice formations, created by water pooling around rocks and then shrinking sufficiently to break free. Here are Glen and Joseph playing with Elvis. The King is not dead, he retired to the Gokyo valley in the Himalayas.

Thonak (Donag) Tsho, the fourth lake.

Opposite the fifth lake, Ngozumba Tsho, is an eastward pointing glacial valley, Gaunara (Gyubanare) Glacier. By a stroke of luck, this aligns directly with Mt Everest/Chomolungma. On this day, however, the mountain was in cloud, so we could only see the base of the west ridge, and bits of Tibet/China. If you follow one of the left hand ridges upwards, you will reach Changri La (5812m), which we thought sounded pretty good! On account of having a good view of Everest without climbing anything, this point was dubbed "Scoundrel's View".

By now, it had started to get quite windy and very cold, so we made our way back to Gokyo village (about 1½ hrs from Gyazumba Tsho, the sixth lake). By the time we had arrived back, it was starting to snow...

And the snow got heavier and heavier...

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Everest Region December 2003 - Day 14

2009-07-20T22:12:00.012+10:00

Dragnag to Gokyo

You can see a slideshow of my best pics from Everest on flickr.
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If you would like a background sound of the ice-covered lake Taboche Tsho ("Lake 2"), then click here. More about them below.

The Ngozumpa glacier is the longest glacier in Nepal (about 23 km). It is covered in so much detritus that you feel like you are walking through a quarry. Only this quarry has frozen lakes and ice cliffs scattered throughout (see above), so watch your step! The route changes fairly frequently, and it is not unknown for people to get lost trying to cross it to Gokyo, especially after snow. Fortunately, we had an easy time getting across.

Right: a view northwards up the glacier (which begins up at the white cliffs on the right) towards Cho Oyu (8153m).

Once we had crossed the glacier, we encountered our first Gokyo valley lake, Taboche Tsho (Lake 2). Normally sparkling blue in all the photos we had seen, it was covered in about a foot of ice. Nature is beautiful, even when it is not sparkling blue, and we were rewarded at this time of the year with the privilege of hearing the lake "sing". A similar haunting sound as whale song, though closer to a cross between stomach gurgles and light-sabre sound effects. You should be able to pick out the sound of stones being skipped across the ice, lending their own stimulus to the constant creaking and groaning of the ice.

Having arrived at Gokyo and had lunch, Helen and I went for a wander around Gokyo's sacred lake - Dudh Pokhari ("milk lake") - vaguely heading for Renjo La. Rounding the lake is very easy, and well worth it for the photogenic views of Gokyo village from across the lake, and some very interesting cairns...

At the back of the Gokyo lake is what appears to be a Hindu shrine to a goddess. I have not yet been able to find out much about her, but I believe it to be the only Hindu shrine I found in the Everest region. Apparently the Dudh Pokhari (holy to both Buddhists and Hindus) is visited for Janai Purnima (August full moon = Rakhi Day?) for ritual bathing in the sacred waters! Brrr! At least the water would be liquid at that time of year.

The sunset that night was particularly beautiful. The view is west towards Renjo La, divine in its own right.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Everest Region December 2003 - Day 13

2009-07-19T22:16:00.010+10:00

Christmas Day - Over Cho La (Chhugyuma) Pass to Dragnag

You can see a slideshow of my best pics from Everest on flickr.
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Much to our relief, the day dawned clear and sunny, as most days do in the Everest region in winter.
We were all keen to see whether we could get over this pass. Going east to west, it was a climb of 580m followed by a descent of 720m. We much preferred going this way.

Right: Glen and Joseph are girding their loins in front of the lodge at Dzonglha. An unnamed 5940m peak and hanging glacier tell of what the day might bring.

For some reason, we all had a great time climbing the 580m to Cho La Pass. One contributing factor would be the fact that we had all climbed higher than this only two days before, and had had an easy day the previous day. Secondly, the climbing was more varied, firstly through upper mountain vale, then glacial scree, then rocky scrambling, then glacier. Weirdly, it seemed more like Australia. Go figure...

The Cho La (Chhugyuma) Pass (5420m) was dazzlingly beautiful. By far the cleanest glacier I had seen, on account of having few mountains above it to rain rocks, dirt and glacial flour onto it. Its pristine nature made it a superb way to celebrate Christmas Day.

The descent to Dragnag followed a gorgeously active alpine stream, much of which was frozen. You can see some buildings in the top right hand corner. Dragnag was hot and dry when we arrived, and wind gusts whipped the ubiquitous dust up into our eyes, nose and mouth. Not a nice reception! However, the Tashi Friendship Lodge (the only one open) was very comfortable, with the warmest dining room of the walk so far. Very popular, with parties going in both directions, it was also the most crowded dining room we were in, which may have helped the warmth. The owner closed up for the winter two nights later (Dec 27).

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Everest Region December 2003 - Day 12

2009-07-19T18:33:00.009+10:00

Lobuche to Dzonghla

You can see a slideshow of my best pics from Everest on flickr.
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We got back to Lobuche after Kala Pattar to find an English couple, Gayle and John, had come to visit. They were on the end of a 'round-the-world tour, had walked in from Jiri, and were planning to walk back out again (which they did) after visiting Gorakh Shep. We had a great night talking about movies, learning card games, and catching up with each other as if we had known each other for years.

The morning broke sparkling, and we had decided that rather than walk around from Lobuche to Gokyo via Phortse, taking about four days, we would go over the Cho La (Chhugyuma) Pass. Hopefully, if the conditions were good, this would only take three days (Dzonghla, Dragnag, Gokyo) and give us another day for the Ngozhumpa glacial valley. If we couldn't cross the pass, we'd be stuffed, and would miss out on Gokyo altogether.

Heading back down, we took the high road west of Dughla, and skirted around the 5245m hill - Awi Peak - that separated Lobuche from Dzonglha. It was a beautiful "side-of-the-mountain" walk, much like walking out from Namche, or north of Pangboche, or towards Chhukhung, or the high road from Dingboche to Dughla. There is no dearth of beauty in the Everest region.

The Tshola (or Chola) Glacier spills around the corner below Taboche Peak (6367m), adjacent to Cholatse and a truncated Jobo Lhaptshan (Arakam Tse, 6440m), above the frozen lake Tshola (Chola) Tsho. The range above the valley heading to the right includes the Cho La (Chhugyuma) Pass, the last two bits of snow on the right.

Cow dung wallpaper. When it's not being burnt in a pot-belly stove to keep us warm, it is being used to insulate the walls of the dormitory wing. Despite being sunny at midday, Dzonglha was a depressingly cold place, and with ice flitting through the air in the late afternoon, we wondered if we had done our dough on the Cho La Pass gambit/gamble (two totally different words having strikingly similar meanings in this usage). We spent a pretty glum Christmas Eve in the dingy dining room, hoping the stove would keep us warm.

“Oh, and I s’pose I should say ‘Merry Christmas’”

<grunt> ( = “You needn’t bloody well bother”)

Even at 4843m, it was the nadir of our trip...

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Everest Region December 2003 - Day 11

2009-07-19T00:46:00.014+10:00

Kala Patthar

You can see a slideshow of my best pics from Everest on flickr.
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There was only one thing on our minds this morning. To do our best to get to
the top of Kala Patthar (5540m). It's weird, but it felt like the fact that Mt Everest/Chomolungma is the highest mountain in the world, and so absolutely so, gave a sense of absolutist goal-orientation not normally seen amongst our family, who like to "enjoy the process".

As soon as folks hear that we went trekking in the Everest region, they ask if
we went to Everest Base Camp. Before explaining that it's just a stretch of
rocks and rubbish (and now - tragically - a crashed helicopter), I take great
delight in saying "No, we went higher!" But we're not "peak-baggers", I promise!

Anyhow, we didn't go as high as this picture, which is of course the summit of Everest/Chomolungma, taken from somewhere up Kala Patthar.

Joseph had trouble with a growing headache. At these altitudes one must treat them as very serious (potential AMS - Acute Mountain Sickness) unless proven otherwise, so I had no alternative but to take him back down, leaving Helen, Glen and Nabin to get to the top. Disappointing, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. The views of Everest/Chomolungma and Nuptse (pictured left) were about the same from where we got to, anyway.

Helen and Glen and Mt Everest / Chomolungma

Left to right: the Lho La Pass (6026m) in front of Changtse (7553m), the West Ridge above the Khumbu Icefall, Everest summit, South Summit, South Col, Nuptse, Khumbu Glacier, Ama Dablam looking so pointy, Kangtenga and Thamserku in the distance (left of dead centre), Taboche, Cholatse and Arakam Tse (Jobo Lapsang) (all right of dead centre), Lobuche West, Changri Nup and Changri Shar Glaciers, and the white ridge of Changri.
The panorama can be seen as a Quicktime VR movie (if you have Apple's invasive QuickTime installed).

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Everest Region December 2003 - Day 10

2009-07-18T00:00:00.007+10:00

Dingboche to Lobuche

You can see a slideshow of my best pics from Everest on flickr.
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I thought you might like some more background sounds for your viewing pleasure.

Having taken the high road from Dingboche to Dughla, we discovered that it was indeed closed. Dughla, at 4620m, is at the foot of the Khumbu Glacier, with a climb above it of about 240m in less than 2 km. Whilst our Chhukhung visit had toughened us up a bit, we still found ourselves breathless. The feeling of "less air" is quite palpable in the Khumbu glacier valley. (I can hear the Himalayan mountaineers all sniggering...)

Nevertheless, we found ourselves in Lobuche by lunchtime, and in the afternoon, went off to visit the Italian based research centre known as "The Pyramid".

We stayed at a lodge whose owner had won the Everest marathon (from Gorakh Shep to Thamo) three out of the last four years. I reckon that simply living at the altitude of Lobuche (4910m) probably would be sufficient training!

Kongma Tse (5820m, also called Mehra Peak, confusingly) is directly east of Lobuche, on the opposite side of the Khumbu Glacier. Seen here at the end of the day catching some rays.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Everest Region December 2003 - Day 9

2009-07-17T23:19:00.005+10:00

Chhukhung to Dingboche

You can see a slideshow of my best pics from Everest on flickr.
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The day ended up a bit of a fizzer. We had thought to wander up to the lake Imja Tsho, but also wanted to leave time to get to Dughla, back on the main drag going up towards Everest. So we just mooched around the bottom of the Ama Dablam glacier and then started to head back down the valley. When we got to Dingboche, we were told that Dughla was now "closed", the lodge owner having gone down to Namche. Not quite trusting the news, but not keen to have to then press on to Lobuche, we decided to stay at Dingboche.

Not much left to do but go and shoot some pool...

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Everest Region December 2003 - Day 8

2009-07-16T23:45:00.013+10:00

Chhukhung Ri and Chhukhung

You can see a slideshow of my best pics from Everest on flickr.
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We had great fun slithering up the frozen streams on the way to Chhukhung. The upper Imja Khola valley is really quite beautiful and well worth the extra day. Even in winter it can feel quite warm in the sun.

In Helen's and my enthusiasm to climb Chhukhung Ri, we didn't really look for the best starting route, and ended up climbing the 160m scree above the village. Completely knackered by the time we got to the top of that, we admired the already stunning view (below).

See the big hill on the right hand end? That's Chhukhung Ri... 500 more metres to go!

From below Chhukhung Ri:
Lhotse, Island Peak, Makalu (in background), Ama Dablam (centre), Mehra Peak (Kongma Tse), Chhukhung Ri, Nuptse behind it and Nuptse-Lhotse Wall.
You can also view it as a QTVR 360 panorama (750kB) if you have Quicktime.

"Oh my gawd!" we said to each other. "It's up there!"

With the regular 3 o'clock clouds scudding into the valley below, Helen and I pressed on up the hill. What would normally be an exhilarating scramble became more and more of a grind as we tried to beat the clock of the encroaching clouds. Several times we thought "aw stuff it, let's turn back", but because we kept these thoughts to ourselves - and each thought that we'd be letting the other down - we pressed on grimly until we got to the 5404m top.

This is also viewable as a QTVR file.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Everest Region December 2003 - Day 7

2009-07-16T22:55:00.008+10:00

Acclimatisation Rest Day - Nangkar Tshang

You can see a slideshow of my best pics from Everest on flickr.
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The boys opted to stay and play pool (yes! A pool table had been lugged to Dingboche, about 10 days from the nearest road, and at 4410 metres!) whilst Helen and I opted to do an "acclimatisation walk" up Nangkar Tshang (5040 m). It's probably best to establish here and now that climbing anything steeper than a disabled ramp will leave you breathless after only five minutes. Just an acclimatisation thing, but we still hadn't got to our highest point yet, so it remained a challenge for all the time we ascended.

Sewn together from eleven separate photos, the two panoramas below actually connect to form a 280° view from Nangkar Tshang. Click on either photo to bring up an enlargement.
Left to right, features are:

Island Peak (Imja Tse) (6189m), Makalu (8463m, with the jet stream blowing off it), Kali Himal (in the clouds), Chhukhung Glacier (the whitest bit), the very black Amphu Gyabjen (5630m), Ama Dablam (6856m), Kantega and Thamserku (6608m).

Continuing on:

Thamserku, the Imja Khola valley, Taboche Peak (6367m), Cholatse and Jobo Lapsang (Arakam Tse, 6432m) above icy covered glacial lake, Chola Tsho. Continuing right are possibly Cho La Pass, Lobuche East (last one with snow on it) and the lower reaches of Pokalde rightmost.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Everest Region December 2003 - Day 6

2009-07-15T22:41:00.008+10:00

Tengboche to Dingboche

You can see a slideshow of my best pics from Everest on flickr.
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The Himalayan Griffon (Gyps himalayensis) is huge, some reaching over a metre in length, with a wingspan of three metres and weighing up to seven kg. A bit like a turkey that eats meat and can actually fly. I managed to snap a pic of this one just above Pangboche.

The birds are involved in the old (and vanishing) Tibetan practice of what to do with corpses when folks die.
The ground is normally too cold to bury them.
Wood is too scarce for cremation. So, after a ceremony, the corpse would be dismembered and literally "fed to the birds". The Himalayan Griffon is considered a sacred bird in Tibet for this service that it provides.

We stopped at Pangboche Gompa (at 300 years old, the oldest in the region) on the way, and were rewarded by hearing the nuns reciting some Tibetan texts, punctuated with drums, cymbals and trumpets.

Even though we climbed 600m from Tengboche to Dingboche, it didn't feel that bad because the climb was spread over about 12 km.

This is a view looking west to Taboche Peak (6367m) from Dingboche.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Everest Region December 2003 - Day 5

2009-07-15T22:11:00.009+10:00

Acclimatisation Rest day - Tengboche

You can see a slideshow of my best pics from Everest on flickr.
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Wherever you look, there is normally some amazingly high mountain in your way. In the lodge that we stayed in at Tengboche (shown left of centre in the picture below) even the dunny had a stunning view of Everest. The toilets in the lodges varied from western style flushers in the more expensive and "closer to home" villages to a couple of planks above a pit. The latter were the ones with the interesting views! Fortunately, the weather is cold enough in December that it is not that unpleasant, in fact the instant freezing contributes to some interesting stalactite growth. … hmmm, it must be time to talk about something else. Whilst December is a good time for healthy toilets and no crowds, it also creates a dearth of flora and fauna. Whilst we did see the odd Himalayan tar (mountain goat) and damphe (pheasant), macro fauna was pretty light on. The forests of huge rhododendrons which must look amazing in the spring were all pretty flat looking, creating an eerie wintry scene.

Mount Everest peeks over the Nupste-Lhotse wall. The beautiful Ama Dablam, which dominates the whole Imja Khola valley is on the right. This shot was taken from Tengboche, a few lodges attached to the famous Tengboche monastery. An inauspicious introduction to technology occurred when the old monastery building burnt down after an electrical fault. However, micro-hydroelectric schemes work very well in this area, and more and more villages are getting connected. Set on a ridge, Tengboche at 3860m (400m above Namche bazaar) is a beautiful area, with the forests of rhododendrons, stunning views, and the gorgeous new monastery (below, on the right), rebuilt with assistance from the Himalayan Foundation, set up by Edmund Hillary (he was probably a Sir Edmund Hillary by then).

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Everest Region December 2003 - Day 4

2009-07-14T23:41:00.015+10:00

Namche to Tengboche

You can see a slideshow of my best pics from Everest on flickr.
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We set off for Tengboche along the "highway" that leads north east out of Namche. Avoid it on the day after Namche Bazaar (which is on Saturdays), because the yak trains on it kick up a lot of dust. We really enjoyed their company, though, as their bells jangled melodiously, accompanied often by herders whistling some rustic Nepali tune.
You rarely see yaks below Namche's altitude, as it is simply too hot for them, and you rarely see cattle above Namche; too cold, I suppose.

Buddhist prayer wheels abound in the Everest region, each rotation sending good karma floating off into the universe. The folks at Phunki Tenga - 200m below Namche, on the Dudh Koshi river - had the idea that using falling water to spin a prayer wheel would mean a more constant flow of good karma. Hence these water-powered prayer wheels.

It is a 600m climb from Phunki Tenga up to Tengboche. The sort of thing you really should give lunch a bit more time to digest before attempting. However, Glen by now had pepped up, and we made our way sedately up the south face of the ridge line, stopping to spot damphe (Himalayan pheasant) and hopefully deer. We didn't get good photos of the damphe, and didn't see any deer, but we had a good rest, anyway.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Everest Region December 2003 - Day 3

2009-07-13T22:16:00.009+10:00

Acclimatisation Rest Day - Day trip to Khumjung and Khunde

You can see a slideshow of my best pics from Everest on flickr.
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Day 3 was a “rest” day, which meant we kept climbing, but slept in the same bed as the night before.
Glen was still feeling wrecked, so after making him climb nearly 300m to Syangboche, we turned him around and sent him back.

Syangboche airport (3720m) is “the third highest airport in the world” (below Bangda in Tibet at 4334m, and La Paz in Bolivia at >4000m). People have been known to get out of the plane here and collapse.

What was really crazy was the presence of such a heavy piece of machinery - used for levelling the airstrip - over ten days walk from the nearest road. It was flown in piece by piece and assembled in situ. I couldn't help but juxtapose this with the mani stone (with all the coloured syllables painted on), itself juxtaposed with Khumbui Yul Lha (Khumbila), the protector deity of the Khumbu region, more sacred even than Jomo Miyolang-sangma (Chomolungma, now called Everest).
And the building looks like it has been rescued from some English housing project.

We wandered up to Everest View Hotel, to see what it was like. There is a small lodge on the way that has just as good views, though missing Everest View's oxygenated and pressurised rooms. The view from each place is absolutely stunning. From left to right, Cholatse and Taboche Peak, Everest/Chomolungma and Lhotse on the far horizon, Ama Dablam looking equally washed out, and Thamserku looking very grand on the right.

From Everest View, we dropped down to Khumjung for some excellent apple triangles from the bakery, and visited the Hillary School (closed for the winter hols) and Khunde District Hospital, before dropping back down to Namche. By the time we got back to the lodge, we realised how hard we'd been working, just wandering around.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam’s Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Our Everest Region Trek

2009-07-12T23:24:00.043+10:00

Taking advantage of the fact that the Australian Open tennis - our annual couch-potato season - was on in late January 2004, the Purdam family hitched up our thermals and headed somewhere very cool and airy for Christmas, viz. winter in the Everest region of Nepal.
In a nutshell, we followed the black line and:

flew to Lukla,
trekked up the Dudh Khoshi and Imja Khola valleys to Chhukhung,
trekked to Lobuche and climbed Kala Pattar,
crossed the Cho La Pass and Ngozhumpa Glacier to Gokyo, and
trekked back down to Lukla and flew back.

If you want something more interactive, here's a Google Map of the trip.
You might like to open this in a new tab whilst you go through the blog of the trip...

View Everest Region in a larger map

And a flickr slideshow of my best pics...

The detailed itinerary is given below. Each day will be linked as it gets uploaded.

Day 1 - Fly to Lukla (2840m), walk to Phakding (2610m)
Day 2 - Phakding to Namche (3440m)
Day 3 - Acclimatisation Rest day - Khumjung (3780m) and Khunde (3840m)
Day 4 - Namche to Tengboche (3860m)
Day 5 - Acclimatisation Rest day - Tengboche (~4100m)
Day 6 - Tengboche to Dingboche (4410m)
Day 7 - Acclimatisation Rest Day - Nangkar Tshang (5040m)
Day 8 - Chhukhung Ri (5404m) and Chhukhung (4730m)
Day 9 - Chhukhung to Dingboche (4410m)
Day 10 - Dingboche to Lobuche (4920m)
Day 11 - Kala Pattar (5540m)
Day 12 - Lobuche to Dzonghla (4840m)
Day 13 - Christmas Day - Over Cho La Pass (5420m) to Dragnag (4700m)
Day 14 - Dragnag to Gokyo (4790m)
Day 15 - Gokyo Lakes (~5000m)
Day 16 - Gokyo Ri, (5360m) Gokyo to Luza (4390m)
Day 17 - Luza to Khumjung (3780m)
Day 18 - Khumjung to Phakding (2610m)
Day 19 - Phakding to Lukla (2840m)
Day 20 - Lukla to Kathmandu (1324m)

The Naming of Chomolungma
I decided to append the more appropriate Tibetan name Chomolungma to my usage of the word Everest when referring to the mountain (much like the New Zealanders refer to their highest mountain as Mt Cook/Aoraki). The Tibetan culture had referred to this mountain as Chomolungma long before the English dubbed the name Everest, and before the ruling Nepalis decided to use Sagarmatha. The Sherpas of the Khumbu region are more closely linked culturally, linguistically and genetically to Tibet than to Kathmandu. I retained the phrase Everest region for the Khumbu area, simply because it is more widely recognised.

Names and Altitudes Used
In naming peaks in the pictures, and giving heights, I have generally tended to go with National Geographic's 1:50,000 Everest Base Camp map (3001), except where that data is missing or obviously incorrect. In which case I have referred to the Schneider 1:50,000 Khumbu Himal map. I sometimes referred to Trekking in Everest by Jamie McGuiness for altitudes and some notes, particularly estimated trekking times.

Do not rely on my information for navigating.

As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Everest Region December 2003 - Day 2

2009-07-12T22:09:00.013+10:00

Phakding to Namche

You can see a slideshow of my best pics from Everest on flickr.
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We followed the Dudh Koshi river northward, in and out of some forests, past waterfalls and crossing rushing streams. Being winter, the region hadn't had much precipitation recently, and the track was very dusty. So each of these wet features brought with them a particular attraction. Sadly, whilst the water looks inviting, to drink it is foolish. In the Everest region, many "toilets" simply drain straight into a creek, so all poop heads into the river systems. It must be great for growing plants, but it would grow other things if you drank it. We chose to be very careful with our water, and both filtered and purified everything that wasn't boiled. We used a good quality MSR hand-pumped filter suitable for four of us, and topped it off with MicroPur Forté tablets. After two hours, it should have taken care of all bacteria, giardia and viruses.

Looking south east to Kusum Kanguru (6369m) from the ridge climbing up to Namche.
I simply had to include this pic because it is so pretty. One needs distractions like this on this stretch of track due to the fact that the ascent to Namche from crossing the Dudh Koshi is 590m without any down bits to relieve you (unless you turn around!). Fortunately, there are some nice distractions, including a sneak peek at Everest and Lhotse about half way up the climb, so long as it's not too hazy or too cloudy. Nevertheless, Kusum Kanguru stole the "pretty mountain" award for that afternoon.

The village of Namche (Nauche, Nabuche), often called Namche Bazaar, is quite a "happening thang". Nestled out of sight above the Bhote Koshi, and opposite Kongde Ri (pictured left), it becomes the launching place for trips up the Imja Khola valley to Everest/Chomolungma, up the Dudh Koshi to Gokyo, and up the Bhote Koshi to Nangpa (reportedly closed to visitors), the westernmost valley of the Dudh Koshi catchment. Here, the rivers are all very active, and mini-hydro schemes service many of the villages, including Namche, and nearby Khumjung and Khunde. This shot was taken the next day, from above Namche.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.

Everest Region December 2003 - Day 1

2009-07-11T23:43:00.031+10:00

Fly to Lukla, walk to Phakding

You can see a slideshow of my best pics from Everest on flickr.
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Flying in progressively smaller planes, we touched down in Lukla about 55 hours after leaving Canberra (and about 60 hours after Glen's end-of-Year 10 party). Lukla (2840m) is about seven day's walk from the nearest road, and relies heavily on its tiny airstrip for its economy, being the most convenient airstrip for folks going into the Everest region who need to acclimatise. We had hoped to actually land at Phaplu, three to four days south-west, but we couldn't get the right synchronisation of flights. Having suddenly realised our porter-guide - Nabin - and porter - Bikas - were going to carry our own packs, Helen and I quickly bought a day-pack in Lukla to shuffle some of the weight amongst us and not look so useless.

Glen and Joseph doing their Asterix and Obelix im-pressions with their new Sherpa hats in Lukla. Helen is repacking the very conspicuous toilet paper, though no one was even sick yet. Time on the trek: ten minutes.

The confluence of everything that is "Everest region" in Chheplung: some mountain, a lodge (hidden in trees on the left), the trekkers (Nabin, Helen, Glen, Joseph, Bikas), the stupa (or chorten, the white object in the middle back-ground, with its adjacent flagpole and prayer flags) the mani stone (covered in Tibetan Buddhist mantras) and the ghompa (Tibetan Buddhist monastery) on the right.

Having arrived in Phakding in time for lunch, Helen and I then spent the rest of the afternoon hunting down places to stretch our legs. The ghompa at Phakding is just up the hill on the western side of the Dudh Koshi river, letting us also stretch our lungs. It is pretty small, and was empty at the time of our visit, as they had all gone off to see the Dalai Lama in Dharamasala (Himachal Pradesh, north western India). A local lad let us in, showing us this stunning library wall, stuffed with scrolls of texts that they study and recite.

At this altitude, around 2500m, there is still a lot of market-garden farming going on, even in winter. Anything that is not grown needs to be carried in - either by cattle, yak (above Namche), or porter - or flown in. It wasn't until our arrival back in this valley two weeks later that we realised how green it isn't further up, especially in winter.

Whilst the ridges look on a weird angle in the background, I'm pretty sure I was standing upright. I think it is a trick of slopes going away from us and all that sort of stuff.

Whilst we were off visiting absent monks, Glen was merrily throwing up back in the lodge, having finally had his party-induced flight-expanded sleep-deprived altitude-enhanced weariness catch up on him.

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.