Kathmandu, Lukla, and Namche

Well, after our time warp in Pokhara we have had some interesting experiences. We took the flight out of Pokhara instead of risking another 11 hour van ride over a bridge that was deteriorating rapidly and only had one lane open. We left our hotel and arrived at our hotel in Kathmandu in 2 hours door-to-door. We had amazing view of the Himalayan Spine that spans Nepal's northern border. Upon arrival in Kathmandu we got our rooftop rooms and waited for the arrival of our cousin-in-law who had a delay from the typhoon that wreaked havoc on Southeast Asia. We greeted him with a beer on the rooftop and then said goodnight. The next few days consisted of arranging for our climbing permits, park-entry permits, and a few other documents that we needed for entry into Sagarmatha National Park. We also visited the Monkey Temple and the town square in Kathmandu. We had some amazing meals from all over the globe and ate plenty in preparation for our daily Dal Bhat dosage in the mountains. We said goodbye to many of our friends that we had met on the Annapurna Circuit who were heading out on their own respective adventures. The last day in Kathmandu consisted of buying essentials for the mountains as well as getting a bit nervous for our upcoming flight into Lukla.
We awoke at 4:00 a.m. and headed to the airport where we would fly out of Kathmandu on a 40 minute ride over the massive foothills of the Himalayas. The other means of getting to Lukla would be by a 10 hour bus ride and then a 6-day trek that would include over 30,000 feet of total ascent. After, dealing with normal Nepali bureaucracy, we finally got on the plane after pay a substantial fee for reasons not entirely understood. The flight was amazing and terrifying at the same time. We flew over the lush jungle, foothills, and had spectacular views of the Himalayas and even Mount Everest. We were quite scared when we skirted mountain ridges by a mere 100 meters. While passing over these ridges the wind shear was frightening with a great deal of turbulence and moments of immense fear. Then, after what seemed to be a reasonably short flight we started lowering closer and closer to the ridge and bounced down onto the landing strip. Everyone let out an exuberant cheer knowing that we had completed the most dangerous part of the 30 day trek.
We then got our gear and had brunch at Lukla where we made arrangements for our Porters. After the business was taken care of we began our 30-day trek descending into an immense river valley where we spent the evening at Phakding(8,600 feet). The next day we had our ritual french press and got on with the trekking. We hiked up the river valley until we reached a confluence of river that used to be the border of old Tibet. Here we crossed a bridge that rested above the rivers approximately 130 meters. After the bridge we climbed straight up a huge ridge that ended in the town on Namche(11,300 feet), gateway to Mt Everest. We all felt the altitude a great deal and had a difficult time hiking up and down the steep staircases of Namche. Namche is an enigma in its own right with outdoor gear stores, handcraft shopping, coffee shops, bakeries, and other stores to lure in the wayward tourist. Namche, the expedition center for moutaineering, rests in a U-shaped ridge that staircases up a steep ridge. We had a nice bit of food and went to bed a bit winded and weary due to the altitude.
The next day we awoke and hiked up the ridge where Namche rests hoping for a view of Everest at the top. Our hopes were rewarded and when we reached the top of the ridge we saw Mt. Everest protruding just above Lhotse Ridge. We also had great view of many of the other famous Himalayan peaks including Cholaste and Ama Dablam. We stared at Everest for a great while and took pictures and video for family back home and memories in the future. After our viewing we went down to a tea house where we had coffee, tea, and steaks while taking in the view of Mount Everest. Tomorrow we head up to Thame where we will acclimate and climb to over 15,000 feet on our "rest day". After that, onto Gokyo, Cho La Pass, and many more Everest views. We hope to post more stories as we travel through the Himalayas, but putting up pictures seems to take a great deal of time and probably won't occur until our descent. Namaste!

"I wanna buy a goat....a big goat."

Well, after crossing Thorung La Pass we noticed hundred of thousands of goats heading down the valley towards Pokhara. We found out that all of the goats were on their way to Pokhara where they would rest along the hillsides and be purchased by the Hindu population for the yearly festival of Dashain. The brothers went out to Club Amsterdam in Pokhara and got into a conversation with our favorite bartender, Bikosh. He explained that many families could not afford to buy a goat for the celebration. Bogue decided that he wanted to buy "the biggest goat in the valley", and give it to a family in need. Bikosh thought it was a fantastic idea and had a particular family in serious need of some good fortune and that giving the goat would mean a great deal for the family. After a long evening Bogue awoke and met Bikosh and went out in the countryside to negotiate for a goat. Apparently, Bogues background in animal husbandry paid off and he was picking the goats up for weight and patting their bodies to determine health and quality of meat. After many different stops and negotiating they came upon a very healthy goat and ended up settling on 6,000 Rs(83$). The grabbed the goat by the horns and put him in the backseat of the taxi and drove off to the family's home. The family lived in an impoverished area of Pokhara with many people living in a small shack. Bogue gave the goat to the family and had a moment with the family and then said goodbye. In the short term the goat will provide them with a great deal of food, but it also raised their morale and gave them happiness with their family during their important festival.

Living The Dream In Pokhara

Well, what can I say. Pokhara is one of the most amazing cities I have ever experienced. Pokhara sits around 3,000 feet in a lush valley just below the mighty Himalayan Mountain Range. Massive foothills surround the city with an amazing view of Annapurna, Machapuchre, Dhauligiri, and Manasalu. It also rests on a beautiful Lake which adds to the relaxing ambiance of Pokhara, Nepal. Since our last post we have been resting here in this lovely city recharging our bodies for the next trek. All of the group members have united successfully at the Hotel Sakura, where again we have found a rooftop sanctuary. We have found many of the trekkers that we saw during the Annapurna Circuit that are now resting in Pokhara. This has provided a great opportunity for socializing and sharing experiences from the adventures of the trek. We have met so many amazing people and have been fortunate to share so many amazing experiences that we will never forget.
The first highlight of Pokhara was seeing "The Most Interesting Man in the Annapurnas" arrive after his trek in the Annapurna Sanctuary. Other highlights have been boat rides on the lake, fantastic food, renting Scooters, the International Mountain Museum, meeting amazing people, the hindu festival, Club Amsterdam, and evening drinks on the lake. We are having a blast here and often find ourselves thinking of family and friends back home and around the world that we wish could be here wish us. Cheers to all of those we love! Photos from Pokhara coming soon.

Tatopani, Poon Hill, and onto Pokhara

Our rest day in Tatopani was fantastic! We ventured in and out of the hot springs throughout the day and we also ate steak and eggs every meal. The meat tasted fantastic and our Nebraska Brethren would have been proud at our consumption. We did all of our laundry and began to feel clean and rested. The next day we were off to Poon Hill, what was a 6,000 foot climb from the Kali Gandaki River up to one of the most famous views of the Annapurna Range. We began our climb early in the morning and found little enjoyment sweating in the heat of the lowlands. Bogue had a festering toe that had become seriously infected and we stopped for lunch discussing possibilities. He decided he would go back to Tatopani in order to take care of his infection in case it deteriorated rapidly. We hiked for another hour and I looked back and saw Bogue hiking back up the hill behind Logan. He decided to carry on for one more day to see if it would heal. We spend the next night in a nice tea house with a view of the sixth highest mountain in the world, Dhauligiri. Bogue's foot was deteriorating and it was decided that he should head down to Pokhara where he could rest his foot and be close to a hospital for medical attention. We were now down to six members and we left for Ghorepani, base camp for Poon Hill. We climbed early in the morning under the stars again and we reached the top before sunrise. I checked my backpack for the camera and realized that I had left it at the tea house. I ran down as fast as I could and grabbed the camera and the Nebraska Cornhusker Flag and ran back up the summit. We enjoyed muffins, potatoes, coffee, and good company as took pictures and enjoyed the view. After we descended we went for breakfast and Logan and I decided that we would decend down to Hile and then to Pokhara via Naya Pul. This would provide us with more time in Pokhara between treks, which had been widdled away by the traffic jam and the Sherpa rescue. Father would push onto the Sanctuary and meet us in Pokhara in about 5 days. We had a good hug and said farewell. Nima and Father would head to Chomrong and Pasang, Min, Logan and I would head to Hile. The Sojourners had split once again and would reunite in Pokhara in a few days.

Frightening Drive to Tatopani(Nepali for Hot Water)

Well, after our celeration in Muktinath, we decided to rent a jeep and venture down the river valley to Jomsom. After crossing the pass the environment had changed to a very arid and windy landscape. We drove through the town that is the gateway to the Mustang region of Tibet and the people inhabiting the lands here were of Mongol origin. The drive was incredibly beautiful as we cruised down the valley listening to blaring Nepali and Indian music. We drove through the unrelenting winds blowing up the valley and arrived at Jomsom where we stayed at a nice guest house where we had fried chicken and other comforting foods comprising of protein. Jomsom is always windy and our sherpa guides were singing a famous song about the afternoon winds of Jomsom. The next morning we went futher down the valley in a private jeep and began driving back into the lush evergreen forests and then into subtropical forests. The morning ride was quite relaxing aside from crossing a landslide area that had fallen about an hour before our arrival. We then carried on to the steep section where we entered the tight river gorge of the Kali Gandaki River. The ride was so incredibley terrifying that there was nervous laughter, primal grunts and moans, and even a few tears shed. A huge problem was that we had about 500 lbs of gear on the roof and we were very top heavy. At one point our wheels came off the ground and we very nearly cascaded into the 1000 plus foot river gorge below. We were no longer laughing and we tried to lean our weight to the right to prevent the jeep from rolling off the road. With our bottom cheeks clenched we continued down for what seemed like an eternity and arrived at Tatopani where we would spend a rest day and warm our weary bones in the hot springs down by the river. Two days after we had passed through the gorge a jeep of 14 pilgrims ran off the road and crashed far below in the canyon...a very sad story indeed that verified our fears were not unfounded. Everything is a little dangerous in Nepal. After, our arrival at the guest house we vowed never again to take the road from Jomsom to Tatopani!

Thorung La Pass....Grind Session!

With our sherpa guide safely down the mountain, we pushed on up the valley to 14,700 feet at Thorung Phedi which would be our base camp and acclimatizing village before the pass of Thorung La which was 3,000 feet above. We were all nervous and ready to conquer the pass that had been in the back of our minds since the beginning of the trek. In total, we would climb over 15,300 feet from the valley floor through jungles, gorges, evergreen forests, and now high tundra. We awoke at 3:30 and had a sherpa breakfast of vegetable noodle soup and then egg and cheese omelets and and boiled potatoes to share. The first portion of the hike, from Thorung Pedi to High Camp was very steep. We hiked this with our headlamps under the stars, but towards the end the sun was starting to come up. After a short rest and some water at High Camp, we continued upward to the summit. This was one of the first days we hiked around a lot of people so that was quite different. The sunrise on all of the peaks was amazing. There were several sections where we went down, but most of the time it was up. As our guides say, "Steep and not as steep." We all pushed through the hike, taking few breaks, and just kept going. Once we reached the top, it was such a relief and celebration, all in one. Groups cheered each other on as everyone came over the top. We had digestive cookies, jerky (thanks to a new great friend), leftover boiled potatoes, a coveted Snickers bar and coffee. We spent some time on top resting and enjoying the view. A bit further up, there was another viewpoint where we took some great photos. Husker fans-the flag was displayed proudly at almost 18,000 ft while you all slept-GO BIG RED! The hike down was nearly as insane as the hike up, we descended about 5,400 ft. We were all extremely tired and got our rooms at the Bob Marley guest house in Muktinath, gateway to the Mustang region of Tibet. We ate some great food and celebrated our triumphant summit with local apple brandy and beer with fellow tourists. We will never forget our day up Thorung La!

Acute Mountain Sickness....Rescue

Well, the adventure continues here in Nepal. We have hiked up the same river valley for 10 days and took a rest day in Manang at 11,600 feet. We continued up the valley to a beautiful town Yak Kharka at 13,000 feet on our way to Thorung La Pass at 17,750 feet. We awoke and ate breakfast and noticed that our Sherpa guide and friend Ang Phurba over slept a little and wasn't acting himself. We assumed it was a hangover from the local wine(Raksi). We climbed 600 feet to the village of Letdar and asked Ang if he wanted water. He began shaking and appeared to be having a stroke and feel off a 7 foot embankment into a garden near the town. We were quite alarmed and ran down to get him to his feet. He was completely in delirium and forgot all of our names and didn't know where he was. We got him some soup and water and walked about a hundred meters and he was almost falling over. We decided it was imperative to get him down to the clinic in Manang and decrease elevation immediately. Paul and our porter Pasang went down with Ang and tried to keep him from falling off 1000 foot cliffs into the massive river valley below. Seth ran ahead to Thorang Phedi(7km) at 14,700 feet to inform Bogue that Ang was sick and we needed help getting Ang down safely. The brothers ran down from Thorang Phedi to Manang(15km) and picked up Logan, Nima, and Minh on the way who were waiting at Letdar. After a brutal descent with a full pack of about 22 kilos we arrived at Manang. Paul informed us that the doctors diagnosed our guide with Acute Mountain Sickness and could have easily died if he stayed at elevation any longer. They ran diagnostics on him and gave him diamox and other medications for stabilization. The doctors concurred that we made the correct decision and saved his life. Doctors orders were to have him rest for the night and then head back down the river valley to Beseshar and then to Kathmandu....his trek was over. It was one of the craziest and grueling days of our lives with our guide almost dieing and group members traversing over 23kilometers. In the end Ang had passed out 4 times, almost swallowed his tongue, and went into delirium on many occasions. Luckily, Ang is doing fine now and is back in Kathmandu running more tests at an altitude clinic there. Unfortunately, it put the trek back 2 days, but we are all healthy and safe and we our proceeding with caution up to Thorung La Pass. The Fellowship started with 8 members and is now down to 7......Hurry you fools!