Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 8 – Shomuthang To Robluthang Via Jare La

Posted on 2019-12-12 by true_north

Previous Post: Day 7 – Chebisa Via Gombu La to Shomuthang

  • calendar date: October 5, 2019
  • time: left camp at 8:00 and arrived at Robluthang at 2 – 6 hours/4 of actual walking
  • distance: 11 km  on my Polar M430/10  on my Garmin inReach; 16 in Jordans’book
  • start point altitude: Shomuthang  4217m
  • endpoint campsite: Robluthang 4155m
  • high pass crossing: Jare La  4785m
  • Maps: Bart Jordans’ Trekking In Bhutan has useful overview maps of the many possible variations of the Snowman and other treks.
  • See here for a graph showing high pass and campsite altitudes for each day of the trek from Shana to Laya.
  • I used a Sony RX100 III to capture most of the images you’ll see below; a fellow trekker’s Huawei P30 captured the others. (Thanks again, O, for letting me use them!)

Topo View And Satellite View of the Day’s Walk:

Shomuthang to Robluthang via Jare La (4785m)

The first part of the day involved a gradual ascent to Jare La, a two-hour walk up the valley you see in the satellite image below.  Once we got to the pass, we relaxed for a half-hour, taking in the somewhat clouded-over views.

From Shomuthang To Jare La:

Shomuthang campsite – dining and cook tents and horse blankets

horses returning to Shomuthang camp from the meadows above

an hour into our walk to Robluthang from Shomuthang

flowers on the Himalayan hillside

flowers on the Himalayan hillside above Shomuthang

looking back at the terrain we had covered from Shomuthang

Jare La coming up – two hours after leaving our Shomuthang campsite.

Day 8 … Shomuthang to Jare La to Jholethang Chhu to Robluthang campsite

trekkers approaching Jare La from Shomuthang

trekkers approaching Jare La on the way to Robluthang

Jare La – high pass between Shomuthang and Robluthang

Jare La – on the way to Robluthang

a mountain view from Jare La – Snowman Trek

From the pass, we walked down a fairly decent trail, at first rather barren and open and then more forested and muddy as we approached the valley floor.  We would stop at a thang (i.e. meadow/flat spot) to have lunch before moving on to the log bridge crossing the Jholethang Chhu.

on the way to Robluthang – a view on the descent from Jare La to the valley floor

dirt trail on the forested slope of Jare La

lunch down on the side valley floor  near the Jholethang Chhu

Lunch was a bit of a wait since we arrived at the spot before the lunch crew did! When the others were served tuna with their rice, I asked Kunley if he could provide me with some cashews as a substitute.  [This would be the beginning of adaptations which would leave me in better spirits and in better shape to deal with the caloric requirements of the trek!]

After lunch, we moved towards the Jholethang Chhu and the extensive grazing land along its banks.  We crossed a somewhat precarious log bridge over the stream, and then we were on the east side of the river, standing at the north end of extensive yak grazing grounds.

Log bridge across the Jholethang Chhu

The image below shows the view looking north up the valley, which comes down from the Tibet border ten kilometers away.  Our Robluthang campsite was a couple of kilometers up this valley.

In the image below, the beginning of the trail is visible on the right-hand side. Steep at first,  it eventually levelled out to a gradual ascent to our campsite, a fair-sized meadow or thang.  (Click here to access a Google Earth view of the neighbourhood!)

looking north up the Jholethang Chhu to the Tibetan border

Of this valley, the Lonely Planet guide to Bhutan notes this:

Herds of takin migrate to this valley in the summer and remain here for about four months. Takins are easily disturbed by the presence of other animals, including humans….The valley has been declared a special takin sanctuary and yak herders have agreed not to graze their animals in the valley while the takin are here.  [Lonely Planet. Bhutan. (6th Edition) p. 188.]

No takin here when we passed through but a dozen yak grazing,  as well as a yak herder’s tarp shelter off image to the right closer to the river flowing down the valley.

a view of the grassland on the east side of the Jholethang Chhu

from the Jholethang Chhu up its east flank to the Robluthang Campsite

Robluthang campsite – one of a few choices for trekking groups

some of our horse train coming into Robluthang campsite

horses coming into Robluthang camp in the afternoon

four of our horses entering Robluthang camp with trekker duffels and other camp gear

A Happy Vegan!

Supper – and for the second night in a row aloo gobi, the curried Indian potato and cauliflower dish. And on top of that, a Bengali brown lentil dal-like watery stew to pour over the rice, which made it so much more enticing! But wait – there’s more!  The cook had prepared a vegetable soup without an animal-derived broth or milk product in it!  Trek soup is yet another way to ensure the clients stay well-hydrated; I had two bowls.

Those doubts I had earlier about not having the energy to finish the trek! Well, they had been allayed thanks to the past two days’ supper fare.  For the rest of the trek, the cook would prepare a special soup for the two vegan trekkers, and I would get bowls of cashew nuts as a substitute for whatever meat dish the others were presented with.  Things were looking up!

Next Post: Day 9 – Robluthang To Limithang

 

Posted in Bhutan, hiking/trekking | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 7 – Chebisa To Shomuthang Via Gombu La

Posted on 2019-12-12 by true_north

Table of Contents:

Previous Post: Day 6 – Lingshi Camp To Chebisa

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 6 – Lingshi To Chebisa

————–

The Day’s Basic Data and Maps

  • calendar date: Friday, October 4, 2019
  • time: 7 hours
  • distance: 13 km.
  • start point altitude: Chebisa 3900 m
  • endpoint campsite: Shomuthang  4217m
  • high pass crossing:   Gombu La 4447 m
  • Maps: Bart jordans’ Trekking In Bhutan has some useful overview maps of the many possible variations of the Snowman Trek, as well as others.
  • Google Earth – satellite view here
  • altitude graph showing high passes and campsites of the first ten days of the Snowman Trek here
  • I used a Sony RX100 III to capture most of the images you’ll see below; a fellow trekker’s Huawei P30 captured the others. (Thanks again, O, for letting me use them!)\

Amazingly, no rain on this day and periods of sunshine. I could get used to this!

This day would require a bit more effort than the easy day we had from Lingshi Camp to Chebisa.  It would start with a steady ascent to the second pass of our trek, Gombu La at 4447m, some 550 meters higher than our campsite.

satellite view – from Chebisa to Shomuthang

Our Chebisa Campsite & A Local Shopping Center

a few of our horses waiting for their day’s work assignments in Chebisa

Chebisa village dog at our campsite

Chebisa – the breakfast tent –

We started off our day with a brief visit to a local shop selling sundry items of interest to trekkers – chocolate bars, nuts, cookies, and such.  The building was decorated in traditional Bhutanese style as the images below make clear.  On the wall were murals of mythical creatures connected with stories which the locals have heard since childhood.

last-minute shopping in Chebisa – sundry items

elephant-with-dharma-bowl-on-top.jpg

elephant with dharma bowl on top

garuda biting naga (snake) image on Chebisa house

garuda biting naga (snake) image on Chebisa house

Chebisa house detail – Himalayan Buddhist baroque!

—————

Up A Steep Path Leaving Chebisa

As we left the village I saw this dog nestled in a sheltered spot – a roofed-over shelter housing a supply of dried yak manure which the locals use in the winter for fuel. Like the dog at the campground in the photo above, this one could use some attention and a good combing to get out all those burrs.

Chebisa dog and supply of dried yak dung patties

As both the map and the satellite image make clear,  we made a steep ascent out of Chebisa valley and then continued on a gradual uphill trail to the high pass of the day, a 575-meter gain over the first two hours of the day’s walk.

panorama – the trail above Chebisa on the way to Gombu La

a section of trail about four kilometers above Chebisa on the way to Gombu La

the trail to Gombu La from Chebisa

—————

Gombu La – The Day’s High Point

Two hours after starting off from Chebisa we were at Gombu La, our second high pass of the trek.  We sat there for a while, enjoying the view. Coming up behind us were the first of the horses. We would let them pass before we continued on with a 250-meter descent in the next valley.

Gombu La – the high pass of Day 7 on the Snowman Trek

trekking crew at rest on Gombu La

a few of our horses approaching Gombu La from Chebisa

trek horses approaching Gombu La

—————

On To Our Shomuthang Campsite

stone ruins on the side of the trail to a campsite near Shomuthang

glacial stream on the way to a campsite near Shomuthang

a distant view of our Day 7 campsite near Shomuthang

approaching Shomuthang camp on Day 7 afternoon

We had left Chebisa around 8:00; it was now 3:00 and our day was done. As we approached the campsite, we could see that all the tents were already up. Just in front of the blue cook tent visible in the image below was a stream that we hopped over to get to the site.

our Shomuthang campsite – Snowman trek Day 7

Later that afternoon I checked my Polar M430 fitness tracker for the stats.  I can’t vouch for their total accuracy but this is what it looked like –

The problem with my tent door zipper was fixed in a jiffy by Angel, whose multi-tool pliers got the job done in less than a minute. He has probably done this a thousand times on different expeditions.  the tent was a great one – a very spacious and new Marmot four-season tent. It may be that the crew set it up too taut and that created the zipper problem.

—————

The Importance of Your Tent!

Trekkers will be spending at least 40% of each day in their tents so having a comfortable one is crucial.  For most trekkers, it begins with having your own, as opposed to sharing it with someone else.

The Marmot Thor 3-Person Tent

I have even talked to couples who wished that they had gotten their own tents!

At the end of each day’s walk, I would spend at least an hour if not more before supper in my tent, arranging things and then enjoying some of the warmth that slipping in my unstuffed sleeping bag provided.

Supper was usually around 6:00 to 6:30 and by 8:00 p.m. the dining tent was empty and everyone had gone to their tents.  Wake-up was around 6:30 or 7:00 a.m. so that was ten hours of tent time each day – 40% of your time in Bhutan!

An important question to ask your local trekking agency is this – what tent do you provide? How many square feet or meters? Do I have to share it with someone?

I saw a Canadian group at Jomolhari with much cheaper A-frames that were perhaps half as roomy as the Marmot Thor 3-Person tent that I had to myself. And they were two per tent!

Marmot Thor 3-person tent

—————

The Next Day’s Energy Requirement

While we had walked about the same distance as the day before, I had burned 50% more calories to do so!  The next day would prove to be a bit less taxing than this one. We would start off with a walk up the valley from our meadow campsite to the day’s high pass.   The next post has all the details!

Next Post: Day 8 – Shobuthang To Robluthang

Chebisa to Gombu La to Shomuthang – satellite view

 

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 8 – Shomuthang To Robluthang Via Jare La

Posted in Bhutan, hiking/trekking | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 6 – Lingshi To Chebisa

Posted on 2019-12-11 by true_north

Last revised on December 3, 2022.

Table of Contents:

Previous Post: Day 5 – Jomolhari Camp To Lingshi

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 5 – Jomolhari B.C. To Lingshi Via Nyile La

———————–

Trip Data For the Day

  • calendar date: October 3, 2019
  • time:  4.5 hrs. (including our walk through the dzong)
  • Distance:  10 km. (Lonely Planet); 16 km. (Bart Jordans); 11.6 km. My Polar M430; 12 km on my Garmin inReach. It may depend on exactly where the chosen campsite is.
  • start point altitude: Lingshi campground 4010m
  • high pass: none.  However, Lingshi Dzong at 4220m
  • endpoint campsite: Chebisa village campground 3870m (my Garmin device); 3990m in Bart Jordan’s guidebook, but perhaps not the same campsite?
  • Maps: Bart Jordans’ Trekking in Bhutan includes useful overview maps of the many variations of the Snowman and other treks.
  • Google Earth view in Chrome: See here
  • Photos: I used a Sony RX100 III to capture most of the images you’ll see below; a fellow trekker’s Huawei P30 captured the others. (Thanks again, O, for letting me use them!)

Day 6- Lingshi Camp to Chebisa via Lingshi Dzong and Goyul

This day would perhaps be the easiest day of the trek!  Two hundred meters of elevation gain to get to the Dzong before descending back down to Lingshi Village at 4075 m.  After that, as my Polar M430 altitude profile for the day shows, the trail was fairly flat until we went down 125 meters in our descent to the village of Goyuk, an hour from Chebisa and our tents.

In the image below,  the trail we will take to get to the dzong is visible on the hillside behind the tents. It would take us an hour to get to the dzong after leaving camp.

———————–

Our Lingshi Campsite (Charhae Thang?)

morning at Lingshi camp – pre-breakfast

The dzong is on top of the hill (4220m) in the panorama below. Some ascent is required! We were at 4013m at the campground at the bottom of the valley, transliterated by

  • Bart Jordans as  Charzi Thang and Charhae Thang and
  • by Lonely Planet writers as Chha Shi Thang.

The many variations in spelling as Dzongkha words when using Roman letters remind me of a similar situation in Bolivia where the various English transliterations from Quechua are sometimes not even recognizably similar!

Lingshi Campsite with Dzong Hill in the background

———————–

Lingshi Dzong:

Lingshi Dzong – a view from the south  – the afternoon shot taken by a fellow trekker

We had set up camp below the hilltop dzong. In the image above, our tents were in the valley to the right of the dzong and the ridge. There would be some uphill after breakfast!

Looking back at our Lingshi campsite from the trail up to the Lingshi Dzong

After a half-hour on a gradually ascending and well-trodden path, we were standing next to the chorten pictured below.  Another forty-five minutes and we were on a plateau just south of the dzong. We waited there while our Bhutanese guide entered the dzong to see if we could visit.

The chorten on the way up to visit the Lingshi Dzong

This is what the most recent version of the dzong looked like before 2011.

Our trekking group waiting on the plateau outside of Lingshi Dzong

Here are a couple of shots from the Flickr account of Reynard, a French ramblin’ boy, who visited the dzong in October 2009. The first shot includes the chorten from the above shot and a side view of the hilltop dzong itself.

See here for the image source – Reynard’s Flickr page

His next image is a close-up view of the dzong with its utse tower and one of the two front towers visible. We would not get this view on our visit ten years later!

See here for the image source at Reynard’s Flickr account

The dzong has not had an easy time of it. More than one earthquake over the centuries has caused significant damage. As soon as the dzong gets rebuilt or repaired, another earthquake or fire hits it.  Bad karma?

  • The original dzong dates back to 1668 – ancient in Bhutanese terms. It was meant as a checkpoint/customs station for traders crossing a nearby pass from what is now the Tibetan side.

  • An earthquake in 1867 destroyed the original structure.  It was rebuilt in the 1950s and partly renovated in 2005.

  • A severe earthquake in 2011 destroyed the dzong yet again, just after renovations had been completed a few years before.

[See here for a Bhutanese newspaper article about the current reconstruction project. Its headline leaves the impression that the 1668 dzong was built for a commemorative purpose, rather than for defence.  While this may be true of the current rebuild,  it is unlikely to be true of the original.

The article also makes the war sound like one between two modern nation-states instead of what it really was.  In the mid-17th century, it was a focal point of a Buddhist civil war as the various Tibetan monastic groups fought for control of this sparsely inhabited hinterland.

Inside the ruins of the Lingshi Dzong

a view of the exterior of the Lingshi Dzong

some of the Lingshi Dzong work crew in October 2019

Lingshi Dzong – exterior wall and entrance staircase

———————–

From Lingshi To Goyuk:

After our brief walk-through of the dzong ruins, we headed down to Lingshi village at 4075m.  As we approached, the panorama below is of the village from the north slopes of the Dzong hillside. We walked right through the settlement in two minutes and soon walked along a ridge that eventually descended sharply towards Goyuk.  The satellite image below gives a good idea of the trail.

A view of Linshi village from the north side of the Dzong

the trail from Lingshi to Chebisa via Goyuk

———————–

Goyuk:

120  meters of descent from the ridge, and we came to Goyuk village. The trail continues to Chebisa on the east edge of the settlement, but we walked 100 meters into the village to check out the architecture – a mix of traditional and more modern materials. While we were there, I saw three locals.

Goyuk has 100 inhabitants among 25 households, but our mid-day visit may have caught them all away or at work (or staying out of the view of gawking western tourists!).  We did admire the colourful fleece blankets, which were clearly of Chinese design and origin and wondered who had carried them across the nearby pass without getting caught by the military guards on the border!

walking down the trail to the village of Goyuk on the way to our campsite at Chebisa village

Some traditional stone buildings in Goyuk

———————–

“Crazy Wisdom” – Bogus Buddhas Behaving Badly

A day encountering the “divine thunderbolt” of the anarchic Tibetan Buddhist monk Drukpa Kunley is always an auspicious day in Bhutan!  The wall murals depicting his penis and testicles are considered good luck charms that dispel evil. I was actually expecting to see more of them on our Snowman trek.

Well, here in Goyuk, we were blessed with a nice rendition. Our Bhutanese guide felt the need to return to the monk’s exploits on far too many occasions during the after-supper talks meant to tell us something about Bhutan.  It got to be quite tiresome.  If you need to know more, check out Keith Dowman’s book (totally uncritical) on the life of our dispenser of “crazy wisdom.”  See here for a sample.

The exploits of Chogyam Trungpa and Sogyal Rinpoche, two recent “enlightened” Buddhists who used their status as lamas (either earned or self-given)  to exploit hundreds of young women in Europe and North America, should serve as a warning to those who give “crazy wisdom” the benefit of the doubt.

I was disappointed to find out that Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche (aka Khyentse Norbu), the Bhutanese lama as well as filmmaker, made use of the concept of Samaya to rationalize the behaviour of these flawed men and instead put the blame on the Western female students they exploited for their sexual pleasure.

More recently, he has doubled down on his defence of the beyond-reproach Vajrayana lamas. His booklet Poison Is Medicine: Clarifying The Vajrayana (2021) is right up there with”Sexual Assault is Nirvana”! More b.s. presented as “crazy wisdom” is promised in the booklet’s dedication –

This book is dedicated to those who, instead of dismissing the Vajrayana as a primitive superstition, have the merit to be curious about what the Vajrayana really is and who are daring enough to explore and apply the glorious, uncompromising, no-nonsense path that never kowtows to social norms and expectations.

While the lama calls his network of Vajrayana followers Siddhartha’s Intent, the fact is that Vajrayana is the antithesis of the path to liberation that Siddhartha Gautama encouraged his followers to take. Sophistry is not wisdom. For a sample of Rinpoche’s crazy sense of humour, see here for the sex contract he posted online in response to the accusations faced by  Sogyal Rinpoche. [Link where I found the URL of the above sex contract]

Even the Dalai Lama, whom I used to admire greatly,  admitted that he already knew in the early 1990s about Tibetan Buddhist lamas who had lost their way and were behaving like rock stars and treating their students like groupies.  View especially the segment entitled Dharamsala starting at 13:38 –

The sexual misbehaviour of the Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje is only the latest scandal to rock the world of Himalayan Buddhism.  The root of the problem lies in the power wielded by and the Buddha-like reverence paid to the guru or lama. Stephen Bachelor’s article in a 2017 issue of Tricycle  – Why I Quit Guru Yoga – is one that woke me up to the reality of Vajrayana Buddhism. Better late than never…

———————–

The Goyok Dzong:

Above the village was a dzong/temple, which we did not visit.  In his essential guidebook for trekking in Bhutan, Bart Jordans recounts its history  –

Goyok is next to some impressive rockfaces, and in one of these there used to be a ruin (the Bja-Ghi Dzong). In the summer of 2003 the community renovated it on their own initiative over a couple of months. Building materials, carried by yaks, came from the distant forest between Shana and Soi Thangthanka; one day down, and two days back up. This dzong is one of the oldest and most sacred in Bhutan, believed to have been built in the 16th century by Phajo Drukgom Zhipo. There is a lhakhang in the dzong with several statues, and a caretaker and lay monk.    Excerpt From: Bart Jordans. “Trekking in Bhutan.” 

Bjagoe Dzong above the village of Goyuk

———————–

From Goyok To Chebisa

Yet more easy walking from Goyuk, and we would get to Chebisa around 1 p.m.  Lunch would be served on the Chebisa version of the “village green” on the south side of the stream, which separates it from most of the village’s two dozen or so houses.

approaching Chebisa on the trail from Lingshi

‘ campsite at Chebisa

———————–

The Concerned Vegan!

Lunch – you can see the table in front of the blue cook tent in the image above. And below, you can see what I ate that day – half a cup of plain rice (rather bland and without any spices or sauce other than the chilli sauce to jazz it up) and some sort of soggy and tasteless vegetable.  The others may have also received some chicken or tuna.

My plant-based-only diet was becoming an issue.  An evening or two earlier, when I was presented with essentially the same options as you see on the plate below, I ate nothing.  I returned to my tent, pulled out one of my 100-gram Ziploc bags with tamari-flavoured almonds, and had that for supper.  Once or twice during the first ten days, I thought I might not finish the trek because I would run out of the energy the food was meant to provide!

As mentioned in a previous post, I had discussed all of this with the western organizer of the trek on more than one occasion in the months leading up to the trek and had been assured that the local agency would be aware of my food requirements. They didn’t have a clue! The cook would try his best once he got it, but his options were few in the field since he was not supplied with the ingredients to make it really happen.

Day 6 – my lunch plate

A Walk To the Chebisa Waterfall

After lunch, we walked up the small valley where Chebisa finds itself.  At the top is a small waterfall, that little slash of white that you see in a couple of images below.  As I walked there, I felt I was entering a forgotten corner of a Judeo-Christian Eden or a Himalayan Buddhist beyul.   I walked past stately trees and watched a few horses grazing in their shade. After some hands-on scampering, I got so close to the waterfall that the mist forced me to put away my non-waterproof camera!

the side of a Chebisa house – woodpile for the coming winter

a walk from Chebisa campground to the waterfall

———————–

43 horses on trek at $20 a day per horse

I think I got the figures correctly! While it sounds somewhat high, it may be correct if the six horse handlers are included in the cost.

Some of the guys in the horse crew working on ropes and other gear

Our trek started in Shana, where a local crew provided three days of horse transportation to Jomolhari Base Camp.  When we arrived there, the crew was paid, and it turned back for home and, hopefully, another trekking group.  Meanwhile,  we took on a new set of horses and handlers supplied by the settlements near Jomolhari B.C.  They moved us seven days up the trail to Laya on Day 11.

This crew would then return to Jomolhari with a nice bundle of cash, while a crew from Laya would take on the next leg of the trek, the six days to Chozo.  The thinking seems to be that this way, the benefits of the trek are dispersed more evenly among the various villages along the way.

———————–

Social and Economic Change In Upcountry Bhutan

In traditional upcountry Bhutan,  wealth and status were determined by the number of yaks and/or horses one’s family had.  This traditional Bhutan is dying as roads reach further and further north, making the animals less necessary since trucks and jeeps can do the job faster and more easily.  Soon it’ll just be the trekkers who use horses and yaks!

Chebisa trekkers’ camp with a chorten on the hilltop in the background

It is six kilometres (as the raven flies) to the border with Tibet; another ten kilometres will bring you to one or another small town on the Tibetan side, the source of all sorts of attractive trade goods.  All an enterprising local has to do is get them across those mountains and that border!

Chebisa and the Tibetan border

As the hydro poles and wires indicate, electricity has come to Chebisa!  One or two houses had satellite dishes, and television has been available in Bhutan since the year 2000. Roads, electricity, television, and the smartphone that almost every younger member of the horse team and the cook and tent crew had. Bhutan has changed dramatically in the past generation.

Looking west from our Chebisa campsite to the waterfall and the border with Tibet

Chebisa prayer wheel temple on the village green, with the waterfall in the background

———————–

Aloo Gobi For Supper!

After we returned from our little mid-afternoon trek, the rain came down, at times quite heavily.  Lying in my tent and listening to the rain hitting it probably made it sound even worse!  Later – it was supper and -wonder of wonders – a meal I could get enthusiastic about: It was aloo gobi, an Indian dish consisting of potatoes, cauliflower, and onions. Fantastic! I had double/triple portions and let the servers, Kinley and Karma, know how good it was!  There’s nothing like tasty food when you’re feeling a bit run-down!

Next Post: Day 7 – Chebisa To Shomuthang

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 7 – Chebisa To Shomuthang Via Gombu La

Posted in Bhutan, hiking/trekking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 5 – Jomolhari B.C. To Lingshi Via Nyile La

Posted on 2019-12-10 by true_north

Table of Contents:

Previous Post: Day 4 – Jomolhari Base Camp Acclimatization Day

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 4 – Jomolhari B.C. Acclimatization Day

————–

The Day’s Basic Data & Satellite View of The Route

  • calendar date: October 2, 2019
  • time: 6 hrs. (including 1 hr. for lunch and a bit more time for a few rest breaks)
  • distance:21 km.
  • start point altitude: Jomolhari campground  4044m
  • high pass: #1 Nyile La 4890m
  • endpoint campsite: Lingshi campground 4010m
  • Maps: Bart Jordans’ Trekking In Bhutan has some useful overview maps of the many variations of the Snowman and other treks.
  • Google Earth: Check out the satellite view here.
  • I used a Sony RX100 III to capture most of the images you’ll see below; a fellow trekker’s Huawei P30 captured the others. (Thanks again, O, for letting me use them!)

Day-5-Jomolhari-b.c. to Lingshi camp via-Nyile La

————–

Blue Sky – Jomolhari Peak Revealed!

Day 5 – horses with Jomolhari in the background

Before we left camp, we took advantage of a visible Jomolhari for a promotional World Expeditions shot of our 16-member trekking group and our two Bhutanese guides. Behind the camera was our non-Bhutanese guide Angel Armesto, the World Expeditions representative on the trek. Given his decades of high-altitude experience, this trek – his first in Bhutan – was perhaps a bit of a break from his usual more stressful mountaineering expeditions.

shot taken by Angel Armesto, our Argentinian WE guide

With the photos done, we looked around the camp and noticed that the tents were almost all down and packed away.  The tent crew was experienced and got things done fast, even going so far at the end of the day as to blow up the Thermarests and place the carpets and each tent’s duffel inside!  Whenever I could,  I thanked them for their service and told them I could take care of the duffel, carpet, and Thermarest myself!

————–

To The Bridge North of Jangothang

Just after 8:00, we were off – and the blue sky was still visible!

Satellite view of the start of the trail from Jomolhari to  Nyile La

We walked back along the path we had taken the day before for our acclimatization hike to Tsho Phu.  However, instead of taking the first bridge across the Paro Chhu, we kept on going towards the settlement of Jangothang, at the end of which is the second bridge. Crossing the river here, we started our way out of the valley up the zigzag trail and headed east into another valley we would walk up to access our first high trek pass.

trekkers leaving Jomolhari for Nyile La and Lingshi

————–

Heading Up Valley To Nyile La

prayer flags across the Paro Chhu at Jangothang

hydro poles and trail up to Nyile La from Jangothang

break time on our way to Nyile La – we’re at 4680m,,, only 200 more “up” to go!

a look ahead to the Nyile La – top left side of the image

I knew it was too early, so when I saw the piles of stones (laptse in Dzongkha) and the prayer flags, I told myself not to be fooled!  I did sit there for a while, sipping water from my Nalgene bottle and munching on half of the one Clif Bar that was my day’s allotment.

Rest stop – not the pass! – by a cairn and some prayer flags on the way to Nyile La

————–

The Views From Nyile La

We were at 4680m, having come up about 300 meters since leaving Jomolhari camp.  Still to go – another one hour and 200 meters before we were at Nyile La.  As the photos make clear, we walked on a clearly defined trail through low-level scrubland and scree.  I was not missing the muddy forest trails, horse-shit-filled puddles, and rock-to-rock stepping that defined the first two and a half days from Shana to a half-day before Jomolhari.

the final stretch up to Nyile La (4890m)

the final stretch up to Nyile La (4890m) – looking up to the trekkers ahead of me

me under the hydro wires and walking up the last stretch to Nyile La

When I got to the top, there were already five or six fellow trekkers there (one of whom took the above photo!). I took off my backpack, had a sip of water, and pulled out my bag of dried fruits and nuts for a snack. Then the camera came out  – the colourful prayer flags were calling out to me!  I consciously framed a few shots that avoided one thing  – the hydro pole and the wires coming up and over the pass.

chorten and prayer flags at Nyile La with Nyilele100 meters higher on the top left

————–

The Hydro-Electric Poles and Wires

A photo includes and excludes whatever the person behind the lens decides. Scroll down to see what it was that I at first avoided including. My photos include at least a few with those poles and wires in the Shana to Laya part of the trek. And quite honestly, who am I to complain?

a colourful patch of lichen and flowers near the prayer flags

For the locals,  access to electricity means a more comfortable life. Hydropower is Bhutan’s #1 export – it is good to see it also benefits its own upcountry people for cooking, lighting, television, computers, and the internet … even if it means the end of traditional Bhutanese culture. That culture is increasingly celebrated only at festivals which seem to have tourists in mind just as much, if not more, than the locals, who get to act as colourful props as the tourists’ cameras snap away.

Nyile La Chorten draped with prayer flags

Note: Many of the strings of multi-coloured prayer flags are put there, not by locals but by trekkers. On our rest day at Jomolhari, our Bhutanese guide gifted one set of flags to each one of us to put up at a pass of our choice.  We were told that they had been properly blessed by a Buddhist monk and thus would presumably earn us merit in our karma banks. These flags are the most colourful reminder of the Tibetan-style (i.e. Vajrayana) Buddhism, which characterizes the traditional culture of the Himalayan region.

Nyile La prayer flags and chorten – shot with hydro poles and wires

To the west of the pass, as seen in the image above, is the hilltop known as Nyilele (5090m). It looks like there is a communication tower at the top of it!   On the right-hand side of the pass is Golung Phu (5096m).  No one gave in to the temptation of a quick scamper up either of them, though the shot below was taken from about a quarter of the way up to the Nyilele hilltop.

Nyile La – Oct 2, 2019 – looking down at the pass from the slopes of Nyilele (5090m)

————–

The Tent And Lunch Teams Pass Us By

Soon the other trekkers were up on the pass.  We looked around to see the first of the horses coming.  They carried the tents and the camp gear to our Lingshi destination, another 12 kilometers or so away. By the time we got to camp, most everything was already up and ready for us to move in.  Taking down a village and setting it up again every day – a great crew!

watching a few of our horses come up to Nyile La

Also coming up to the pass were Karma and Kinley, the guys in charge of lunch. Here is Karma with one of the three horses that carried all the supplies necessary to do lunch Bhutan trekking style – i.e. tables, chairs, table cloths, plates and cutlery…wow!  A boxed lunch is the usual format.

Karma and one of the lunch team horses

————–

The Usual Daytime Cloud Cover Rolls In

The brochures mention something about the last dramatic views of Jomolhari or Jitchu Drake from the Nyile La  However, the daily clouds that roll in mid-morning and seem to last all day mean we have to accept something a bit less.

looking west and north towards the Tibet border from Nyile La  with Takaphu on the right

The same would go for our view towards the east! Before we set off from Jangothang, our Bhutanese guide had gushed about the 6840m Gancheta (aka Great Tiger Mountain) as our WOW view of the day. The peak to the north, the 6526m Takaphu (aka Tsheri Kang), should also have been quite a sight, given how it dominates the nearby string of peaks.

For the next few days, we would hear daily references to a view of  Great Tiger Mountain; it became a bit of a joke as we stared at yet another clouded-over vista on the horizon. Seeing it proved as elusive as seeing one of the claimed 30 or so snow leopards which apparently roam the upper reaches of the 4400 square kilometer Jigme Dorji National Park that we were walking in.

panorama – the way down from Nyile La on the way to Lingshi

————–

Down From The Pass To Our Lunch Spot

We turned our focus to the tasks at hand –

  • a descent down the scree slope on the other side of the pass and
  • lunch!

Down we went. We had gained 800 meters in altitude on our way up to Nyile La. Now we would give all 800 meters away by the time we got to our Lingshi campsite.

However, it is rarely continuously downhill!  Even in losing 800 meters, you may have to do 500 more uphill!  Here is a brief uphill stretch about 45 minutes after leaving the pass, which is beyond the top lefthand corner of the image.

coming down from Nyile La

Finally, lunch. It is shortly after 12, and we have been on the move for four hours.  Our tables are set up in a meadow, and the lunch team horses are grazing as yet other horses carrying our gear stream by in the distance.

our lunch spot after crossing Nyile La – our tent crew and their horses continue to Lingshi

lunch team getting table settings ready

————–

To Our Campsite Below Lingshi Dzong

The walk after lunch was an easy one over open terrain

looking east from our lunch spot at a section of trail after Nyile La on the way to Lingshi

looking east from our lunch spot at a section of trail after Nyile La on the way to Lingshi

view of a glacial lake between Nyile La and Lingshi camp – hidden peaks behind the clouds

Had the weather been better, we would have had a tremendous view of Jitchu Drake and the 6526m Takaphu.  Maybe next time!

satellite view of the above image – the two small glacial lakes

As we got closer to our campsite, we got our first view of the Dzong for which Lingshi is famous.  It sits dramatically on a cone-shaped hilltop.  We would camp below and to the south of it and then pay a visit the next morning on our way to Chebisa.

Lingshi Dzong - a view from the south

Lingshi Dzong – a view from the south …shot taken by a fellow trekker

I didn’t realize until the next morning that there was an actual village attached to the name too! We would walk through it after we descended the Dzong hilltop on the north side.  The satellite image below makes it all clear to me now!  The trekkers’ campsite is on one side of the Dzong hill; the village of Lingshi is on the other. Also visible on the satellite image is the trail we would follow up to the dzong.

satellite-image-of-lingshi-campsite-dzong-and-village

Our camp was all set up by the time we arrived.  The camp is at 4010 meters, almost the same as the Jomolhari camp.  The day’s walk over Nyile La gave us a good acclimatization exercise. As the mountaineer’s saying goes – “Walk high; sleep low.” We had done that, and everyone seemed to be acclimatizing to the higher altitude, and no one was reporting any headaches.

Lingshi camp – Day 6- morning view

————–

Our Day 5 walk took us from Jomolhari Base Camp campground to Lingshi.  The satellite image below has a rough approximation of our route there.

Day 5 route from Jomolhari B.C. to Lingshi

The next day would be an easier one (the lightest of the entire trek!) as we moved on to Chebisa, passing the edge of Goyuk on our way.

Next Post: Day 6 – Lingshi To Chebisa

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 6 – Lingshi To Chebisa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Bhutan, hiking/trekking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 4 – Jomolhari B.C. Acclimatization Day

Posted on 2019-12-09 by true_north

Table of Contents:

Previous Post: Day 3 – Thangthangka To Jomolhari B.C.

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 3 – Soi Thangthangka To Jomolhari B.C./Jangothang

————-

The Day’s Basic Data and Map

  • Calendar date: October 1, 2019
  • Time: 3 hrs.
  • Distance: about 6.5 km.
  • Google Earth 3D satellite view: click here for an interactive view
  • Start point altitude:  Jomolhari B.C. 4044m
  • High point altitude: Tsho Phu lakes at 4350m
  • I used a Sony RX100 III to capture most of the images you’ll see below; a fellow trekker’s Huawei P30 captured the others. (Thanks again, O, for letting me use them!)

The half-day’s walk – from Base camp to the Tsho Phu Twin Lakes

————-

The Acclimatization Issue:

The ascent up to Jomolhari Base Camp from Paro is almost 2000 meters over three days.  Those starting the Snowman Trek will hopefully spend a day before the trek acclimatizing with a walk up to the Taktsang Gompa. Still, a 1100-meter gain from Shana to Jomolhari in three days is pushing the recommended limit of 300  maximum per day.    If trekkers are going to experience altitude sickness, it will likely occur within the first few days.  All trekking itineraries include a rest/acclimatization day at the Jomolhari campground to provide some extra time for bodies to adapt to the thinning air.

As the above chart suggests, hikers feeling okay at Jomolhari should remain comfortable through Laya, as the altitude of each subsequent campsite stays consistent at approximately 4000 meters. The four high passes of the trek after Jomolhari provide excellent additional acclimatization and illustrate the mountaineer’s motto – “Walk high, sleep low”.

Snowman Trek effective-amount-of-oxygen-at-different-altitudes1

Snowman Trek effective-amount-of-oxygen

There were sixteen trekkers on this trip.  Only three of us – I was one – used Diamox, a drug that helps the body adapt. I had been encouraged by the guide to forget about the Diamox.  Of the 13 who did not use it, most seemed to do fine, though one did drop out at Laya because of respiration issues and the other three days before the trek ended for undisclosed reasons.

I used it since I had done so on a half-dozen previous high-altitude treks and had no issues at all – not even a headache. While some may argue that I was a victim of magical thinking,  the evidence supports its use as a preventive measure.  Obviously, it does not exempt trekkers from other in-trek protocols:

  • a moderate rate of ascent
  • adequate hydration
  • abstaining from alcohol

See this blog for some excellent advice on how to deal with trekking at altitude –

Tips for High Altitude Hiking

————-

Scarce Mountain Views!

An early morning (5:45!) call by the guys in the kitchen, and those who got up were rewarded with a clear view of a mountain peak in Bhutan – our first since our arrival four days before!  In front of us was Jomolhari (7315m), the highest peak on Bhutan’s western border with Tibet.  The image below has the peak on the left; the one in the middle is Jomolhari II at 6935;  the sharp peak on the right is the 6850m, Jitchu Drake.

I took a couple of shots and crawled back into the tent for another hour of rest.  Given that it was a rest/acclimatization day, we would start a bit later.

Early morning shot of Jomolhari and Jitchu Drake taken by a fellow trekker – 6:18 a.m.

Day 4 – early morning shot of Jomolhari – Blue Sky!

————-

Acclimatization Hike To Tsho Phu:

The day’s major planned activity was an acclimatization hike with 310 meters of elevation gain, most of which happened in the first hour.  We were going to hike up to the Tsho Phu lakes on the other side of the river.  A clear day and the extra elevation would mean we would get to look back at some nice views of what you see in the satellite image below.

Jomolhari and the Tsho Phu lakes on Day 4

However, it was not meant to be!  By the time we left at 9:00 a.m., the clouds had rolled in and that blue sky that we had seen at 5:45 was pretty much gone for most of the day. The shot below shows the view from the other side of the river halfway up our climb to the plateau and the lakes.

looking west to Jomolhari Base Camp from the slopes on the east side of the Paro Chhu

As we walked up the hidden valley, we saw some Himalayan blue sheep on the slopes. They were far enough away that even with the 720mm reach of my Sony HX80, they were barely discernible!

The shallow lakes we were walking to are said to be full of brown trout but as you approach a sign informs you that no fishing is allowed.  Also discouraged are bathing in the lake and spitting into it!

Fishing notice (in English!) before we reach the first of the Tsho Phu lakes

We passed by a yak herder’s temporary tarp shelter just before the first lake and heard the barking of a Tibetan mastiff guard dog. Luckily, he was chained to a post since the guidebooks caution trekkers about the unfriendly nature of the dogs if they happen to be off-leash!

a yak herder’s tarp shelter on the edge of one of the Tsho Phu lakes

Shortly after we came to the area between the two lakes, it started to rain lightly.

a view of the first of the Tsho Phu lakes from its east end

looking west toward Jitchu Drake from a spot between the two Tsho Phu lakes by Jangothang

the easternmost of the two lakes – Tsho Phu by Jomolhari Base Camp

We did see a few yaks grazing on the hillside above the Tsho Phu but the guides noted that there would have been more up here for springtime.  We had an unexpected cup of tea courtesy of Karma and Kinley, the guys who took care of lunch service during the trek.

While we stood there and sipped on our tea, our guide Tendin described another popular trekking route – the Jomolhari Loop Trek –  that comes up to the Tsho Phu lakes before heading back in the direction of Shana. See below for a description of this shorter trekking route!

yaks grazing between the two lakes with the yak herder’s tarp shelter at the other end of the lake

————-

A Shorter Jomolhari Trekking Route Option 

Not everyone wants (or has the time or money) to sign up for the 23-day + Snowman trek.  The trail from Shana to Jomolhari is undoubtedly the one most walked by trekkers visiting Bhutan.  This probably explains why it certainly had the most litter of any section of the Snowman Trek trail.

The most common one-to-two-week Jomolhari options include the following:

  1. Shana-Jomolhari-Laya-Gasa…at 12 days, the most ambitious of the shorter trek options. Coming down from Laya,  the exit is Gasa.  However, a rough road now comes within four hours of Laya.
  2. Shana-Jomolhari-Nyile La-Lingshi- Shodu-Barshong-Dolam Kencho-Dodena (Note: road construction will soon mean a road all the way from Lingshi to Dodena!)
  3. Shana-Jomolhari-Tsho Phu- Bonte La-Soi Yaktsey-Gunitsawa near Shana

The sketch map below illustrates #2 (The Jomolhari Loop Trek). It is Trek 4 in the Bart Jordans guidebook and has the name  Jomolhari Bonte La Circuit.  It uses the trail we had taken up to the Tsho Phu lakes and then continues on to the high pass of the trek at Bonte La (transliterated as Bongetela on the map below) and then returns to Gunitsawa near Shana via the Soi Yaksey valley.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

————-

Back To the Jomolhari Campground

And then it was back down to our campsite.

returning to camp – an afternoon view of Jitchu Drake, one of Jomohari’s neighbouring peaks

A view of Jomolhari Base Camp area on return from Tsho Phu

Waiting at the campsite would be a lunch table set up outdoors.  The weather cooperated long enough for lunch, and then – in mid-afternoon – it started to rain again. Some retired to their tents; others moved into the guesthouse dining area. For a brief period, the clouds cleared, and we saw some blue sky as we looked toward Jomolhari.

Jomolhari Campsite – a semi-clear view of the peak

afternoon view of Jomolhari from the campground

I turned to the east and looked back at the eastern slope of the Paro Chhu that we had climbed in the morning on our way to the Tsho Phu lakes. With our acclimatization mission accomplished, the next day we would be moving on to Lingshi, crossing our first high pass of the trek.

a view of Jomolhari Base Camp in the afternoon

 

 

Next Post: Day 5 – Jomolhari Campsite to Lingshi Via Nyile La

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 5 – Jomolhari B.C. To Lingshi Via Nyile La

Posted in Bhutan, hiking/trekking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

If Not For Viggo – A Winter’s Day Walk Along The Don River

Posted on 2019-12-02 by true_north

If not for Viggo, our Icelandic Sheepdog, I’d have sipped on a third cup of coffee this morning. Instead, we headed out for a walk at the tail end of a snow storm!  It was something I was actually looking forward to because the snowfall makes our favourite walk even better! Viggo, of course, loves the snow.

our backyard this morning – Dec 2, 2019 – after the snowfall

We head down into the Don River Valley south of Bloor Street on the east edge of downtown Toronto. The snow means the bike trail will be traffic-free and  I can let Viggo walk off-leash on some of the side-trails that go down to the banks of the river itself.

Another great thing about going down to the Don is that Viggo gets to walk on clean snow instead of the salt-saturated brown mush on the streets of our neighbourhood. This morning I carried him over Broadview Avenue to spare his paws from touching that stuff.

the well-salted road down to Riverdale Park East footbridge

Viggo coming down the steps to the Lower Don trail

I did notice a couple of sets of footprints and paw prints, one set of cross country ski tracks,  and one mega-wide bicycle tire track – but that was it for activity on the bike path itself.

looking back at the Riverdale footbridge over the Don River

As for our favourite side trails, no one had walked them yet this morning so we broke trail!  I have adopted and spent some time maintaining these trails over the past ten years – clearing deadfall, removing litter and garbage, etc.  Some Ontario paddlers adopt portage trails up north that they return to each year and take care of. I figure this trail running along the Don River two hundred meters south and north of the Prince Edward Viaduct is my portage trail contribution!

Here is a one-minute sample of a section of those side trails as it was this morning –

We walk north under the viaduct and continue along the river. This morning we returned on the bike trail. The shot below is taken from north of the viaduct.  Downtown is about two kilometers to the southwest.

the Prince Edward Viaduct over the Don River –

some graffiti art on the Bloor Street Viaduct base

Back at our favourite bend in the lower Don, I take the shot below for the 51st time! If I could only photoshop out that hydro tower and the wires!

a shot of the snow-covered Don River beach. looking south

Back up the steps we go. To the left is the Riverdale Farm and Cabbagetown. We are heading right (east) and our Riverdale neighbourhood. I do a bit of a detour to avoid the salt.

Viggo waiting for our walk up the Riverdale footbridge steps

Tonight we do another shorter clean snow walk in Riverdale Park East below Broadview.  If not for Viggo, I wouldn’t be doing that either!  Along with becoming my constant companion, he has made sure that every one of my days has its share of low-intensity aerobic exercise.  See below for this morning’s benefits.

some stats on the morning ramble!

 

Posted in Ramblin' With Viggo, Toronto | 8 Comments

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 3 – Soi Thangthangka To Jomolhari B.C./Jangothang

Posted on 2019-11-25 by true_north

Table of Contents:

Previous Post: Day 2 – Thongo Samba To Thangthangka

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 2 – Thongo Campsite to Thangthangka

————-

The Day’s Basic Data & Sat Image of Route

  • calendar date: September 30, 2019
  • time:  5 hrs. (including 1 hr. for lunch and more for a few rest breaks)
  • distance: 17 km. (from Bart Jordans’ guidebook)
  • start point altitude: Thangthangkha 3575m
  • endpoint campsite:  Jangothang/Jomolhari Base Camp 4044m
  • Maps: Bart Jordans’ Trekking In Bhutan has useful overview maps of the many possible variations of the Snowman Trek
  • I used a Sony RX100 III to capture most of the images you’ll see below; a fellow trekker’s Huawei P30 captured the others. (Thanks again, O, for letting me use them!)

Snowman Trek – Day 3 Thangthangkha to Jomolhari Base Camp

————-

Thangthangka Campground & Guesthouse

After breakfast in the same room in the guesthouse that we had used the night before, we left a muddy Thangthangka campground around 8:30.  The day’s weather would feature more low-hanging clouds and mist. As for the mostly muddy trail of the first two days, by mid-morning, the forest canopy was gradually replaced by a more open vista, and the trail became more walkable.

morning at Thangthangka campground – some rain overnight

The guidebooks talk about the stupendous views of Jomolhari – not only from Drugyel Dzong but also from the Thangthangka campground – but three days in and we still had nothing but cloud when we looked in the direction of that high peak.  However, the hydroelectric poles and wires were never far away and often visible!

the muddy Thangthangkha campground – the start of Day 3 on the Snowman trek

Day 3 – getting ready to leave Thangthangkha’s guesthouse

There were a few dogs at the Thangthangka guesthouse.   The  Tibetan mastiff below seemed to have a job as a guard dog. Here he is tête à tête with one of our guides as we were ready to set off on the day’s 17 km. walk up to our next campground, called Jomolhari Base Camp. (There must be a dozen different ways of spelling the mountain’s name; I chose the simplest version. See also Jhomolhari, Chomolhari, etc.!)

————-

Up The West Side of the Paro Chhu

The trail follows the west side of Paro Chhu all the way to Jomolhari B.C.  Every once in a while, we would stop and take in a view of the river to our right as its glacial water tumbled down on its way to Paro and points beyond.

members of our trekking team coming up the trail from thangthangkha

members of our trekking team coming up the trail from the Thangthangkha campground

the Paro Chhu on Day 3 to Jomolhari B.C. – always on our right

low-hanging cloud cover on the other side of the Paro Chhu

————-

The Army Checkpoint En Route

In the morning, we also walked past a rather ramshackle collection of buildings that served as a Bhutanese and Indian Army trekkers’ permit checkpoint.

a view of Phari on the Tibet side in relation to the trekkers’ trail to Jomolhari

While trekkers may be one concern, another is the easy accessibility of the Tibetan side thanks to nearby passes and Phari, a town of some 2000 inhabitants 11 km. away on the Tibetan side.  Smugglers bringing Chinese goods into Bhutan often use one of them to conduct their illegal business.

an Indian army checkpoint on the trail to Jomolhari from Thangthangkha

Along with the Para Chhu,  there are also several side streams coming down from those hills on the border side; every once in a while we’d cross one and I would think – “Should I get a shot of this one? – knowing that, as awesome as it is to stand there and take in the energy of the water rushing by,  it would look pretty much the same as all the previous seventeen to my wife when I showed her the pix!

a side-stream tumbling down to the Paro Chhu from the border with Tibet

————-

Visible Signs of Local Buddhist Practice

Given the fairly low population in the region, there were few reminders of Tibetan Buddhism.  We did see some examples of the following:

  • strings of the multi-coloured prayer flags, especially later in the trip at high passes. Our guide had given each of us a set of prayer flags to string at a high pass of our choice. If this is common practice with Bhutanese trekking agencies, then a lot of the prayer flags that we would see are not even left by locals.
  • chortens (usually square with the khemar, the rust-brown stripe just below the roof
  • mantra-filled prayer wheels (sometimes spun by the water flowing by)

breaktime in a meadow (thang) on the way to Jomolhari

While we set off before the tent and kitchen crews, they would catch up to us later in the morning and by the time we got to the camp in the afternoon, the tents would often be up and ready to take our duffel bags. An hour or so later, so too would the dining tent and the two toilet tents (erected over a 30 cm-deep hole dug by the crew and complete with sit-down seats!)

The pix below capture a few of our 43 horses as they lug all of the stuff mentioned above – the various tents, the trekkers’ duffels, the food, etc.). Each horse carried between fifty and sixty kilograms. In the first two images, they cross a side stream on a rough wooden bridge.  Then the trail was back to the Paro Chhu.

trekkers stepping aside to let some of our 43 horses pass by

a close-up of the horse train on the way to Jangothang

our Snowman Trek village on the move! walking up the right side of the Paro Chhu

following the hydro poles up the Paro Chhu to Jomolhari Base Camp

————-

Day 3 Lunch and the Helinoxes

Lunch Day 3 and the same set-up that had amazed us the day before!  The three horses carrying the food and gear got to graze while we had our sit-down meal.

I was impressed with Yangphel’s (the local trekking agency in charge of the trip) choice of a camp chair! It invested in the pricy  Helinox Chair One XL  (U.S. $150. each!)  On the plus side, they only weigh 1.5 kg. each and are fairly compact and take some abuse. One horse could carry all the chairs and the three equally compact tables!

Helinox Chair 1 XL – $160 US in 2024 or #220. CDN

We didn’t know it but our lunch spot was only a 4-km. walk away from the Jomolhari campsite, which we reached shortly after 2 p.m.

our Day 3 lunch set-up on the way to Jomolhari B.C.

a serious case of burrs on this poor horse’s head

————-

The Settlements Before Jomolhari B.C.

Day 3  – the Paro Chhu a few km. south of Jomolhari Base Camp

By the time we approached our campsite the forested slopes had been replaced by a mud-free trail through scrub and low-level bush, as the remaining pix will show.

round chorten on a square base and a prayer wheel on the side of the trail to Jomolhari

There are a few scattered settlements (collections of a half-dozen houses) that the trail passes through or under.  We really did not see many signs of life until we came to the very last one, Dangojang (not to be mistaken for Jangothang just north of Jomolhari B.C.!)

the trail to Jomolhari-base-camp passes through a few settlements

It is the one closest to Jomolhari B.C.;  in the satellite image below it is located on the top right.  As we entered the south end of the village we passed by a dilapidated chorten and a square open platform covered with a roof to the side. Prayer flags long past their best-before dates draped each of them. It made me wonder how important they really were to the villagers.

a dilapidated chorten at the south end of Dangojang

looking back at the cluster of buildings – and the chorten to the  left of center

On returning home I took a look at some satellite images of the village and was able to locate the chorten and covered platform that we had passed as we walked through Dangojang.  See below for the view.

Dangojang – the last settlement just south of Jomolhari B.C.

Visible in the image below are the hydro poles leading us to Jomolhari; on the right-hand side is a chunk of rock that was turned into a natural chorten!  Draped around the top was a string of prayer flags.

Day 3 – approaching Jomolhari Base Camp

As we came to Jomolhari Base Camp we saw four chortens on a platform to our right and in the distance a couple of buildings and some of our tents. We were now at 4044 meters, having gained almost 500 in the day’s walk.

Given that it was only Day 3 of our trek and we had started at 2200 meters in Paro, the 1800 meters gained is about twice that recommended.  To give our bodies a chance to adapt to the thinning air, we would sleep at Jomolhari B.C. for two nights.  [Three of the 16 trekkers were also making use of Diamox as prophylaxis to aid with the process; I was one of them.]

our trekking group arriving at Jomolhari Base Camp

————-

The Allure of Jomolhari B.C.

Hearing “Jomolhari Base Camp” immediately conjures up Everest Base Camp and the image of mountaineers starting off from the flat area at the base of the mountain for the summit of Jhomolhari. However, there is no record of the camping space ever having been used for such a purpose.  It does have a nice ring to it!

Since 2013 it has also been given another purpose when the Tourist Council of Bhutan made it the location of the Jomolhari Mountain Festival,  highlighting various aspects of local culture and an opportunity for enterprising locals to set up vendors’ tables for the trekkers who happen to be in camp.  This year (2019) it took place on the 14th and 15th of October, two weeks after our stay there.

Recent trekking brochures mention it as yet another highlight of the Jomolhari/Snowman Trek. One thing the organizers play up is a possible encounter with the snow leopard! There are supposedly some 30 in all of Jigme Dorje Park.  The “festival” comes across as contrived but, given the mandate of the TCB,  it also makes perfect sense.

  • The locals get to act as props as the tourists take in the scene with their cameras.
  • The travel agencies in Thimphu have another “festival” to promote to “high value, low impact” visitors keen on seeing a snow leopard.
Jomolhari Base Camp view from the south

Jomolhari Base Camp view from the south

And that view of the mightly Jomolhari peak, the highest of those on the western border which Bhutan shares with Tibet.  Well, that would have to wait until the next day!  The two shots below capture the little that the mountain revealed that afternoon.

chortens at Jomolhari with Jomolhari hidden in the clouds

As you look up to Jomolhari, you see the remains of a dzong on a hilltop, as well as crumbled bits of what was once a wall.

our Day 3- afternoon view of Jomolhari!

Jomolhari Tenting Site and Guesthouse

At Jomolhari B.C. there is a guesthouse for use by trekking groups. During our stay, we had use of the building as our dining area. The cook team was also about to set up their kitchen inside the building, a nice upgrade from their blue cook tent.

We shared the Jomolhari B.C. camping area with one other trekking party – a group of Bhutanese students whose blue and green tents are visible in the image below.  The orange tents were ours – they were Marmot Thor 3P tents and they mostly held one person each!

Weight 4.6 kg.; Area 4.5 sq m; H124.5cm; L236cm; W188cm

Not only did the amount of space we each have make it quite decadent but add to that the Thermarest Basecamp sleeping pads, the 2m x 1-meter wool carpet,  the pillow, and the also-provided Marmot sleeping bag and you have deluxe accommodation!

a view of the Jomolhari campsite from the west

The next day, as an acclimatization exercise (“Walk high, sleep low!”) we would walk up the hillside behind the tents in the above image and into a hidden valley. The next post has the pix! Included are our first views of Jomolhari!

Next Post: Day 4 – Acclimatization Day At Jomolhari Base Camp

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 4 – Jomolhari B.C. Acclimatization Day

Posted in Bhutan, hiking/trekking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 2 – Thongo Campsite to Thangthangka

Posted on 2019-11-23 by true_north

Table of Contents:

Previous Post: Day 1 –  Paro To Shana To Thonga Samba

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 1 – Paro To Shana to Thongo Samba

—————

The Day’s Basic Data & Satellite View

  • calendar date: September 29, 2019
  • time: 6 hrs. (including 1 hr. for lunch and a bit more time for rest breaks)
  • distance: 12 km.
  • start point altitude: Thongo Samba  3260m
  • endpoint campsite:  Thangthangkha 3575m
  • Maps: Bart Jordans’ Trekking In Bhutan has some useful overview maps of the many possible variations of the Snowman, as well as other treks.
  • altitude profile chart: see here for the high passes and campsites from Shana to Laya
  • I used a Sony RX100 III to capture most of the images you’ll see below; a fellow trekker’s Huawei P30 captured the others. (Thanks again, O, for letting me use them!)

Day 2 – Thongo Samba To Thangthangka

—————

The Daily Morning “On Trek” Routine:

This is how things unfolded each morning:

  • wake up and coffee/tea is delivered to  the tent door
  • a bowl of hot water to wash up is delivered a few minutes later
  • put back into the duffel the sleeping bag, Thermarest, clothes, jars with toiletries and medications.
  • make sure the day pack has the gear and items needed for the day’s hike
  • head for the dining tent with the day pack, leaving the duffel inside  the tent

On the first morning,  7 a.m. was the official wake-up time. I unzipped my sleeping bag around 6:45 and started by stuffing the agency-provided bag back into its sack. (We were also each given a 1 m x 1.5 m wool carpet, a large size Thermarest Base Camp pad, as well as a pillow!  All of the contents of the tent would go into its own canvas bag and then be delivered to the tent at the end of the day after the tent was back up.)  At 7:00 I exchanged good-mornings with the kitchen guys who were on their tea/coffee round and requested a black tea.

At 6:55 I declined the bowl of hot water and continued packing the duffel and also making sure I had what I needed in my day pack. Once the duffel is gone you do not get access to it until you arrive in camp in the afternoon.

Breakfast in the dining tent was an hour after wake-up, ample time to get organized.   I was out of the tent early and brought my packsack and trekking poles to the dining tent and then went for a walk around the site with my camera.

While we had breakfast the tent crew was busy taking down the tents and putting all the contents of each tent inside its own bag.  The total weight of each trekker’s bag would be between 20 and 25 kilograms; those horses carrying the trekkers’ stuff would be loaded with two of them.  Yet other horses carried the various tents themselves as well as the food and other gear. In all, some 43 horses made up our train as we moved from campsite to campsite!  It was a small village on the move!

another view of the Thongo Samba campsite - horses, sleeping tents, and dining tent

a view of Day 1 Thong Samba campsite – the Paro Chhu flows from right to left across the middle of the image

the cook tent at Thongo Samba – the morning of Day 2 of the trek

horse being prepped for the day’s carry

—————

Heading Up The Paro Chhu Trail

Breakfast done, we hit the trail north at about 9:00.  We spent most of the day walking on the east side of the Paro Chhu. Never too far away were those hydro wires you see in a few of the following images.

the Paro Chhu an the hydro-electric wires

following the Paro Chhu and the hydro-electric wires up the steep valley to Jomolhari

the trail to Thangthangka - letting a local horse train pass by

the trail to Thangthangka – letting a local horse train pass by

—————

Our First Lunch On The Trail

Somewhere along the way, we stopped for lunch. Since this was our first lunch on the trail we were amazed to see the lengths to which the crew went to make us comfortable. Three horses carried all the stuff needed to set up what you see below –

Lunch Day 2 –  shot taken by a fellow trekker

No matter where we were, this lunch setup was the one we used throughout the trek. [The more common format used elsewhere is a packed lunch for each trekker.] On one occasion when it was snowing we even erected a tent over the tables to keep us and everything else dry!

—————

The Thangthangkha Campground

Lunch over, we had a short afternoon walk before arriving at the Thangthangkha campground around 3.  We approached on a clear trail running on the west side of the Paro Chhu. Most of the tents were already up; the crew had managed to find a grassy area free from mud.  Behind the tents were three buildings. We would later make use of a room in the one nearest to our tents; it would serve as our dining room.

Thangthangkha – Guest House and Camping Area – see here for the Google Earth view

approaching the Thangthangkha enclosed camping ground area

Four dogs were curled up on the grass as we hopped over the fence enclosing the area; a couple of barks and they stopped and laid back down.

Thangthangkha dogs curled up in the tenting campground

Thangthangkha campground – the end of Day 2 on the Snowman trek

Thangthangkha on the way to Jomolhari – fenced-in campground

A few times during the trek, when there was a building available, we would make use of the interior space as a dining room.  Day 2 Supper/Day 3 breakfast was one of those occasions. Here is what it looked like for Supper on Day 2 –

photo taken by a fellow trekker

—————

Food Issues On The Trek – A Vegan Rant

What follows is a bit of a rant about the food served on the trek. Feel free to ignore it!

On signing up for the trip four months before departure I had made it clear that I wanted to keep to a plant-based only (i.e. vegan) diet. I was assured that the local company doing the trek (Yangphel) would know about my food requirements and would be able to meet them. A month before departure I checked again to make sure that my requirements had been relayed.  My World Expeditions Ottawa contact assured me everything would be fine.  The WE  “Essential Information” brochure included the following –

dietary requirements

Provided we are advised in advance of your departure we are able to cater for vegetarian diets and can assist with medically recommended diets (allergies and intolerances). Please ensure you discuss your requirements with us well in advance (at least 1 month prior to your trip) to determine whether we can cater to such dietary requirements on your chosen adventure. Please note that options are likely to be limited in very remote locations or alternatives may be more expensive or unavailable. There may be times when those with special requirements may need to provide their own food.

It turned out that the local company had no idea that there were two vegans on the trek!  I was told that this is only the second year that World Expeditions has worked with Yangphel. If this is the case, they need to do more work on the menu.

Given the $300. US a day I paid to be in Bhutan, I expected more.  The poor cook in the field did not have the resources to deal with the reality of vegans who require the same caloric intake as the other trekkers.  A few days later I was actually worried that I would not be able to finish the trek because of a massive food/calorie deficit.

I had brought along from home about 5 or 6  kilograms of mostly snack food –

  • a jar of peanut butter which I used at breakfast
  • a box of 8 single servings of instant oatmeal packages,
  • 16 100-gram zip-loc bags of various types of nuts,
  • a dozen Clif Bars,
  • 24 Clif Shot energy gel packs,
  • vegan cookies,
  • a jar of non-dairy creamer for my morning coffee,
  • 500 grams of raisins, 250 grams of cranberries, 250 grams of dried blueberries

For the Day 1 supper the night before I had plain rice, some chewy mushrooms (perhaps not completely rehydrated?), and 100 grams of cashews I had brought from home. That was it.

Day 2 breakfast involved a muesli cereal supplemented with some of my dried fruit over which I poured some apple juice. I also had a couple of slices of toasted white bread with peanut butter.  On the table was some jam which I would also end up using.

Lunch involved more plain rice and boiled veggies – probably mushrooms, cabbage, or broccoli. Since the food was prepared in the morning, it was usually cold by the time the containers were opened four hours later.

Supper meant more plain rice and more streamed vegetables.

Of all the food I have been served on treks around the world, the bland and predictable fare in Bhutan ranks at the bottom for tastiness and variety. I remember our local guide telling us at our final supper at the hotel before departure that on trek we could expect a five-star chef’s cooking.  This was definitely hype and hyperbole!  I would rate it at ** at the most. World Expeditions needs to sit down and do some work on the menu for the trek with the local agency it is currently using. Maybe WE or the local agency need to draw on the expertise of Nepalese trekking cooks, who have forty years of experience to draw from.

A positive note – On the three or four times that we were served aloo gobi (a curried potatoes and cauliflower dish),  I complimented the cook team for a delicious supper.  I will admit, however, that I had never before been presented with a version that included eggs!  They were good enough to make a separate version for me without the eggs. Another winning dish was the dal, a soupy lentil stew/soup.  Poured over the plain rice, it made it so much more interesting. One supper included a Bengali-style brown lentil dish that was appreciated.  It should have appeared more often!

—————

Next Post: Day 3 – Thangthangkha To Jangothang/Jomolhari B.C.

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 3 – Soi Thangthangka To Jomolhari B.C./Jangothang

Posted in Bhutan, hiking/trekking | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 1 – Paro To Shana to Thongo Samba

Posted on 2019-11-19 by true_north

Last revised on May 23, 2023.

Table of Contents:

Previous Posts:  Bhutan’s Snowman Trek Preview- mostly images

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek Preview: Part 1 – Paro To Shana To Laya

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek Preview: Part 2 – Laya To Chozo To Upper Sephu

—————-

Essential Data and Map Links

a satellite view of the first three days of the trek - the way to Jomolhari B.C./Jangothang

a satellite view of the first three days of the trek – the way to Jomolhari B.C./Jangothang

Day 1 –  Paro To Shana To Thongo Samba

  • Calendar date: September 28, 2019
  • Time: 3.5 hrs.
  • Distance: about 10 km.
  • Start point altitude:  2885m. at the Shana bridge
  • endpoint campsite: Thongo Samba  3260m –  a clearing on the east side of the Paro Chhu just after the side trail to Tremo La and the Tibetan border.
  • Maps: Bart Jordans’ Trekking In Bhutan has useful overview maps of the many variations of the Snowm and other treks.
  • Altitude profile chart: see here for the high passes and campsites from Shana to Laya.
  • I used a Sony RX100 III to capture most of the images you’ll see below; a fellow trekker’s Huawei P30 captured the others. (Thanks again, O, for letting me use them!)

Check out the cloud cover for September 28 and the days following at the NASA Worldview website. I’ve entered the GPS coordinates of Paro, Jomolhari, Lingshi, and Laya to indicate the route in rough.

—————-

The Bus Ride From Paro To Shana

The Dewachen Resort is located on the hillside west of the Paro Chhu and about three kilometers north of Paro’s small downtown area. We spent two nights there as we got over the effects of jet lag and did some pre-trip preparation. We also spent a half-day visiting Bhutan’s #1 tourist attraction – the Taktsang Monastery (“the Tiger’s Nest”).

Taktsang Monastery to the north of Paro, 

At 8:30 a.m. on our third day in Bhutan, we set off for Shana. The Lonely Planet Bhutan guidebook names it Sharna Zampa. Zampa is one transliteration of the Dzongkha word for “bridge.”Yet older maps have it transliterated from Dzongkha into English using Roman letters as Sharan Sampa. Since it is currently the end of the road from Paro,  Shana now serves as the starting point for most treks going up to Jangothang and Jomolhari B.C.

(I later met a group of four Canadian trekkers whose local agency had them start from Drugyel Dzong. The thinking may be that the 300 meters in elevation gain from Drugyel Dzong (2580m) to Shana are enough for Day 1 and that the 12-kilometer road walk makes for an easy introduction to the coming rigours of the trek.

On the downside, their walk to Shana from Drugyel Dzong was followed by a massive Day 2 from Shana to the guesthouse at Thangthangka.  A couple of them thought the 21-kilometer distance on Day 2 was a bit much.  I am glad to have been spared

  • the drudgery of the gravel road walk from the Drugyel Dzong to Shana and  
  • the 21 km. distance they walked on Day 2.

We walked from Shana to Thangthangka in two shorter days.)

The Snowman Trek – the bus and pick-up truck ready to take us to the trailhead at Shana

On the dirt road to Shana, we would get one more view of Taktsang Monastery, three kilometers away on the other side of the Paro Chu. Click on the image below to see the arrow indicating the Tiger’s Nest location!

Click on the image to see the arrow indicating The Tiger Nest’s location!

—————-

A Visit to Drugyel Dzong

Then it was further up the west side of the river until we came to Drugyel Dzong, which was, until a few years ago, the end of the road and the start of the local/trader/trekker trail up to Jangothang and on to Lingshi and Chebisa and Laya.

A view of Drugyel Dzong as we approach from Paro

We walked up to the hilltop to see the fortress close up. While a photographer’s hope is a clear day to frame a shot of the dzong with Jomolhari in the background, the cloud cover nixed that possibility!

Drugyel Dzong – a view from the south

The dzong (essentially a monastery fortress) was built in 1649 during a time of tensions within the Tibetan world as the dominant Buddhist sect – the Gelugpa – challenged Zhabdrung for control of what is now western Bhutan. It was one of a number of dzongs Zhabdrung had ordered to be built during the 1640s – e.g. Semtokha, Punakha, and Paro. Not far to the north of the fortress is Tremo La,  one of the passes over which the Gelugpa armies had come in the past, sometimes invited by those Sakya lamas opposed to Zhabdrung.  These days the sectarian war between various Buddhist groups is reframed as a war between the nation-states of Tibet and Bhutan. [Zhabdrung was a Tibetan who belonged to the Drugpa sect and had fled to what is now western Bhutan due to the war among the various Buddhist groups.]

drugyel dzong. 1905 photo

Over the years, earthquakes and, in 1951, a devastating fire left the hilltop in ruins. It was only in 2016 that work to restore the dzong to its former glory was started.

the Drugyel Dzong interior – a view from the north

After a walk up to the hilltop, we stood in the courtyard with a tall tower in front of us. It was enclosed by three-storey buildings that served both as enclosing walls and as housing and storage for the dzong’s inhabitants.

Drugyal’s central tower – October 2019

At the site were perhaps thirty people engaged in restoration work, which will apparently be completed by December 2022. (See here for some background info.)

—————-

The Dorje National Park Check Post

It is twelve kilometers from the Drugyel Dzong to Shana. We had a bit more narrow dirt road to go down before we got there.

building in the traditional Bhutanese style on the road to Shana from Drugyel Dzong

Just before Shana, we stopped for a few minutes at the army-manned checkpoint Gunitsawa while our local guide had our trekking permits checked by the official.

We then entered one of Bhutan’s largest protected areas, the 4,349 sq. km. Dorje National Park. The trek to Jomolhari starts in the park’s southwest corner.

National Parks and Protected Areas in Bhutan – Jigme Dorje Park in deep blue

the road to Shana from Drugyel Dzong

the road to Shana from Drugyel Dzong

—————-

Lunch In Shana

Just before noon, we arrived at Shana. The satellite image below shows perhaps a dozen buildings in Shana and the broken red line on the first two kilometers of the trail we would soon be walking up to Jomolhari and beyond.

We were ushered into the yard on the side of a building, where we were greeted by support staff belonging to the Thimphu adventure travel agency Yangphel in charge of the actual trek. [I booked the trip through World Expeditions,  an Australian company specializing in small group adventure travel that I had used before.]

A covered table was already set for lunch.   We didn’t know it then, but we were not far from the footbridge across the river and the start of the horse trail up the Paro Chhu valley.

the lunch tent at Shana

Under his own umbrella sat a Buddhist monk/priest with all the paraphernalia associated with ritual – incense, special bowls, etc. I noticed that the cardboard box that served as the altar had once held a couple dozen whisky bottles.

a Buddhist priest doing prayers for our benefit

In the background, as we ate lunch, I occasionally tuned in to the chanting and ritual gestures the monk was engaged in. Before we left the grounds, we lined up for him to drape a khata, a white scarf, over each of our necks. I’m still not sure why he was the one bestowing the khata. I figured in this situation, it should have been we, trekkers, in thanks for his petitioning the deities on our behalf.

Here is an alternative explanation which may explain why we were the ones getting the ceremonial scarves –

The white scarf is also used to welcome and bid farewell to guests at places like airport, train station and bus station etc. In these contexts, Khata is a gesture of welcome, goodbye and good luck in the form of best purity and sincerity.

In our case, perhaps a welcome, goodbye, and good luck gesture all simultaneously.

photo taken by a fellow trekker

The Bus Driver Gets A $160. Tip!

Before we set off, there was one more issue to deal with. We would say goodbye to the driver who had driven the bus over the past two and a half days. US$10. from each of us was the suggested tip – $160. in all. While I can’t say for sure how much a bus driver in Bhutan earns per day, $30. is, I think, a reasonable guess. (I base that on what someone in Nepal or India in the same situation might earn.)

Feel free to correct me on the actual wage if I am way off,  but in the meantime, I still find the idea of a $160 U.S. tip in this situation astonishing. If nothing else, we helped to raise not only Bhutan’s GDP but also its Gross National Happiness number! Gotta love those “international” guests and their US$ and Euros!

the start of the trek at the Shana bridge

—————-

Day 1 –  Shana To Thongo Samba

  • Time: 3.5 hrs.
  • Distance: about 7.5 km.
  • Start point altitude:  2885m. at the Shana bridge
  • Endpoint campsite: Thongo Samba  3260m –  a clearing on the east side of the Paro Chhu just after the side trail to Tremo La and the Tibetan border.
  • Maps: Bart Jordans’ Trekking In Bhutan has some useful overview maps of the many possible variations of the Snowman and other treks.
Days 1 and 2 - Shana To Thangthangkha

Days 1 and 2 – Shana To Thangthangkha

—————-

Negotiating The Muddy Trail

After putting on our rain gear – pants, hooded jackets, and, for some, gaiters – it was time to set off.   We set off in the rain at about 1:30 and arrived at the campsite around 5:00 p.m. – a four-hour walk. The one defining feature was the muddy, horse-shit-littered “trail” we walked up. I was also surprised to see the hydroelectric poles; we would follow the wires almost all the way to Laya. They were a reminder that the isolation and rustic living conditions which once defined this area along the border with Tibet was ending. I sometimes consciously framed my images so that the wires and poles would not be in them, thus preserving the “used to be” look of the landscape!

hydro-electric poles on the side of the trail – a common site for the first ten days

a rainy – and muddy -introduction to the trekking trails of Bhutan

The Bart Jordans’ guidebook to trekking in Bhutan has this line about the first couple of days of the trek as you walk through the lush forested terrain on either side of the Paro Chhu –

The trail climbs steadily through a beautiful thick forest of oak, rhododendron, bamboo and ferns. Look out for birds: there are many species here.

Given the trail conditions, looking up at the tree canopy for birdlife was the last thing on our minds. Instead, we were focused on the mud and horse shit we were walking through. Every step involved an assessment that included avoiding the mess below and choosing a rock stable and flat enough to allow us to follow with another solid step. A couple of hours of this gets a bit tiresome! I slipped once, thanks to a miscalculation!

another of the many muddy sections of the Day 1 trail from Shana to Thongo Sampa

walking the muddy trail from Shana to Jomolhari – Day 1

From stone to stone, we made our way up the trail, occasionally rewarded with a stunning view of the Paro Chhu itself (Chhu is the Dzongkha word for “river”) or of streams running down into the Paro from the hillsides on either side.

a bridge crossing on Day 1 from Shana to Thongo Sampa on leaving Shana

one of the bridge crossings of Day 1 from Shana to Thongo Samba (Zampa)

Below is a shot of me walking along with my trekking poles in hand – only one of a few times that I was not using them! As I look at the trail in the image, I think – “Where is the mud?” It looks totally acceptable!

shot taken by one of my fellow trekkers

Shot taken by one of my fellow trekkers

—————-

Walking Past A Spinning Prayer Wheel

Also evident on occasion were reminders that we were in a cultural world defined by the magic and sorcery-infused branch of Buddhism known as Vajrayana. It combined the tantric beliefs of north India from 1000 years after the time of Siddhartha Gautama with the local animistic beliefs of the Himalayas at that time to such an extent that the result is a belief system far from what Gautama taught or intended.

We would pass by the multi-coloured prayer flags strung across a stream or alongside the trail. Later in the trek, the flags would be found at most high passes that we crossed, along with a pile of small stones, each one of which would have been carried up by a traveller and left as a sign of thanks for safe passage. See the following post for more on those prayer flags!

Blowin’ In the Wind: An Appreciation of Tibetan Buddhist Prayer Flags

In the video below, you can see the water being used to spin a prayer wheel. Filled with thousands of individual “Om Mani Padme Hum” mantras, the spinning action is believed to toss the positive energy of the mantras out into the world.

checking out the Paro Chhu from the trail to Jomolhari

—————-

Arriving At Our First Night’s Camp

We came to the fork in the trail pictured below just north of Shing Karap and south of our Day 1 campsite. Take the left-side trail, and in a couple hours,  you will be standing at the top of the 4600m Tremo La and on the border with Tibet!

We took the trail to the right and approached our campsite after crossing a bridge to the east side of the Paro Chhu.

the fork in the trail – Tremo La and Tibet to the left – Jomolhari B.C. to the right

Already at the site as we walked in were the tent/cook crew and the horse crew from Shana with their 43 horses! They would move us up the trail as far as Jangothang/Jomolhari Base Camp before they turned back to Shana. Meanwhile, a new horse crew from Jangothang would take over and move us up to Laya before they would be replaced by a new team from Laya. In this way, the economic benefits of trekking tourism are spread out among the various local communities. If I got the information right,  each horse earns  US$20. a day, a nice infusion of cash into the region and a good reason to take care of the aminals, each of which carries about 60 kilograms.

Thongo Samba camp – Day 1 of the Snowman trek

a few of our horses – Day 1 Thongo Samba

Jordans labels the campsite as Thongo Samba. Thongo is his transliteration of thang, meaning “flat area,” and samba, his version of zampa, meaning “bridge.”  The site is not far from a bridge we crossed to get there from the west side of the river.

a view of our first camp on Day 2 morning

—————-

The Issue of Acclimatization

We were now at 3250 meters, about 400 meters in altitude higher than Shana. While the World Expeditions guide had encouraged me to forego my use of acetazolamide – its trade name is Diamox, I had started taking the tablets the day before to aid in acclimatization.  I had used them on a half-dozen previous high-altitude treks and had not experienced any acclimatization issues or even a headache. So I continued with the twice-a-day use – a half-tablet (125mg.) on waking up at 6:00 a.m. and the other just before supper at 6:00 p.m.

While it may seem to some as magical thinking dressed up in scientific clothing, ample evidence indicates that it does work.  However,  it does not mean that other protocols like

  • slow assent,
  • no alcohol, and
  • adequate hydration

can be disregarded.

Snowman Trek – the effective amount of oxygen at different elevations

I was one of three trekkers – of a group of 16 – who made use of the Diamox, and none of us suffered any acclimatization issues during the trek. While most of the others also faired okay,  two of the thirteen could not finish the trek because of respiratory or stomach-related issues.

N.B. If you are going to suffer from acclimatization issues on the Snowman trek, it will likely be in the first week or so. After that, your body will probably have made the adjustments necessary to deal with the thinner air.

—————-

Next Post: Day 2 – Thongo Samba to Thangthangka

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 2 – Thongo Campsite to Thangthangka

Posted in Bhutan, hiking/trekking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek Preview: Part 2 – Laya To Chozo To Upper Sephu

Posted on 2019-11-11 by true_north

Table of Contents:

Previous Post: Snowman Trek Preview: Part 1 – Paro To Shana To Laya

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek Preview: Part 1 – Paro To Shana To Laya

————–

The Two Parts Of The Snowman Trek

KE Adventure promo

The previous post described the trek from Shana to Laya over 10 days; it is sometimes packaged as the Jomolhari Trek or Laya Trek and has yet other names. From the end of the trek at Laya, trekkers descend to Gasa and a vehicle ride back to Punakha and Thimphu.

Campsites and High Passes – Shana to Laya

Now we were off on the second half of our Snowman Trek.  The trail from Laya to Upper Sephu Via Chozo or Thanza is often called the Laya Lunana Trek,  with the name Lunana Snowman Trek applied to the entire route from Shana.  This second half of the Snowman includes seven high passes and campsites that are mostly at or above 4000 meters.

Laya To Upper Sephu high passes and campsites graph

The expected views of Himalayan peaks during the first half of our trek were scarce due to almost daily rain and low cloud cover.  After a relatively cool and rainy rest day in Laya, we hoped for better weather and clearer skies as we set off from Laya for Lunana.

After ten days on the trail,  the concern about acclimatizing properly was no longer an issue.  Unfortunately, the combination of dry air and increased breathing rate can cause problems;  one of our trekkers had to end the trek at Laya because of a cough that only seemed to worsen. I had seen a fellow trekker hit by the same respiratory problem on a 22-day Everest region trek a few years ago.

Bhutan - Snowman Trek Route

————–

Day 12 – Laya To Rodophu

The day’s 17.6 km. walk was a tough one. Starting in Laya at  3800m, we would descend past a military camp/checkpoint to the left fork in the trail at 3240 m.  and then scramble on some relatively rough and, in the forest sections, muddy “trail.”  Cloud cover and occasional rain made me wonder if we would ever get some decent weather. We were back up to above 4200 meters by the end of the day!

the forest trail to Rodophu from Laya

the path to Rodophu – yaks on the way to Gasa

the trail to Rodolphu - a short section gone after landslide

the trail to Rodophu – a short section gone after a landslide

approaching Rodophu campsite

See Day 12 – Laya To Rodophu for maps and more pix and detail

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 12 – Laya To Rodophu

————–

Day 13 – Rodophu To Narethang Via Tsemo La

The next day was a shorter one – 11 km. and included another pass, Tsemo La (4905 m.)

approaching Tsemo La on the way to Narethang

descending from Tsemo La

descending from Tsemo La

panorama from the east side of Tsemo La

See Day 13 – Rodophu To Narethang Via Tsemo La for more details and images.

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 13 – Rodophu To Narethang Via Tsemo La

————–

Day 14 – Narethang To Tarina Via Kang Karchung La

Narethang camp in the morning

Narethang camp in the morning

our dining tent at Narethang

yaks coming from Lunana on the east side of Karakachu La

a free-roaming dog surveying his Himalayan domain

We walked into this stunning vista just around the corner from where the dog was; it was perhaps the most spectacular of the trip so far.

a breathtaking Himalayan view from the Narethang-Tarina section of the Snowman route

See Day 14 – Narethang To Tarina Via Kang Karchung La for maps and more details on this part of the route.

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 14 – Narethang To Tarina Via Karakachu La

————–

Day 15 – Tarina To Green Lake Via Woche

a makeshift bridge across a side stream on the way to Green Lake (after Woche)  from Tarina

See Day 15 – Tarina To Green Lake Via Woche for more pix and maps of this section of the trek.

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 15 – Tarina To Green lake Via Woche

————–

Day 16: Green Lake To Chozo Via Keche La

flowers on the hillside above Green Lake campsite (4450m)

Some two hundred meters above is Keche La (4666m). The following images show the initial section above the campsite and the nearby Keche La itself.

leaving our Green Lake campsite the next day

a view of Green Lake and a second higher one from Keche La (4666m)

Then it was over the pass and down the other side.  Now we were definitely in the isolated district of Lunana with its river, the Pho Chhu flowing down from the three glacial lakes above Chozo and Thanza.

In 1994 a glacial lake outburst flood had a catastrophic impact on the swollen river down to Punakha.  In reading about the event, I had worried about our campsite location at Chozo.  The village of Lhedi, pictured below, sits high above the floodplain.  I remember thinking -“I hope the same is true of Chozo.”

the first view of Lhedi and the floodplain of the Pho Chhu

After a lunch stop at the east end of Lhedi (just beyond the school), we continued to Chozo, sometimes walking on a rocky but dry “trail” on the floodplain itself and sometimes on one side or the other – as in the image below.

Following the Pho Chhu up to Chozo

Chozo was another point on the trek at which one horse team would turn back to its starting point (Laya, in this case) while a local team would be hired to take us to the next point (in this case, to the very end of the trek at Upper Sephu).

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 16 – Green Lake To Chozo Via Keche La

————–

Day 17: Rest Day in Chozo

We spent two nights in Chozo.  Since the second day out of Laya, the blue skies in most of the post’s pictures show that the weather had improved. We’d get more sun in the days to come.

panorama of the seasonal village of Chozo in Lunana district – October 2019

our Chozo campsite

the Chozo Dzong

The resident monk would let us enter the dzong and see the second-floor shrine room.

the resident monk at the Chozo dzong

See Day 17: Chozo Rest Day for more photos and info on Chozo.

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 17 – Chozo Rest Day

————–

Day 18 – Chozo To Tsho Chena Via Sintia La

As I look at that team of horses crossing the bridge below Chozo in the image below, I realize now that they were some of the horses the Yangphel guide had hired for the last leg of the trek. They would take us from Chozo down to Upper Sephu.

a local horse team crossing the Phu Chhu just 1 km downriver from Chozo

a small section of the days 1200 meters in ascent to get to the day's pass - Sintia La

a small section of the day’s 1200 meters in the ascent to get to Sintia La

precarious footing – for horses and humans  – as we make our way to Sintia La (5020m)

Day 18 campsite above Tsho Chena

Day 18 – Chozo To Tsho Chena Via Sintia La

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 18 – Chozo To Tsho Chena Via Sintia La

————–

Day 19 – Tsho Chena To Jichu Dramo Via Loju La

The next morning at our campsite to the west of Tsho Chena, a brief snow shower dusted everything!

morning snow shower at our camp above Tshochena

Less than forty-five minutes later, here is what things looked like at the same campsite!

twenty minutes after the morning shower at our above Tshochena campsite

Loju La (5115m) appears in the video clip above and the image below –

Angel ‘s photo – our horses crossing Loju La on Day 19 of the Snowman Trek

No matter where we were, lunch involved a full sit-down with folding tables, tablecloths, plates and cutlery, and super comfortable Helinox chairs!  Three horses and three staff members made sure that it all happened quickly. The food was prepared at breakfast and then kept in heat-retaining containers until lunch.

Here is what it looked like on the day we crossed Loju La – it was a rather exposed spot on the high-altitude plateau we were traversing.

lunchtime a few kilometers after Loju La

Day 19 – Tsho Chena To Jichu Dramo Via Loju La has maps, more images and info.

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 19 – Tsho Chena To Jichu Dramo Via Loju La

 

In the next couple of days, we would go from the stark and treeless vistas of high-altitude Himalayas – what you would expect to see on the Tibetan plateau – to increasingly luxuriant foliage as more and more plants appeared.

————–

Day 20 – Jichu Dramo To Tsho Tsho Tshampa Via Rinchen Zoe La

our Jichu Dramo Campsite around 8 a.m.

Rinchen Zoe La panorama – looking north

yak team crossing Rinchen Zoe La (5300m)

some of our horses at Rinchen Zoe La

A glacial lake bed drying up below Rinchen Zoe La

————–

Day 21 – Tsho Tsho Tshampa To Tampoe Tsho

the trail on the west side of the Thampe Chhu

forest trail above the Thampe Chhu

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 21 – Tsho Tsho Tshampa To Tampoe Tsho

————–

Day 22 – Tampoe Tsho To Rerethang Via Tempe La

Tempe La – looking down to Tempe Tsho

the horses of our lunch team pass by the top of Om Tsho

satellite view – Tempe La to Zezey Thang

Snowman trekkers on the ridge below Om Tsho

waterfall from the lake just above ZeZey Thang

two young women tending the Snowman Shop

approaching our final camp at Rerethang

Bhutan’s Snowman Trek: Day 22 – Tampoe Tsho To Rerethang Via Tempe La

————–

Day 23 – Rerethang To Upper Sephu

typical stretch of trail south of Maurothang

the lunch table at Sephu – the trek was done!

We covered almost twenty kilometres on the last morning before arriving at Upper Sephu. To greet us were staff members of Yangphel, the Thimphu adventure travel agency that had organized the actual trip.  I learned that this was the second year that Yangphel had made the trip for the out-of-Bhutan company through which I actually booked the trip.

final group shot of the crew – trekkers and support staff

—————-

The Yangphel staff had prepared another sit-down lunch, complete with red and white wine and beer. I stuck to apple juice and water, knowing how the alcohol would affect me after the 20 km. walk that morning and a four-hour ride on Bhutan’s winding roads!

By that evening, we had driven to Punakha and an excellent 3* hotel (the Zhingham Resort)  overlooking the Punakha Dzong. After three weeks in my admittedly plush 3-person Marmot tent, complete with basecamp Thermarest and carpet and pillows, it was a treat.

[I booked the trip through World Expeditions, an Australian-based company I have used before. Their website attracts clients and creates small groups that make the adventures possible for solo travellers like me. My contact was their sales office in Ottawa. The agency prompted me on the things I needed to take care of before departure –

  • the Bhutan visa requirements
  • a current passport,
  • an Indian visa ($110.) since I was flying to Paro via Delhi,
  • mountaineering-level insurance,
  • special dietary requirements, etc.

The Toronto-Delhi return was $1200; the Druk Air flight to Paro (and return) was another $450. Also, add in two nights in a New Delhi hotel – one on the way and the other on the way back. I picked a hotel close to the airport.

—————-

Who Gets How Much? 

Note: I did the trip in 2019, before Bhutan’s total revamp of its tourism policy.

The trek itself cost me US $7800 + tip.   Before 2022, the Bhutanese charged their “high value, low impact” (that is, non-Indian) tourists a minimum of US $250 all-inclusive a day to be in Bhutan.  Therefore,  $6750. (27 days x $250.) went to the Bhutanese government and to the local trekking agency.

Of the $6750.

  • The Bhutanese government’s share – the sustainable Development Fee –  was $65 a day or $1755  for my entire 27-day stay!  
  • Yangphel, the local trekking agency, got the rest, $5000. 

The World Expeditions charge for making the trip happen and paying their own assigned non-Bhutanese guide was about $1000. ($7800 – $6750). 

Also, note that the “voluntary” tip is expected by all. It was clearly a concern from the very first day of the trek and added another $400 to the final cost.

—————-

Post-Covid Update:

A new tourism policy was introduced when Bhutan opened up to tourism again after a two-and-a-half-year shutdown during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. This would have quite an impact on the cost of visiting Bhutan.

In 2023 the same World Expeditions trip costs US$16900 ($18590 CDN), more than double the $7800 I paid in 2019!

  • One reason is the Bhutanese government’s tripling of the “Sustainable Development Fee” (i.e. non-Indian tourist tax) from $65. a day to $200! The Bhutanese tourist tax for a 27-day stay in Bhutan in 2022 is now US$5400  up from $1755 in 2019.
  • Assuming the figure is correct, it means that World Expeditions and Yangphel’s share increased by $5000! So, instead of the $5000+ $1000 they got pre-2022, their share of the total is now $11,000. That is quite an increase.

—————-

Day-By-Day Snowman Trek Trip Report

—————–

Nepalese Himalaya Alternatives To the Snowman Trek 

There are two treks in nearby Nepal that I’ve done that surpass the Snowman as must-be-done epic trekking adventures. Like the Snowman Trek, they include the Himalayan Buddhist cultural overlay that I have until recently found especially enchanting. (See here for some background on what has soured me on Tibet’s #1 export.) They can also be done at one-quarter to one-third the cost. As a bonus, Kathmandu is a far more dynamic and multi-layered cultural experience than either Thimphu or Paro. It is a great place to spend a few days before or after your Himalayan trek.

The HighPasses of Everest: The World’s #1 Trek

Upper Mustang-Phu Valley Traverse Via Saribung La

——————-

Posted in Bhutan, hiking/trekking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments