The yaks go home

Yes, the yaks decided that something called them home, so in the middle of the night they just went home. When we awoke this morning it was eerily quiet. No clanging of bells which had serenaded us during the night, nor anyone “talking the yak talk” like the herders can do, was to be heard. Manoj just shrugged and said. “Well, they’ve gone after them. It happens all the time. They just wander.” With the nomadic style of life that the Tibetans have, the animals as well as the humans know their way to grazing areas and back home and heed the call when the urge comes to go home. It’s just their life.
Renting yaks is a source of income for many of the people in the area. There is some kind of tribal boss/council which passes the perk around on a rotating basis. There are fewer groups in this area than any other because this is the most remote of the trekking routes. Not a lot of traffic therefore limited sources of income. We have three yak pas. I’m not sure if they’re all members of one family and have the family animals or if they are three individuals with three or four animals a piece. But they have their own home-made shelter: a long plastic tarp, which looks like it’s some oversized feed bag, is stretched over a pole to form the inverted “V” shape of a tent. It isn’t closed on the ends, and so the wind can really whistle through it. The herders sort of hunker down, pile saddles up to provide a little wind break, and build a small fire to ward off the worst of the night air. They just sleep in their clothes, and I assume that these will be their wear constantly for the trek. It’s hard times for people in the mountain, cleanliness and hygiene are not top priorities.
They don‚t seem dirty, they just don’t look clean. They just look like people who have a hard life.
Trekking Day 2
The trek itself continues to be a difficult one, one that stretches the limits of everyone. The air is thin and hard to find, especially when the climb keeps going up and up and up, and the temperature keeps changing and what you have just donned or taken off, now has to be reversed.
We started this morning from Dhampu at 14,550 and climbed here to tonight’s campsite at 15,750.So we climbed over a thousand feet in just three hours. I was crushed when Manoj said that we had only traveled a couple of miles. It certainly seemed much further than that. We left Dhampu at 9:30 and arrived here at camp at 11:30 so it was a short but exhausting climb.
Not only was the climb steep, but it was difficult. We scrambled over rocks, then we clambered over rocks - the whole way. You have to walk with your head down to see where the next steps are going, and suddenly you look up and there was Makalu the world's 6th highest peak coming into view as the clouds parted momentarily.
As we scrambled over the rocks, we could hear the water rushing below us, unseen, but working its inevitable way to the river crashing down the mountain. In some areas there was soil in between the rocks which made it look like solid ground, a fact only belied by the sound of the unseen but ever present rush of water.
We’ve been lucky so far, Just like yesterday, we got here to camp just in time to set up the tents before the snow started pelting down. The wind drives the crystals almost horizontal and pelting is definitely a descriptive adjective.
On a trek like this, everything seems like an ordeal and even simple things take extra effort. Just washing ourselves with the pan of water they bring us, washing a pair of socks and tee-shirt, or getting out of the sleeping bag to dress oneself in the morning requires more energy than we’ve ever thought of giving it before. I guess that I’m overstating it here. It’s just that there are so many things which we do in life that we never give any thought to, and here you are just so much more aware of even the simple tasks, because with the air so thin, your body is continually asking you: “What are you doing?”
I slept most of the afternoon after arriving in camp. This chest cold makes it very difficult for me. Each hack drains me of energy and I fight to get back into my breathing rhythm and continue upward as we walk. I kept drifting in and out of sleep while Carol read. She said that she understood what Tony had said the other day about lying there in the bag toasty warm, except for the hands which were too cold to turn the page of the book.
I made the statement this morning that no matter what, I was going to wash my hair tonight upon arrival, but Manoj said that would be very dangerous. The greatest danger comes from getting cold and not being able to reverse the inevitable cycle that leads to death. Tony says that he’s going to follow Manoj’s dictum: “to wash is to die,” and just not worry about it. We all feel like grunges, but there’s nothing that can be done about that. We’re already talking about getting back to Katmandu and clean clothes and hot showers and that’s two weeks away.
Tomorrow will be an even earlier start as we leave at 8:00 as we have to clear the pass at 17,000 feet before the weather has a chance to make things even more difficult. After climbing, we then descend down to about 12,000 and a meadow where we camp. The relief from the high elevation will be a treat, but the joy will be tempered by the fact that we will have to re-climb to an even higher 17,500 before we’re done.
You don’t, obviously go around these mountains, so you have to go over them, ridge by ridge by ridge. The general rule seems to be: don’t stress about the climbing because relief will come soon as you descend, and don’t be too happy about descending, because you are going to have go back up immediately thereafter.
Flat places are a rarity. Manoj has what he calls: “The Nepali Flats.” This simply means that you are not going straight up or down, but rather like traveling through some rolling areas where the climbs and descents are shorter and more moderate. But flat they are not. His other favorite phrase is: “A few more five minutes.” This means that we’re getting close, but we don’t know how close. So far that has meant anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes before arriving at a specified place.
Last night’s sleeping still didn’t work. I’m at plan “C” for experimentation. Carol slept okay, so she is continuing with her plan “A.” Everybody goes to bed early. Partly out of exhaustion, partly out of boredom (there’s no comfortable or warm place to sit and talk and after dark, there’s nothing to see) partly as a refuge from the cold. I brought a star chart with me, thinking that it would be really cool to look at the stars on a clear Himalayan night. Well, a clear Himalayan night means a cold Himalayan night and since everything takes so much effort, once in the sleeping bag the mind just seems to say: “Is it really worth the effort?” and the body answers, “er-.NO,” and so we’ve stayed in our sleeping bags and talked about the day we experienced.
As always, Carol is my best traveling partner. I get to see things through her eyes, and she is so perceptive, that she sees tons of things that I miss as I plod along. We are pretty much on the same physical level and so there is the added support that you are not alone as you struggle. Then, too, she’s just good company and we find lots to laugh at and enjoy together.
Tony and Dave share a tent, while Kathleen has her own, a real plus. We give her a bad time about being able to spread out in the tent while we all struggle with space and stumble over each other. Tony and Dave get along fabulously and are so funny together. Tony, the Brit, and Dave the Aussie, just have the type of contrasting personalities which somehow mesh, and they keep us laughing all the time. When we’re waking up in the morning and trying to steel ourselves to getting out of the bag, we hear the laughter coming from their tent as they find something humorous about life or their situation at the moment about which they can laugh. It makes it easier for us to get moving and face the day.
I’ve solved the nightly get up five times to pee problem. We brought wide mouthed water bottles to carry our daily supply of water. All our water has to be boiled and each night they bring us hot water for our next day’s supply. The bottles make good bag warmers and warm the tootsies as we crawl in for the night. Well, I decided that we could work around the water supply with a little organization, but that I needed some relief from having to get up, get dressed, go outside, come back to the tent, get undressed, get back into the bag, try to get warm again and then go back to sleep. The whole process was taking about 15 minutes from the time I decided that the stress of not peeing was worse than the stress of having to go through the whole ordeal.
We all laugh about possible mix-ups in bottles, but Carol’s is a different color from mine, good planning; and my stress level is definitely down. Now I don‚t worry about how much I should drink before retiring. Manoj keeps harping about dehydration, and before deciding to use my water bottle, I could only think, “Well, yeah, but you don‚t have to get up five times during the night.” Last night, Dave actually drank a gallon of water after dinner. I wouldn’t have slept at all if I had done that.
So we are continually adjusting our lives and methods to cope with the new surroundings and new rules. Nothing is routine, everything is new. We feel so much more aware of things that were just automatic responses prior to being here. Amazing how so much of our existence is just done without thinking about it. Here at this elevation your mind just focuses on what you are doing at the moment. Concentration on even the smallest detail of daily life makes us feel so much more alive and in tune with our bodies and minds.
I go to sleep at night wondering what tomorrow will bring. The trepidation we felt at the outset of trekking has been replaced with the realization that we can, in fact, do this. It’s hard, but doable.
When Manoj asks me how I’m doing, I always say “I‚m Okay.” Then I sing him a little Dr. Hook:
“Life ain’t easy. They never said it would be.”
“Life ain’t easy. They never said it should be.”
“Life ain’t easy. And nothing comes free.”
We all laugh and keep plodding along.
Stay safe,
Carol and Jim