Cheazles and I are back from our little trip to the Himalayas and unfortunately we did not manage to see any Yeti. Maybe it was because we were over on the Annapurna side of things and not toward Everest. We saw one zany lycra clad man in the snow, but no Yeti.
Anyway, it was an amazing experience and we enjoyed it thoroughly!
There were numerous highlight moments, but enjoying my birthday in the mountains was fantastic. It snowed that day so we got to trudge through the white stuff, did a bit of a ridge walk and we lunched in a beautiful snow filled valley. It was pretty damn awesome!
Another major highlight was waking up above the clouds. I crawled out of my tent one morning to be greeted by this…
We were surrounded by a sea of clouds… and then the sun rose, giving us this…
The size of the mountains was staggering, we had trudged our way off the beaten track up to an altitude of 4,225 metres above sea level and were fairly pooped, however that was only to the snow line of that particular mountain! We were probably only just over half way up and oxygen was at 60%! Kudos to all the folk that go up higher (especially the Sherpas/Guides/Porters) because it is hard going and I can only imagine how hard it must be when the oxygen level drops further!
As for enormous mountains, we could not go all the way to the Himalayas and not see the big daddy of them all! So we took a scenic flight of Everest, and that is one big bit of rock!
Sagarmatha (Mount Everest)
So Cheazles and I have agreed that we would like to go back and trek to Everest Base Camp some time, however we have a few different options we would like to explore first and I think Cheazles would like a warmer climate for our next holiday. So maybe South America might be a winner! I can’t wait to go on another trip into the wilderness!
I must say though, when the trip ended with a walk through one of the developing villages at the end of the main tourist trail we all felt a little sad. The mountains had been so magical, but progress can not be stopped and there were roads being built and the pristine nature of the hills were changing. I can only imagine what the place would be like in 20 years time. They mountains are huge and immovable and have stood there for so many years, but although we are minuscule in comparison we leave a mighty big impact on the environment, not even the mountains can remain unscathed over time. It would be wrong to deny anyone the opportunity to improve their standard of living, but I sincerely hope that we all manage to protect and keep the magic alive.
