The horses arrived

Yesterday (18 Jan) was officially the last day of my quarantine and the folks from the medical department had promised to come test me early morning so the result would be available in the evening. However, it turned out that all members of the ‘testing squads’ were found positive themselves the day before. As a consequence, there was no personnel to go around taking samples. Finally, yesterday evening, two ladies showed up to take a sample. However, the test result was not reported today despite the promise that it would be delivered within 24 hours. It seems they are totally disorganized and it is extremely frustrating that after being 8 full days in quarantine in Leh there is still no result.   

Nevertheless, we plan to leave tomorrow but with an adapted itinerary. In the original plan, we would drive only to Chilling and trek from there, along Markha river, to Skiu. Since this trek is mostly at the same altitude as Leh (and I think I’ve acclimatised already to this altitude with my illegal hikes), we will now drive up all the way, via Kaya and Skiu village, to Thinlaspa, close to Markha (~ 3750 m) and camp there overnight. From there we will hike the next day via Hankar to Thochuntse (~ 4300 m), camp there overnight and subsequently follow the original itinerary to Kang Yatse base camp. This way we will gain one or two days of time compared to the original plan which should give us sufficient time despite all the time lost due to the quarantine. In addition, we plan to make only one camp at ~ 5550 m instead of the two originally planned camps at 5400 and 5750 m.

This afternoon, we met for the first time with the complete team at the Padma Ladakh hotel: Nantak, our cook, Jigmat, the kitchen help, and Tsewang and Mingma (who is released from quarantine today). Tsewang and Mingma will climb with me. In fact, Tsewang replaces Rigzin who had a dislocated shoulder a while ago and cannot join, but takes care of all the organization. We discussed the best route and approach, the shopping  needs etc. In addition, Rigzin informed us that the horsemen are ready with 5 horses to take our equipment from Markha to base camp.

The team: – from left to right: Nantak, Jigmat, Mingma, me, Tsewang and Rigzin.

This evening we had the big celebration for the team that climbed UT Kangri. It was a very nice evening with lots of speeches, drinks and food, and  – of course – many, many pictures taken. The UT Kangri team will leave tomorrow before we (hopefully) will finally take off.

Still quarantined

Last Saturday, Rigzin and I went to see the Chief Medical Officer downtown to plea to release me from quarantine as the medical officier at the airport had suggested to Rigzin, based on the fact that I have been vaccinated three time, tested negative three times in the last week and, ultimately, that the mountains are the best quarantine you can wish for: nobody but our party intends to climb Kang Yatse 1. Unlike the medic at the airport, the chief medic downtown was of the military type and didn’t even want to talk to us. So basically, I’m stuck until the 19th. Rigzin was totally depressed, if only because he had already made efforts to get other climbers to join now that Romil and Mingma are in quarantine (as they both tested positive upon arrival in Leh). We talked for a long time and at the end we concluded that it was perhaps not so bad after all since if we only start on the 19th both Mingma and Romil will be released on the 19th from their quarantine and will be able to join us.

In the mean time, I try to make a little illegal acclimatisation hike every day. According to Rigzin that is OK as long as I take my negative test certificate and my proofs of vaccination along and stay away from other people. The latter is very easy since in winter (it’s ~minus 17 during daytime and ~minus 25 at nigh) Leh is pretty much deserted and I haven’t seen any other foreigner.

Leh Palace

I’ve hiked up to the Leh Palace and the castke at Tsemo twice. Last Saturday I have just climbed up finding my own path, but later I saw on google maps that there is not only an offical trail but also sacred stairs at the other site. So Sunday I climbed up the 200 m sacred stair-case and descended via the trail (which was way easier than the track I had used the first time).

The castle at Tsemo seen from Leh Palace
Stairs to Tsemo Goenkhang

From the top of the mountain, just next to Tsemo Goenkhang you have a very nice view over Leh.

View over Leh from Tsemo Goenkahng (~3700 m)

Today I’ve hiked up to Gangles Gonpa, about 8 km north of Leh, and the nearby Stupa at 3920 m.

Gangles Gonpa
Stupa at 3920 m near Gangles Gonpa
View on the mountain when hiking back to Leh.

Good and bad news

This morning, we finally got our certificates that we tested negative for corona upon arrival in Leh. This means that Bharath with the majority of the group (there are still 3 Indians waiting for their report as they arrived a day later) took off this morning to Chilling to start their Kangri trekking.

Although it was planned that I would join them until Skiu, I cannot leave since I am officially in quarantine and closely watched by the Ministry of Health. If they really insist on my quarantine until the 18th, it won’t be possible to climb Kang Yatse 1 unless I delay my flight back. The alternative option, according to Rigzin, is to climb Kang Yatse 2, but that is way less challenging and exciting…

Rigzin told me, however, that since I got a printed negative test result, I could go out as long as I wore a mask. So this afternoon I climb up to the Shanti Stupa north of Leh and subsequently walked through downtown Leh and the Old City. This was really good as I felt like a caged animal the last few days…

Shanti stupa )3609 m) in the snow
View over Leh
Downtown Leh alley
Leh Palace, seen from Old Town Leh

When I came back, Rigzin called me as he wanted to talk. I went to see him and he told me that he had spoken with the chief medical officer. Basically, the medical officer understands that I am vaccinated three times, tested negative three times over the past 6 days and that I go straight up into the mountains and that therefore the risk of me contaminating anybody would be negligible. He proposed that I would write a letter explaining all this (so that he can cover his ass if questioned) and give it to him with copies of my vaccination certificates and test certificates in a private converstaion tomorrow and that he then would release me from quarantine. So that is very good news, because then we can leave tomorrow or day after. Unfortunately, Rigzin had also bad news: Mingma tested positive and cannot join since he is now quarantined. Rigzin knows some other climbers that could replace him and is chasing them down. However, it is uncertain whether they would be available straight away…

Quarantine

Last Sunday I flew to New Delhi, where we landed on time. I was one of the first to get to the testing booth to get a rapid PCR test done. After swabbing my nose, I received a form with a barcode and was expected to wait for the result. However, the free internet on the airport didn’t work and after trying for about half an hour I went to see someone from the testing outfit to ask for help. “Oh, you need a coupon for the internet” the lady in the kiosk said, and handed me a coupon… The internet then worked, but I still couldn’t access my data… So, I went back to the lady at the kiosk after about another half hour. “Your results must be there already”, she said: “should I print a copy for you ?”

With this copy, I proceeded to the baggage/exit side of the airport, and was stopped 4 times on the way there to show my certificate, my boarding pass etc. Finally, after immigration, where they copied my e-visa in my passport, I got a taxi that took met to the hotel were I arrived around 2:30 h.

I stayed there for two days and the staff was extremely nice but kept a very close watch on me. At breakfast, I was almost the only guest and they put me in the middle of the restaurant with 8 guys watching me closely whether I would need something. As soon as I had finsihed my coffee there would appear a new cup etc.

I was called the next day by the Ministry of Health whether I was OK and kept my quarantine… I strolled a bit around the hotel though and luckily the gym was open. Bharath came back from Kathmandu and would stay with me on the 11th, so we could travel together to Leh the next morning. He finally arrived around 21 h and we had dinner in the restaurant. We got tiramisu on the house as desert and a picture with the guys who had been looking after me during the past days.

The staff of the DoubleTree by Hilton Gurugram

Bharath and I got up at 3:15 h the next morning, got a taxi to the airport and had a seemless flight to Leh, where we landed at 6:50.

Flight to Leh

At the arrivals, I immediately lost Bharath in the crowd. I got all our luggage, and in the meantime, was constantly harrassed by officials (since I was obviously the only non-Indian on the flight) to fill out forms. I have filled out various forms with almost identical information, most of which was probably not extremely helpful in evaluating my health status (e.g. I had to provide my father’s given names…). Anyway, Bharath showed up with tickets for the testing. He had sprinted from the plane to avoid the line to get one. In the mean time Satya showed up (who was on the same flight and is joining Bharath and me on Kangchenjunga in April). We got tested and could leave the airport. Outside Rigzin was waiting for us and we were in the Padma Ladakh hotel in 15 minutes.

The hotel is good, Bharath and I share a room and slowly Indian from all over the country flock in. They will climb Kangri with Bharath while I will climb Kang Yatse 1 with Rigzin.

Bharath gets a call in the evening of the 12th that my test was negative. It’s not official, but Rigzin knows someone who knows the chief medical officier in the hospital and apparently I have been tested with priority. They are definitely after me since two officials from the ministry invade the hotel looking for me and officially quarantine me for 7 days.

Apparently I am a disaster that need to be controlled and proud to be quarantined !

The next day, we hang around in the hotel since we cannot go without the official certificates that we have been tested negative. Luckily there is internet and we can still go outside on the balcony where one of the girls made a snowman that, as she told me, represents a stupa. The view is magnificent…

Snowman representing a stupa
The mountain is calling…
Nice illustration of the Indian way to control the covid pandemic

Kang Yatse 1 (KY1)

In January 2022, I hope to climb Kang Yatse 1 (KY1) a mountain of 6401 m in Ladakh, in the Indian Himalaya Range. The idea to climb KY1 comes from Bharath Thammineni. Bharath and I first met in Everest Base Camp and we both hope to finally climb Kangchenjunga in April/May this year after it was postponed a couple of times due to the covid pandemic.

Bharath and I at the puja in Everest Base Camp in Tibet in 2015

Bharath owns a trekking and mountaineering company “Boots and Crampons” that specialises in this type of climbs.

Kang Yatse 1 is considered a rather difficult to climb mountain with a ranking AD+/D- in summer. As far as I know, it has never been climbed in winter. So we hope to set a new record for KY1. Bharath will lead a small group of climbers from Leh to climb UT Kangri, I will join him and his group with Rigzin, a local guide who has climbed KY1 before, and Mingma. Mingma has a lot of experience in fixing ropes during the winter as he was part of the team that climbed Anapurna in winter last year. Rizgin, Mingma and myself will separate from Bharath’s group in Skyu and continue to KY base camp (see itinerary). A picture of the approach via the north-east rib to the summit of KY1 can be found here.

Rigzin in action
Rigzin
Mingma Sherpa
Mingma Sherpa
Mingma Sherpa

Back to Kathmandu and home…

The day after our successful summit climb we had late breakfast. Pemba had already told me that he wanted to get down to Samagaon if possible and Mingma indeed told us during breakfast that after lunch we would descend. Actually, already a bunch of porters had come up from Samagaon once they heard that the first climbers had summitted.
After lunch, before we went down, there was a special celebration for one of our sherpa’s. He is from Samagaon and was the first sherpa ever from Samagaon to summit Manaslu (and without oxygen).

Celebration for first Samagaonese summitting Manaslu.

When Pemba and I went down via a very steep path, that usually is used only by the local population, there were people waiting at several places to hail the first summitting Samagaonese ever.

Down to Samagoan

In the town itself there was a very festive atmosphere. In our hotel, the achievement of the first summitting Samagaonese was once again celebrated with cake and locally-brewed alcohol.
When the festivities were over, we had dinner and went to sleep as the next morning we would need to get up at dawn to get a helicopter flight to Araghut.
The helicopter could only take 4 persons (and a lot of luggage: actually we were sitting on bags with bags on our laps) and took us in less than an hour to Araghut. There we waited for another one and a half hour to get a second helicopter flight to Thribuvan (the airport of Kathmandu).

Helicopter at Samagaon
My luggage loaded into the helicopter

At the airport Wongmu was waiting for me with flowers. As my luggage would only arrive with a later flight, Wongmu dropped me of at the Shanker hotel.

Wongmu welcoming me with flowers at Thribuvan

I spend most of the rest of the day changing my flights: I could fly to Dubai October 2nd, with an onward flight on Sunday to Schiphol.
The remaining time in Kathmandu was spend at the hotel pool, buying presents, and eating as I’ve -again- lost quite a bit of weight and barely weigh 64 kg. Last Friday evening, Mingma organised a joint dinner for all the climbers that were still in Kathmandu which was a nice closure of the expedition.

Summit !

At the summit of Manaslu (8163 m)

On September 27th, Pemba and I got up at 2 AM. Pemba cooked some porridge and then we left Camp 4 for the summit attempt. David, Hari with his sherpa, and Mingma’s team left at the same time. Despite the fact that it had been full moon only a week ago, it was quite dark as the moon was hidden behind the clouds. Although very cold, there was hardly any wind, which is optimal for climbing at this altitude. We steadily progressed as the actual climb from Camp 4 to the summit is technically not difficult at all, apart from the very last stretch since the summit is actually the top of a steep, narrow snowy ridge, where Mingma would fix the rope. Pemba kept a decent speed and overtook several other climbers, although I thought every now and then that a slow speed wasn’t too bad to keep breathing decently.

Sunrise at Manaslu

Last slopes up to the summit.

Around 6 the sun rose which made the climbing easier, we progressed steadily, and a couple of hours later we reached the summit with glorious weather. Actually, the top ridge is soo small (and pretty steep, so I was really glad with the fixed rope) that it allows only 2 or 3 climbers at the same time. There were a few climbers before us, so Pemba and I had to wait a bit before we could climb the final stretch and reached the 8163 m of the summit.

With Pemba on the top of Manaslu.

After summitting we swiftly went down to Camp 4. Pemba suggested to go all the way back to Manaslu Base Camp. After a short rest and some eating, the tent and our sleeping bags, mattresses etc. were packed up and we went down around noon. Although steep, the stretch to Camp 3 was pretty straightforward. We packed up Camp 3 as well (Pemba carrying a lot of stuff !) and we went on to Camp 2, that was also packed up. The subsequent stretch to Camp 1 was quite spectecular since a lot of the steep parts had melted away and had become even steeper. Luckily we didn’t have to climb them up but could rappel most of them.

Rappelling to Camp 1

By the time we finally reached Camp 1, it was already quite late. Nevertheless we packed the stuff and Pemba had an absolute fabulous amount of material on his back. Apart from the fact that we were getting tired, this huge load made us descend rather slowly. The sun set and it became darker and darker, it was getting foggy and subsequently it strarted snowing. It took us forever to get down from the glacier to Crampon Point. At the time we reached Crampon Point, we were very cold and had to find our way through the morene in the dark. Finally, shortly after 8 PM,we finally reached base camp, totally exhausted. The camp staff brought hot drinks and cooked some food and around 9 h I went to sleep.

Death zone

We’ve just arrived in C4 at 7475 m, officially death zone and I feel more dead than alive. We climbed 1250 m up and descended 530 m to get here and some very steep stretches. Technically not difficult at all, but some very long. Also a couple of really sneaky steep ice stretches at the end of the snow walls which take your final breath. Hardly ever been gasping so much. Luckily Pemba has given up the idea to skip C4. It would be absolutely idiot to continue, if only for the fierce winds There are probably good reasons for selecting the spot of C4, but it is an extremely windy spot. The wind was a very serious factor in any case today. At many stretches it blew the tracks away instantaneously making it a lot more difficult to get up in knee-deep snow. Slowly other teams are flocking in, glad we have pulled up our small tent so fast as it shields from the wind. Pemba already makes me coffee. Considering sleeping with my down-suit on tonight as it is freaking cold. My water bottle was frozen in my backpack… We plan to start our summit push around 1 or 2 h, depending on the conditions. There is quite a bit of moon light (full moon a week ago) so hopefully not to many clouds.

Trek to C4 [note the waypoint that suddenly jumps near the summit is likely a GPS error – LAB]

Camp 3

This morning we climbed from C2 to C3. It’s not very far (just over a km) but the last part is very steep. Not technically demanding at all but just exhausting because of the altitude which is beginning to be the all overriding factor. Luckily, I have no single sign of high-altitude disease (like many others in the camp). Since carrying our camping stuff (tent, sleeping bags, food, fuel, mattresses etc) up is quite demanding, Pemba has the audacious idea to skip C4 completely and climb to the summit from C3. That is 1450 vertical meters at high altitude but with minimal luggage.