Up to the Pass

by Orsolya Harrach (Hungary)

A leap into the unknown Nepal

Five thirty in the morning, but outside is still dense darkness. The place is calm, all the groups with their guides and Sherpas have already gone. We are facing the most difficult day of our Annapurna circuit in Nepal, but as our headlamps turn to be dead, we decided the get on the road just before sunrise. Putting on our clothes does not need a big effort. Most of our things we already wore during the night, laying in our sleeping bags in a little stone cottage at 4450 m. We eat a few biscuits and fava beans, which turned out to be not only tasty but nutritional as well. To drink we still have to wait for a while, the water is frozen into the plastic bottle, we can get only a few drops out of it. Sleeping bags and the rest of our stuff into the backpack, and we are ready to go. Nobody is waving us goodbye when we start to climb the mountain. This is the 13th day of our hike. We began at 820 m at Besisahar, and plan to end at Naya Pul, 1070 m. Between the two points the trail goes through the Thorung La pass, at 5416 m. This is the hardest part of our adventure. We have to climb 1000 m upwards, and then descend 1500 m at the other side of the mountain before the next habitation in one day. By topography the mountains are not dangerous here. Wide spread hill-sides, not too narrow pathways and fixed bridges on the small creeks. No trees, no bushes, no grass – only stone chips everywhere, like we would be in a giant quarry. Everything is grey, except some snowy peaks showing up far away. The road is going continuously upwards – so do we. In the backpack is everything we need for a 25 day trip, including water and food. Twice a 15 kg backpack (+ their own bag) is the standard for the Sherpas. We brought on average “only” 12-13 kg, but felt like Sherpas as well! Altitude sickness has nothing to do with age, with gender, with condition – it is more or less a question of luck. Some people get it, other don’t. I was lucky, and finding my rhythm also helped me to combat the road. Move always half the speed you really would – using this little secret I could go slowly but continuously. But it was difficult to see my friend sitting down after a few steps, then going further for a while, then taking another rest. She did not feel well, but refused to go back. The whole trip was her idea, she wanted to do it, and decided not to give up. Who knows where is this little line between heroism and witlessness? Many of the hikers hire a horse with a guide for this part of the trip. They mostly use the animals only uphill, till the pass, so late in the morning we begin to meet these guides, already coming back down to the base camp. We were still going up, hoping that behind the pass in front of us we will sight already that town on the other side. But the mountains are very deceptive here, behind the pass appeared always only another pass. But when the on-coming guides no longer asked whether we want to hire a horse, we suspected we are already close to the top. And finally – in 7 hours instead of 5 – we arrived at the pass. We were quite at the end of our energy, sick, behind our schedule. I picked up the piece of stone I had promised myself and took the obligatory photos next to the greeting sign. Yes, we really deserved that “Congratulations on your success!” And 5 hours later, already in the dark again, we arrived at a little guesthouse. There was no warm meal, but there was roof above our head, and bed to sleep in – what else could we ask for after such a day? Orsi. H