Latest news from the Himalaya and Karakoram

Sunday 19 December 2010

Islamic Relief Everest Challenge successfully reach Base Camp on December 12th

Photo: Mount Everest

All fourteen members of of the Islamic Relief Everest team successfully reach Base Camp on December 12th 2010, so congratulations to everyone in this group for completing their challenge while raising significant funds for charity.
This is the fourth Everest Challenge trek that the Mountain Company has had the privilege of organising for Islamic Relief. Each of their Everest treks has been during the month of December, like previous years we experienced sunny and clear weather for thirteen days in a row.
In my view this is one of the best times of year to trek in the Khumbu as there are very few other trekkers so there is no problem getting rooms in the lodges for a larger group, easier to secure flights to/ from Lukla and the trail is much less busy than peak months of October and November.

Roland Hunter
www.themountaincompany.co.uk

Saturday 20 November 2010

Trip report for Mera Peak expedition in November 2010

Photo: summit day on Mera Peak

Our Mera Peak group safely arrived back to Kathmandu yesterday, we were very fortunate to fly out of Lukla as planned as for the last five days the weather has been cloudy with only a limited number of flights operating to and from Kathmandu.

Yesterday there was a back log of over two thousand people waiting in Lukla to fly out to Kathmandu so our group was very happy to hear through our connections and ongoing relationship with Tara Airlines that we had confirmed seats for the first flight; we got back to Kathmandu around midday.

In spite of the cloudy conditions in Lukla towards the end of the trek we had good weather for the rest of the time and experienced no precipitation during eighteen days of trekking. In fact for most of the days when Lukla was cloudy we were walking high above this level with the poor visibility confined to the lower valleys. My view is that November is the best time to climb Mera Peak, the weather is more stable at this time of year as by then well into the post monsoon period also far fewer other expeditions than during the month of October. Personally I would not want to climb Mera Peak in December as it would be too cold up high on the mountain and with fewer daylight hours resulting in more time walking in the dark before sunrise.

Our summit day was November 15th, we were very lucky to have clear weather with great views from Kanchenjunga in the east to Makalu, Lhotse, Everest and Cho Oyu further to the north. On leaving High Camp at 3.20am we experienced high winds with strong gusts however all twelve in our group carried on with admirable determination to successfully reach the summit of Mera Peak. Congratulations and well done to everyone.

Compared to last year the Mera glacier has clearly undergone a number of changes, firstly there are now more crevasses along the section to Mera La as well some large crevasses opening up before High Camp. However there is still an established trail on the glacier winding its way between these slots making the risk of glacial travel still quite low risk at this time of year. It will be interesting to see how the glacier changes over the next few years if these crevasses open up more then perhaps it might require ladders to cross over the snow bridges in the near future. The second change is the large amount of rock sitting on top of the ice on the entry ramp onto the glacier, there has been significant rockfall from the ridge above. The presence of these rocks on the ice makes it more challenging for climbers walking onto and off the glacier and of course especially awkward while wearing crampons.

This is the fifth year in row that I have led The Mountain Company’s Mera Peak expedition in November and our groups have successfully summitted every year. I have been very lucky to work with the same team of fantastic Sherpas for each of these expeditions; I would like to mention a very special thanks to our sirdar Pemba Tamang (double Everest summitter plus Manaslu and Shishapangma) and his brother Nurbu Tamang as well as Ngima Dorje Tamang and Rana Magar. Thanks also to Saila Tamang and Kumar who, as ever, worked very hard in the kitchen providing an endless supply of tasty meals.

The Mountain Company is organising two expeditions to climb Mera Peak in 2011, the dates for our first trip is from April 10th to May 1st 2011 and second one from October 30th to November 20th 2011. Lee Farmer will lead our April departure and I will lead our November departure. Please get in touch if you are interested in joining one of these expeditions to climb Mera Peak.

Roland Hunter
www.themountaincompany.co.uk

Sunday 31 October 2010

Our October Everest Base Camp group successfully trek to Base Camp and Kalapatar

Photo: Mount Everest

On my return from Dhaulagiri Circuit on 27th I went over to Hotel Tibet to meet our Everest Base Camp group to hear how their trek went , I gather everyone made it successfully to Everest Base Camp and most went up Kalapatar on the next day. Similar to my group on Dhaulagiri Circuit they also experienced some unstable weather with precipitation at Pangboche village however by the time they reached Lobuche the skies cleared off and the views from Kalapatar were superb.
Congratulations to everyone in this group, and of course a special thanks to Buddhi Rai who led this trip and looked after the team so well.

Roland Hunter
www.themountaincompany.co.uk

Thursday 28 October 2010

Trip report for Dhaulagiri Circuit in October 2010

Photo: Mount Dhaulagiri as seen from French Pass

Our Dhaulagiri Circuit group arrived back to Kathmandu yesterday with everyone successfully completing this trek known as one of the most challenging (non mountaineering) in Nepal. This is the third Dhaulagiri Circuit trek that the Mountain Company has organised and the second one that I have personally led. In October 2009 Gary Pfisterer led our Dhaulagiri Circuit trek and I first completed this trek with a group in May 2008.

It was interesting to see the differences in the conditions and weather between my two treks around Dhaulagiri one in late Spring season and the other in Autumn. As is typical in May one generally gets clear mornings then cloud tends to build from mid morning then clears off again in the evening. However in October once the stable post monsoon weather has set in with high pressure across the Himalaya then one can have blue skis and views all day, this is the weather we experienced this October crossing French and Dhampus Passes. Although the weather is more stable in October the advantage of going in May there is likely to be fewer other trekkers around and also you will see mountaineering expeditions at Dhaulagiri Base Camp.

However this year there was a heavy monsoon that extended into October, and as a result we had several rainy afternoons and evenings while walking up Myagdi valley. In fact this valley is known as being wet as the orientation is north to south with clouds travelling up from India then collide with Dhaulagiri at the top of the valley causing high levels of precipitation. The Myagdi valley is clearly a rainy place with sub tropical forest up to Sallighari camp.

Once crossing French Pass into Hidden Valley one enters an area affected by the rain shadow of Dhaulagiri with sparse vegetation comprising isolated patches of moss and grass. Like Dolpo further to the west it is only during the monsoon season from June to September that this area gets significant amounts of rain and at this time yaks are brought up to graze in Hidden Valley.

The condition of Dhampus Pass was far easier to cross this October compared to May with a well established trail in snow with no icey sections and in fact in the end most of the group did not need to use their crampons and ice axes. However when I crossed Dhampus Pass in May there were several icey sections on the traverse after descending from the summit of the pass and with these conditions crampons were essential for trekkers and of course for all of the crew.

The other main difference I noticed compared to May 2008 was the improvement in the trail, in particular the path before Boghara village has now cut into the rock whereas before there was just a fixed rope to help climb over a rock slab! Beyond this village there are several other sections of the path that have been widened making the walk easier than before. The other challenging section is the descent down the lateral moraine from Italian Camp down onto the glacier, for the first time a trail has been cut into the moraine however we still felt a rope was necessary to secure the safe passage of the group and porters. Also several of the old log bridges have been replaced with well constructed cantilever bridges, in fact it is now possible to use mules to carry loads all of the way to Italian Base Camp.

I was surprised that most other groups on the Dhaulagiri Circuit were still ascending way too fast and breaking all of the rules of acclimatisation with most other people we met complaining of headaches and other symptoms of altitude sickness. Of course one has to consider the entire trekking team including the health of all of the porters and kitchen crew as they are the ones working hard at these altitudes! The main consideration on this trek is the risk of someone getting serious altitude sickness in Hidden Valley, if this happens then one has to ascend either French or Dhampus pass in order to descend in altitude.

Our acclimatisation schedule seemed to well by spending two nights at Italian Camp (3,660m), two nights at Glacier Camp (4,200m) and two nights at Dhaulagiri Base Camp (4,700m) then we crossed French Pass into Hidden Valley where we also spent two nights. For most people the highlight of the trek was the day exploring Hidden Valley and spending two nights here would not have been possible if the group and crew were not sufficiently acclimatised- click here for photos of our day walk in Hidden Valley.

Our October 2010 group were very lucky as the weather cleared on the morning before we walked into Hidden Valley staying sunny and clear for the rest of the trek, we experienced classic Autumn trekking with superb views of Dhaulagiri, Annapurna, Nilgiri, Dhampus Peak and Tukuche- click here for photos of Dhaulagiri Circuit trek from October 2010

Congratulations and well done to everyone in our October group for completing this trek! My view is that in spite of the improvements in the trail and construction of new bridges Dhaulagiri Circuit is still one of the hardest treks in Nepal and careful planning and preparations are required to ensure the safety and well being of the group and trek crew.

The Mountain Company is organising two Dhaulagiri Circuit treks in 2011, one starting in late April and the second departure starting in mid October, please get in touch if you are interested in joining one of these groups.

Roland Hunter
www.themountaincompany.co.uk

Photos of day walk in Hidden Valley on Dhaulagiri Circuit trek

Our 2010 Dhaulagiri Circuit group spent two nights camping in Hidden Valley and luckily there was far less snow compared to when Gary's group stayed there in October last year. As a result there were a number of options for day walks to explore the area, most of the group decided to walk down Hidden Valley whereas I had my eye on a ridge overlooking camp on the western side (see red arrow indicating this ridge in photos below).

As hopefully the photos show, this is a really good walk with superb views over to the Nilgiri and Annapurna ranges also back to Dhaulagiri and French Pass as well as looking down Hidden Valley. I highly recommend this for anyone wanting to find an easily walkable viewpoint in Hidden Valley, we plan to incorporate this walk into our Dhaulagiri Circuit itinerary for April and May 2011 departures.

Photo: ridge on western side of Hidden Valley
Photo: as above
Photo: Hidden Valley camp
Photo: Mount Dhaulagiri and French Pass
Photo: Mount Tukuche
Photo: view from top of ridge looking down Hidden Valley
Photo: view from top of ridge over to Nilgiris and Annapurna
Photo: view down into Hidden Valley
Photo: top of the ridge
Photo: view east from the ridge

Wednesday 27 October 2010

Photos of Dhaulagiri Circuit trek in October 2010

I have just got back to Kathmandu after leading our Dhaulagiri Circuit trek, as you can see from the photos below we had good weather and superb views for the days crossing both French and Dhampus passes. I will write a full Trip Report shortly on this blog with more details about the trek and changes experienced since I first walked this route in May 2008.

Photo: View of Sibang village with Dhaulagiri range behind
Photo: Farmhouse in Muri village
Photo: Nepali boy near Boghara village
Photo: trail along Myagdi valley
Photo: walking in Chonbarden gorge
Photo: Chonbarden gorge
Photo: group near Glacier camp on Chonbarden glacier
Photo: icefall on Tukuche Peak
Photo: lateral moraine ridge leading to French Pass
Photo: Mount Dhaulagiri as seen from French Pass
Photo: Prayer flags on French Pass
Photo: descending French Pass
Photo: Hidden Valley
Photo: Hidden Valley camp with Dhampus Peak and Pass behind
Photo: summit of Dhampus Pass
Photo: Tukuche Peak from Dhampus Pass
Photo: snow traverse after Dhampus Pass
Photo: further along traverse with Nilgiris range behind
Photo: looking down to Kali Gandaki valley after traverse
Photo: view of Nilgiri range from Alu Bari camp

Saturday 11 September 2010

Severe flooding in Baltistan during August 2010

Photo:landslides at Talis village
Photo: Talis village

On August 7th, I was at Islamabad airport with The Mountain Company’s K2 & Gondogoro La group waiting for our flight to Skardu. By midday we were informed this flight was cancelled due to bad weather in Skardu, we were of course disappointed by this delay however little did we know at the time the amount of devastation this weather had caused in the Baltistan region of Pakistan.

Baltistan has suffered from floods and landslides in the past however according to Felix Baltistan Foundation this is the first time has turned into a severe catastrophic situation. Monsoon rains do not usually affect this area in northern Pakistan, this is because of the rain shadow effect of the Himalaya range making a natural barrier to the rain clouds coming from the south and east. However on morning of August 7th heavy monsoon arrived to Baltistan resulting in widespread damage caused by landslides and flooding. In the villages of Talis and Qumran sadly fifty one people were killed and throughout the region many animals were killed, trees fallen and crops lost.

The Felix Baltistan Foundation is a non govermental organisation ("NGO") set up by a group of Basque mountaineers in memory of Felix Iñurrategi who died in 2000 while climbing on Gasherbrum II. The Foundation's aim is to help villages in the Hushe valley by improving their living conditions with projects directed towards the basic aspects of life such as education, agriculture and infrastructure.

Shortly after the floods on August 7th several members of Felix Baltistan Foundation provided emergency relief to people of Talis village. They gave out hot meals to families that had been left homeless and in coordination with local authorities and the Red Cross tents were distributed to affected families.

Going forward the Foundation’s objective is to continue their support by helping the villagers face the upcoming winter. The three basic areas in which they will be working on are: food support for next six months; recovery of agricultural lands; and reconstruction of their houses to help protect people against the elements (temperatures can drop to -20 Celsius during the winter).

Roland Hunter
www.themountaincompany.co.uk

The Mountain Company