The Trek to 4030 mtrs - Day 1 (21st March 2010)

The Helambu trek is a 7 day trek which gave an insight into the Nepalese culture and a taste of life without the traffic, the pollution and technology. Each night we slept in tea house and experienced the culture of the families we stayed with. Over the period of 7 days, the ascent was 4,700 mtrs, the descent was 5,510 metres with the highest point reached; 4,030 mtrs. It is very uncommon to have such a large group of trekkers so we did draw attention.

Day 1
Excitement, anticipation and nerves filled us (well me anyway) as we headed from Bhaktapur (A beautifully restored medieval town in the Kathmandu valley) to start the trek at Sundrajial. The general feeling expressed "Did I do enough training", Don't worry I will be the slow one", "I hope I have packed enough", "is my pack to heavy?" The evening before, we had to reduce our packs to between 8-10 kgs. My pack at the airport check in counter was 18.5 kgs. How was I going to cull 10 kgs? I did my best but am sure it was way over still! We arrived at the Sundrajial after about a 50 minute bus ride. We meet our porters, who are amazing - the amount they could carry blew my mind!. They strapped together two packs plus food for the trek. They were carrying up to 25 kgs. I am really in awe of them.
We started our stretches then straight into it. The trek for today was a 1,150 mtr ascent and then a decent of 150 mtrs. All I could see before me was the thousands of stone steps. Okay, I have been training, I know I can do this. This is going to be okay. Oh God, please help me. Yes, even before my first step! Okay, the first goal is to the water fall. At 10 am we started to climb, steep concrete and stone steps beside villages and a pipeline that brings the drinking water down into Kathmandu. We prayed and then took a group photo. We continued the ascent, the heat beating down, and I could hardly breath. I couldn't get enough oxygen. We had only just started (about an hour 30 mins into the trek) and I thought, God why me? Can I really do this? We finally reached our lunch time destination (fried bread, dhal and good old cola)to my huge relief. I took my day pack off and realised the reason I was struggling to breath was due to the straps that went across my chest were too tight and hence the difficulty to breath. That was another huge relief! The quote that Ashok, our Nepal guide kept quoting throughout the trip was, it is not altitude that matters but attitude. We were encouraged at lunch that if we can make it this far, then we can make it the rest of the days. Yes, that was how steep it was and certainly encourage those of us who were really struggling! We continued to climb(if I had realised that most of the journey were steps, I would have trained differently)pass beautiful litte villages (at that time I didn't notice much as I was

concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other)and sprawling up the ridge to 1800 mtrs (400 mtrs above Sundrajial). We entered a forest of pine with oak and stunning rhododendrons(what a relief to be finally out of the sun) that continued to climb to Borlong Bhanjyang (meaning 'pass') at 2,440 mtrs before dropping down to Chisapani. We arrived at 5 pm. Chisapani was meant to have superb views over the distant Himalayas and farm lands below however the views were very hazy. The haze is because the last two monsoons have failed and secondly, India is burning off their crops to prepare for the next monsoon season. Please pray that the rains will come Nepal this season! The rain is needed as it has become so dry. We finally arrived at our accommodation. The choice: shared room with lights but a common bathroom or a brand new shared room (just opened the week before) with beautiful bright pink interior walls and leopard bedspread, no lights (wires sticking out everywhere), gaps in our window frames, but an ensuite bathroom with luke warm water. We had a first taste of Mustang coffee; coffee with local wine and yak butter. It was interesting to say the least. I was shattered! It was an extremely hard day. The shock has set in but also the knowledge that I can do this. It was a matter of putting one foot in front of the other. Remember, it is not the altitude that counts, but the attitude. I was in bed fast asleep by 9 pm that night.