BY TOM RUMSEY

The Himalayas is one of those places that very few people ever have the fortune to visit. One of the few places in the world that just thinking about makes you breathless.

I had hiked all over Britain and had visited the Alps, and was suitably impressed at the splendor that only vast mountain regions can create. The opportunity of a lifetime came about…the chance to travel to Nepal.

Unfortunately the timing of this trip with my parents was superbly timed in the middle of the Easter break, prior to my exams. I knew that I was not only going to have to work hard for my exams, but I had to be able to justify a holiday at this time of year.

What better incentive to work hours a day on Level 10, poring through textbooks. I was quietly excited about this, and when the day came I was happy to forget about real-life for a bit and enter a world of vast mystery and magnificence.

When we flew across the southern coast of Pakistan, and flew onto Indian airspace, I finally knew that the adventure had begun. The small screen at the front of the cabin displayed a relief map of the area, and anyone that has ever seen a map of Nepal or Tibet will agree that it is amazing.g.

The whole of Tibet is basically a plateau seldom dropping below 5000m in altitude, and Nepal is nestles on the southern edge of this plateau, and contains 14 of the 16 peaks in the world that are over 8000m.

However, you can only grasp this size when you look out of the plane window at cruising altitude and see snow capped peaks towering above the cloud, and to think people have stood atop these peaks is truly mind-blowing.

As Chris Bonnington put it once. “If I had seen the Himalayas before those of Scotland, then I would have never become a mountaineer. As the scale of these mountains would have appeared desperately unattainable”...couldn't put it better myself.

On arrival in Kathmandu, you could see the locals standing by the runway with their stock of cattle. Obviously having rushed them off the runway before the 1 of 2 planes that would land here today touched down.

After going through customs we were immediately greeted by about 300 Nepalese folk vying for our business. Luckily we were met by our Guide e Khum and whisked away quickly to our hotel.

My preconceptions of Kathmandu were immediately dashed as we sped out on to the main road. Although they officially drove on the left hand side of the road, it seemed the safest way was to charge around aimlessly as long as you were going in the right direction. Those caught sticking to the rules would soon find themselves trapped in by cyclists, trucks and cows/yaks.

One of the most noticeable things when driving around the city was the number of crates of Coca-Cola being sold by the huts in the side of the road. The water here is of a very poor quality, and we were advised to drink soft drinks whenever possible. Although the locals seemed happy drinking the local water...they must have stomachs of steel.

After a night in a homely hotel, and getting plenty of ‘Nemaste’ practice, we were soon preparing ourselves for the trek. Khum greeted us outside with a huge gang of lads. These were to be our companions/load-carriers for the trek, and I would hope to now consider myself a friend to these truly spirited people.

We were informed that we had a 80km drive to where we were beginning the trek at the head of the Langtang Valley. However, when the fully laden Land Rover arrived, we knew that this was more than just a drive.

With no less than 16 people onboard at one stage (including a baby), we were off. The drive took us North East of Kathmandu, and along a well used road through countless towns and villages, gradually winding up into the remote wilderness areas that we were aiming for. The road soon became extremely rough, and was more like a tourist path up a popular British peak than a road, and yet we still carried on.

Here we were informed that we had about 6 more hours of driving to go, and that the road will soon get quite bumpy!

At this point I will interject and try to give you an idea of the lay of this road. It was masterfully cut into the side of the mountains, and contoured around steadily gaining altitude. The trees grew along side the road protecting your nerves from what was easily a 2000m drop down into the valley. The side of the mountains were skillfully converted into staggered paddy fields, and the whole area was dedicated to agriculture.

The driver of the Land Rover was a genius, and was not willing to slow down for any sort of obstacle, and would frequently cheat death by turning away from the valley at the last moment.

However, the bravest people we saw were those who would cling for hours onto the scary side of the huge buses that would rattle along the road. A bus with 40 seats was not considered full until there were at least 120 people in, on or around it.

After arriving at our destination, and trying to enjoy some true Nepalese mountain culture, we soon nodded off to sleep in the tents that were set up for us by our gang. .

After an early start we were finally off, and so began our trek into the valley of the Langtang. Our porters and cooks had left about an hour before us to set up camp, and get our food ready. Here you truly begin to understand that all of the Nepalese are so fantastically happy, they were such innocent and unassuming people that you couldn’t help but love them…. they even looked happy when they were carting 70kg bags of rice on their heads for 30 miles to their remote mountain homes.

As the valley days went on, and I was wondering if were ever going to see any mountains, Khum told us that we were going to be crossing a saddle soon, that would be the true beginning of the mountains…I was extremely excited!

Then, as if out of the blue they appeared, the weather was magnificent, and only a few clouds imposed upon the sky’s unreal blue dominance. Jagged peaks covered in snow all year around began to rise unstoppably around us, this is knew was the reason I was here.

One memorable moment was when I was gazing majestically at a peak that towered above our heads, and was a truly beautiful sight. I asked Khum what it was called and he said it had no name, ‘it wasn’t even 6000m high’ (fair enough I thought!).

As we climbed to about 4000m, the climax to our trek came into view, there it was the Langtang Lirung, a mere 7400m(!). The highest peak in this area, and it was truly magnificent. It was the highest point on an impressive horseshoe carved out by 3 glaciers.

It did however take a commanding role of the local weather system, and was never the same from one hour to the next!

After sitting atop a rock, some way away from the remote village that served the trekkers/climbers attempting the local mountains, I relaxed and enjoyed the sunset turn the snow covered face of the Langtang from brilliant white, through a blazing orange to an eerie blue, the very tip only blessing me with its presence very rarely amongst the fast moving cloud.

After a poor nights sleep, the true cruelty of trekking in the mountains hit me, and I was struck with a body pummeling combination of food poisoning and mild altitude sickness…unfortunately the only way to go was down. Shattering my dream of climbing Tsergo Ri, just shy of 5000m, although I knew that I would be back one day.

After some fantastic stomach acrobatics, and struggling to summon the energy to move more than 10 feet without a rest we finally got down to a more comfortable altitude, where I was fed gallons of garlic soup and mountain tea (if only I knew how they brewed it, wonderful!).

The next day, weak but able, we walked back along the valley, and trekked through more beautifully located villages, desperately poor but populated by hard working and smiley faced people. It was in these places that the true realization that you were in one of the poorest places in the world, a county that has only one export...tourism, and struggles with that.

It is also wonderful to notice that the people were not begging or appealing, they were simply curious of the westerners. Yet they seemed to have no desire for our way of life, they seemed content to get by with what they had.

As we drove back down the so-called road, we were to be let in for an unexpected treat. Bhal our cook had struck up a close friendship with my parents from their previous trip out there, and he had invited us back to lunch at his house in one of the villages on the way home.

We were of course delighted with the invite, but hadn’t expected what was to be in store for us….

After being greeted by a sea of faces, many of whom had little experience of westerners. Gazed curiously at us as we walked towards Bhal's house. (Although most of them were equally as entranced by the Land Rover that had just pulled up laden with people!).

Bhal’s house was basically a mud hut, although it did have 2 floors and the standard of the building was obviously the fruit of many hours of proud labour. The views were also spectacular, across the huge Trisulu valley, endowed with hanging paddy fields and crops. One notable thing was that Bhal’s children were extremely lucky to be able to afford a good education in Kathmandu, and their proudest possessions were their textbooks…. these were at least 20 year old O’Level books, complete with British graffiti!

Our lunch consisted of Nepal’s staple diet of Dhal, basically a spicy lentil paste, which was extremely filling and much appreciated, although the 50+ crowd of onlookers watching your every bite made it slightly harder to eat. One of my favourite images of the whole trip was captured just after dinner, and is one I will treasure forever….

After a few more hours of off-road action, we trundled back to Kathmandu, tired, dirty but extremely satisfied. The Nepalese people are a kind and happy folk, and we have a lot more to learn from them than them from us…their constant optimism is contagious. The country is absolutely spectacular, and can never really be justified in an article or a collection of pictures…. maybe HikeSoc should visit one day?!

If you have a desire to visit this spectacular country, send me an email rumsey@rumseytek.freeserve.co.uk , or visit our guide Khum's website http://www.uniquetreks.com . (the editorial has a reassuringly Nepalese twang!) He is a reputable guide who treats his porters well, and dealing with him directly means that it is cheaper for you and cuts out the middleman, so all of the money goes straight into the stagnant Nepalese economy.

All photos in this article were taken by the author.