Ganja-La During COVID Times

This training program was initiated by Helga Maria of Iceland. She herself is a guide in Iceland, a glaciologist and an outdoor enthusiast. Helga Maria has been to Nepal a few times and led few treks in Nepal. Her love towards Nepal grew and she wanted to help Nepal. So, she came up with the idea of helping young Nepali girls coming from remote mountain villages who were interested to later become mountain guides. She contacted me as we knew each other already from Iceland and we made this program. Mingma Lama from Rasuwa was my assistant for this trip. He had been going with me to the mountains since he was 14 years old and last year, he summitted Everest with me at the age of 21.

Our main participants were two girls Manmaya Tamang and Elsha Lhamu Yonzan aged 15 and 16 years old from the village of Bhotenamlang of Sindhupalchok district. Also, the other two ladies were Radha Tamang and Anu Shrestha both from white-water industry. They both guide abroad and in Nepal but this time they were stuck in Nepal due to COVID. Radha and Anu were bonus as they know more about women’s need then we men do.

On Sept. 17 we drove to Tipini to pick Elsha and Manmaya up and bring them to Kathmandu. We did the gear shopping for the two girls and our food shopping for 7 days till we reached the other side of the pass in Kyangjing and re ration again. Ours was a self-supported trek carrying our own food (rice, dal, spaghetti, butter, packet of dried buff, beaten rice, tsampa for breakfast, few packets of noodles, some nuts, kept it very simple) fuel, tents and all the necessary emergency communication devices. It was supposed to be a 3-week long trip.

Starting from Shermathang over Ganjala 5,201 m into Langtang into Gosaikunda and hike down to Sundarijal. I chose this route because of it is pristine, unspoilt with very few trekkers at this time.

All packed up and early morning of Sept. 20, we drove to the village of Shermathang. There we stayed in a house we knew. The next morning, we started our trek with about 18-20 kilos on our packs, checked into the Langtang National Park and trekked through the forests where the leeches made the best out of us. Our first camp was at Ama Yangri, no water source so we harvested rain water to cook and drink. Made our meals, ate and went to sleep instantly as the lockdown had taken the toll on us staying inside for a long time in Kathmandu apart from the two young girls who came from the village full of energy. We started early morning the next day and our destination was Dakpu 4,060 m, about 6-7 hrs hike. It took us longer than we thought as the unexpected weather came in and drenched us. We reached Dakpu at around 4 pm and were not able to pitch our tent as it was pouring rain and fog.

Luckily, we found a small yak herder goth (hut) and it was locked. Ke garney?? I broke the lock open and we entered in, it was the tidiest and cleanest goth I have ever seen. We made ourselves comfortable lit up the fire and started drying our wet clothes. It rained the whole day, the whole night and continuously pouring and no signs of stopping. My weather reports did not sound promising so we started the other night too. In between we had map classes, rope works inside the goth. Two nights passed and no signs of the rain stopping. The next morning, we went to explore a small Guru Rinpoche cave close by in the rain. As we were returning back, we saw the yak herders coming up and they were surprised to see us. Greeted and started a conversation and I told them that we broke into their goth. They were very generous and friendly and welcomed us. We all made some tea and drank. They told us that they were bringing their cows and calves up so there might not be enough room. So, we decided to move into the Guru Rinpoche cave for the night but ended up spending up two nights due to rain. We were running low on food and that was our main concern. But luck was on our side. There was an elderly gentleman who had come to meditate. But he had to turn around back to village due to health issues as he had stayed there for 28 days. He asked us to use that rice up. Now we have enough. Not much varieties but will keep us alive.

Anyways on the Sept. 26 we gathered the courage up and decided to move on. We were back in the goth in the morning and got some fresh butter and started our hike. Our camp was Galdenphu but we carried on to Yangri Kharka as we had acclimatized staying at 4,000 mts for 4 nights. Yangri Camp is a beautiful valley and my favorite so far. Next day our target was to cross Ganjala Pass and camp on the high camp on the other side of the pass. Sept. 27, we had to leave early in the morning crossing few small rivers and then climbing up. As we went up, we saw snow, a very unusual at that altitude at this time of the year. We went a fair bit as I was in the front and started encountering knee deep snow. Slowly Mingma and I were breaking the trails and the girls following behind us. There came a section while I was leading the herd, I saw cairns (stacking rock) here and there and I took a right, that was bad and we lost, one bad thing about people building cairns everywhere for joy. Cairns are our map, a route finder. We followed the cairns to find our way. We lost our good three hours. We pushed through and came on the main track with the help of cairns. There came a point we don’t know where we were going no cairns and we were all gassed out post hauling through the snow. We decided to do the pass in the early morning when the snow was crisp. We backtracked a bit and found a snow patch and put our tents.

This was the first time all the four girls had ever camped on snow. I took my drone out and flew to find the pass and also our route. I saw prayer flags on the top and I made a route plan for the next morning. A long tiring day! The next morning Sept. 28 we woke up early in the morning, packed our bags, got something to eat and started out at around 7.30 am; leading again up the climb. The snow was crisp and was easier to walk on. There was a boulder field below the steep climb to the pass where we sank in waist deep in between the rocks. It was scary when you could see these big man holes covered with snow. We reached the pass 5,201 m at around 9.15 am beautiful morning and the sun on us after all the rain felt good. Now we all put our packs down. We saw the other side but didn’t know from where to get down. I asked the girls to sit while I found the way.

I first went to the right just to find a big drop and then I went to the left and I found a tiny ledge covered with snow. I went further and I found a steel hand rail covered in snow. I pulled it out and moved forward but found the cable missing. I saw the ladder going down far away but needed a hand rail because of the ice on the ledge and 40-50 m exposed vertical drop to my right. I tried cutting the snow a bit but decided it was not worth risking. It was still a bit away. Had I taken a 50-60 m rope I would have belayed every one down and repelled down myself. I came back to the group and said we had to turn around. It wasn’t easy for me. I myself wanted to do the full circle. Well next time. We all came down from the pass and the snow was starting to get softer due to the sun. We hiked all the way down past Galdenphu and next day to Tarkegyang. We had a rest day and the next day we came back to Kathmandu on Oct. 1.

I have to say I was impressed with Radha, Anu, Elsha and Manmaya. They are strong ladies. It wasn’t an easy trip and they did it gracefully. And thank you Radha and Anu to come along and help the young girls when in need. As they are from mountain village, a bit shy and not as open as the city kids. At the end of the two-week trip they broke the ice.