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Published: April 15th 2018
Sama (3520m) acclimatisation day
Today we’re using one of the days we gained earlier in the trek for acclimatisation and a bit of r&r, such as that may be. Also with Arch still suffering from the dreaded stomach malady it is a chance for him to recuperated before we head ever higher
Got up to a gloriously clear morning, albeit well below 0degC, with the sun reflecting off Manaslu straight across from our tea house. This really is what we’ve walked nearly two weeks to see and be part of. The scenery is all so big it is both hard to describe and even phots don’t fully put into perspective.
Had breakfast a bit later (7.30) then sort of mucked around until about 9.00 when we left with day packs (actually the other guys had their usual packs just a bit lighter and I had a little day pack I bring for such occasions) to walk up towards the Manaslu Basecamp and Manaslu Glacier.
With no real deadline we took on a whole new level of disorganisation and after numerous trips back to get things we’d forgotten we finally got underway.
The walk initially followed the
route we’ll take tomorrow to Samdo but after about 45minutes we veered off towards the west and started a long hot climb up the side of a ridge.
We did pass a memorial for four Frenchmen and a Canadian who perished on Manaslu in 2014. Quite moving standing in the shadow of the mountain seeing this.
As an aside, a bit of information on Manaslu, it stands at 8163m and is the eighth highest peak in the world. The first successful summiting was in May 1956 by a Japanese party and it is the fourth most dangerous of the over 8000m peaks in the world, with a little over 300 successful summits and over 50 deaths.
Once we got to the ridge line we gained a view of Birendra Tal, which is a glacial lake feed from the Manaslu Glacier. Quite spectacular, an almost milky turquoise in colour with lumps of ice floating on the surface.
As we’re gaining altitude uphills are taking on a new level of challenge so by the time we reached about 400+m above Sama we were all feeling pretty weary so took a few photos and sat around for a while
to assist with the altitude acclimatisation. What is interesting is how much quicker we’re recovering when we stop, this being a really good indication of fitness and the gains we’ve made in the last two weeks.
From the height we were we looked directly across to the glacier and it really was dramatic. Large (something like 12m high) blocks of ice were cleaving from the face of the glacier ready to fall into the lake. Unfortunately we didn’t see one fall but I’d venture to say the resultant wave would be a fair challenger for the best Raglan can throw up. Surprisingly there were no Nepalese surfers paddling around waiting to catch it.
Followed the same route back without incident although interestingly it did feel like a lot further on the return even though we took significantly less time.
Late lunch, usual Momos for me and fried rice for Chris and Gordie. Arch still unwell and heads off to bed for a nana nap!
After lunch Gordie, McVet and I went for a wander around the original old part of the village. Interesting how little the influx of trekkers has changed life for the folk here.
Really basic living conditions, mud and animal shit everywhere and all in all a very tough existence.
One notable thing we saw was what looked like a wreckers yard of spare parts for mani walls. It was actually a square surrounded by a wall with prayer wheels in it, about 40m x 25m and the entire centre was filled with the carved tablets we see on mani walls to a depth of up to 6ft.
Back to the tea house for cards, dinner and bed. Arch still not right but given tomorrow is a short, if high, day we decide to press on and reassess at Samdo.
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Tot: 0.069s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 5; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0431s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
