Day 5
With the altitude practice now complete, the great ascent began. The mission was to reach Deurali, just above 3000m altitude. We were now following the narrow valley, dense with vegetation and rapids. A cluster of monkeys got us going faster with their whooping menacing noises until some porters started doing some really awful monkey imitations. That shut the primates up!
In terms of angle of ascent it was not so bad but the terrain was very rough and unpredictable. Dominating sounds were the trickling mini waterfalls and the gushing rapids. Winter will be arriving soon so most migratory animals had left. The woods were quiet and the sun took ages to emerge as the valley was very deep. At about 10.30am we finally got some sunshine defrost! This was just after our tea break at Bamboo (2400m) where we saw the sun rays radiating the hilltops but never clipping our heads.
Every vein of the range was prominent with water sounds all over. I spotted a cute generator house humming away; it´s a cheap source of electricity for the tea house villages. Walking past Dovan (2600m) the valley opened up a bit and we got closer to the Modikhola, the main river flowing from the range. We lunched at the Himalaya Hotel, a slate roofed establishment (local materials...impressive). Feeling adventurous with the menu, I experimented with a combo of Swiss rosti and Nepali vegetable curry! I call it the "Himalpine Combo". Looking at the hotel's shop, there was no letting up in the stock of western goods (see pictures) which get more expensive the higher up you go.
The final leg of the day was theatrical (in the atmospheric sense, not comical!). Enormous waterfalls gushing over well worn, smooth cliff faces resembled a water park for giants. The extent of the climb was clear from the view of the river against the cascading hills, getting rougher and rougher as we climbed. The tree line approached and we crossed some slippery stream points, at one point skipping stones replaced a rickety run down raised wooden bridge.
On arrival at Deurali Guest House the cloud cover arrived very close to the roof tops. All vegetation here looked dead as if from a ghost story or more realistically, as if from an environmental disaster. There was no view of the mountains from this narrow point (and thus no cheesy titles for the hotels) but the sunset colours of the valley we left behind were as majestic as the unseen peaks. We had been blessed by a full moon at this point which made the night view of the looming hills resemble the protection of a fortress by high walls. The blanket table tonight was ridiculously hot to the point that the table was melting at some sections and one trekkers socks singed and fused!
K.
With the altitude practice now complete, the great ascent began. The mission was to reach Deurali, just above 3000m altitude. We were now following the narrow valley, dense with vegetation and rapids. A cluster of monkeys got us going faster with their whooping menacing noises until some porters started doing some really awful monkey imitations. That shut the primates up!
In terms of angle of ascent it was not so bad but the terrain was very rough and unpredictable. Dominating sounds were the trickling mini waterfalls and the gushing rapids. Winter will be arriving soon so most migratory animals had left. The woods were quiet and the sun took ages to emerge as the valley was very deep. At about 10.30am we finally got some sunshine defrost! This was just after our tea break at Bamboo (2400m) where we saw the sun rays radiating the hilltops but never clipping our heads.
Every vein of the range was prominent with water sounds all over. I spotted a cute generator house humming away; it´s a cheap source of electricity for the tea house villages. Walking past Dovan (2600m) the valley opened up a bit and we got closer to the Modikhola, the main river flowing from the range. We lunched at the Himalaya Hotel, a slate roofed establishment (local materials...impressive). Feeling adventurous with the menu, I experimented with a combo of Swiss rosti and Nepali vegetable curry! I call it the "Himalpine Combo". Looking at the hotel's shop, there was no letting up in the stock of western goods (see pictures) which get more expensive the higher up you go.
The final leg of the day was theatrical (in the atmospheric sense, not comical!). Enormous waterfalls gushing over well worn, smooth cliff faces resembled a water park for giants. The extent of the climb was clear from the view of the river against the cascading hills, getting rougher and rougher as we climbed. The tree line approached and we crossed some slippery stream points, at one point skipping stones replaced a rickety run down raised wooden bridge.
On arrival at Deurali Guest House the cloud cover arrived very close to the roof tops. All vegetation here looked dead as if from a ghost story or more realistically, as if from an environmental disaster. There was no view of the mountains from this narrow point (and thus no cheesy titles for the hotels) but the sunset colours of the valley we left behind were as majestic as the unseen peaks. We had been blessed by a full moon at this point which made the night view of the looming hills resemble the protection of a fortress by high walls. The blanket table tonight was ridiculously hot to the point that the table was melting at some sections and one trekkers socks singed and fused!
K.
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