The modern world has made slight inroads into the Dolpa of 2012, but much of Matthiessen’s world is still unchanged. Old men in traditional cloaks pass you on the trail with a nod, too busy chatting into their Nokias for a proper Namaste or Tashi Dele. Each village now has a basic homestay or lodge, and occasionally a coconut biscuit wrapper litters the trail. Adidas trainers are all the rage among the over 60s; the cool kids stick to Converse.
But the rest is as it was: an inhospitable, wild landscape that made for our toughest trekking in Nepal. Over a week from the nearest roadhead, for the first time in the Himalaya we found the kind of remote, unpopulated areas we’ve been searching unsuccessfully for all trip. Many days in Upper Dolpa we saw no people. Others we only passed yak caravans carrying illegal timber from more temperate zones to the treeless areas to the north.
In early November the bone-chilling winter cold had already arrived and this came to dominate our Dolpan time. The locals were emptying out of higher villages, heading down to more agreeable climes – it soon became clear we’d left our trek a few weeks too late for comfort. The moment the sun left in the afternoon we had to camp, the wind making it too unpleasant to continue. We dared not leave our tent in the morning before the sun hit for fear of taking all day to thaw our fingertips. Worse, in our 4+ season sleeping bags we were unable, for the first time ever, to stay warm, as the -25C temperatures penetrated our hitherto trusty down and layers of thermals.
Compounding this was our temperamental MSR Whisperlite stove. Struggling on dirty Nepali kerosene its unreliability drove us round the bend. The ‘blue flame’ appearing sparked jubilation and we celebrated with delicious, real Nescafe 3-in-1, but more frequently ‘orange flame depression’ brought torrents of swearing, stove dismantling, numb fingers and accompanying rage.
Slightly haggard and with hacking high altitude coughs, it was with relief that we descended to the tourist circuit at Jomsom.
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| The high point on the way to Phoksundo Tal. – the lake can be seen over Haz’s shoulder. Matthiessen’s book tells of terrifyingly narrow and exposed paths round the western shore, but we took another route, heading east towards Dho. |
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| Arriving in Ringmo. About to be pounced upon by the ‘one pen’ gang. The Tibetan culture and fact that most trade links from Dolpa go north across the Himalaya to Tibet meant that it didn’t feel like we were in Nepal at all. |
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| Narrow path on the way from Ringmo to the Baga La. |
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| Baga La basecamp. Having to stay in our tents so long each day was pretty dull – no books or music made for 17 boring hours twiddling our thumbs (inside our sleeping bags of course – they would’ve frozen outside). We also became quite sick of instant noodles. Twice a day for 9 days in a row – yuk. By the end we were eating them raw, having decided they were less nausea-inducing that way. |
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| Numa La South (5,321m). Kanjirowa peaks in the background. |
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| In Tokyu, near Dho Tarap. Once we passed Dho we had some permit worries. In the Pokhara permit issuing office we’d been told that for the section from Dho to Jomsom we only needed the cheap Lower Dolpa permit. During the trek however we found out that this wasn’t true and that we actually needed the $500pp Upper Dolpa permit. Fortunately there were no checkpoints so we weren’t turned round, or sent to a Nepali jail. |
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| Chharka Bhoti girl. Her village was the most interesting we walked through in all Nepal. A fascinating, medieval place, where the dominant religion was Bon, not Buddhism. |
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| The crazy look of someone whose MSR Whisperlite stove won’t work … again. Though we had no thermometer with us, we’ve camped in -20C before and not been cold. In Dolpa we were chilly almost every night, but at least the sun was hot in the day. One memorable lunchtime we were basking in its rays and Neil spilt some water on his trousers, which were in the shade. It froze instantly. Other days whilst camping, a thick layer of ice would form in our pots in the 1 minute it took to transfer water from a river to our camp. |
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| Climbing to the Jungben La. Alongside a semi-frozen river, like every day. |
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| On a very windy Jungben La (5,575m), the highest point of our Dolpa trek. |
Stats: Juphal to Jomsom
Days – 13
Trekking days – 11
Distance – 196km
Trekking time – 58hrs
Amount climbed – 10,450m
Passes – 5 (Baga La – 5,174m, Numa La South – 5,321m, Chan La – 5,398m, Jungben La – 5,575m, Bhima Lojun La – 4,460m)
Dal bhats – 7
Maggi – 14
Gringos – 24