The Big Climb, The Experience and The View

  Posted on May 9, 2016 By

 71 Comments

I spent 2 nights camping at about 4100m altitude, having a good time acclimatizing and getting used to the thinner air. I started to feel dizzy at first, slightly lack of appetite but watching my Bhutanese friends eat, it motivates me to eat as much as I can. I just couldnt believe watching them eat, how does such a small tummy store too much food. I had difficulty sleeping on the first night, I slept as early as 9 but woke up in the middle of the night and couldnt sleep for hours, spending my time alone in the total darkness inside my small tent letting my mind flying wild in the world of imagination.

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the sky finally turned blue the next day

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I woke up the next day watching the sun shining through my tent. The sky was blue and there were not much clouds blocking the shining sun. The snow has melted and everything turned green and brown again. After early breakfast, I spent a few hours in our campsite writing, transforming my thoughts on a paper so I wont lose it. I dont write often because its hard to get the mood for it. But once I get it, its magic, I can just keep writing, the ideas kept coming inside my mind from an unknown mysterious source and all I need to do is to write it down on a piece of paper. After we had our lunch, Lhawang and me walked down to a nearby village that we passed earlier. We wanted to see the villagers there practicing their skills in archery. Once we started walking, we came across nomads, travelling with their goods and horses probably crossing from near the Tibetan border through the high mountains. The view was spectacular watching these nomadic people moving slowly with all their belongings through the difficult path on their difficult journey.

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the Bhutanese nomads

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the nomads approaching the village

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It was a short walk towards the village, probably about 20 minutes walk from our campsite. Once we reached the village, Lhawang seems to know a few of the villagers. They were greeting each other and having conversation like old friends. I just kept myself busy watching and photographing the archers practicing their skills. These guys are really good. They can shoot right at their target from the distance at about 145 meters. They have flags next to the target, to indicate how strong and the direction of the wind. When the opponent shoot his arrow and hit the target, they will celebrate it by dancing and singing in their traditional way to encourage and motivate their opponent. Such a spectacular view…

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After a good day rest, we then continued our trek towards the highest point of our trek which is close to 5000m altitude. It was quite a tough climb, very steep but at least we had good weather during the big climb. While having difficulty during the big climb, I stopped a while and stunned by the beauty of the landscape, watching the spectacular Mt Jumolhari (7326m) the second highest peak in Bhutan. The peak looks very sharp like an arrow pointing upwards. No one is allowed to climb the mountain now because all high mountains in Bhutan are considered sacred. I took a little rest once I reached the top, waiting for Lhawang and the other guide who were still on the climb. We then walked together, climbing a little higher until we reached a stunning lake, a small lake made by the melting glaciers only some few years ago. The lake has an altitude at about 4500m and we took almost an hour rest there watching its beauty and filming some timelapse there on the lake. When we kept walking, the weather changed, dark clouds started coming in and the wind started to blow strong. We took a quick lunch and quickly pressing to almost 5000m altitude. It was quite difficult even to breath not because of the thin air at 5000m but mainly because of the strong wind. I kept looking down, concentrating on my breathing and putting my small steps slowly, climbing higher. When I reached the top of the pass, I didnt stay too long because of the strong and cold wind… very cold. The Bhutanese prayerflags which decorate the mountainpass are waving wildly, showing that the wind was very strong.

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packing up before the tough big climb day

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me and my guide Lhawang, the Bhutanese sherpa, before the big climb

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the lake at 4500m altitude and Mt Jomolhari at the far distance, spectacular!!

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me and Sonam, preparing to have lunch before the 5000m pass

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the nearly 5000m pass

Only less than 2 minutes, I quickly descended to the other side of the mountain, moving fast since it was all downhill and wanted to lose the elevation. Some parts were quite steep and we spent more than an hour descending downhill and I even felt the pain on my knees. There were no more blue sky, it was totally covered by thick clouds all the way. We reached our campsite at below 4000m where the tree lines are. I fell too tired and went to sleep very early that day under the cloudy sky. The next day we did one more big climb at about 4800m before it was all going down under the cloudy day. The wind blew really strong and the snow finally came, quickly turned the rocky tundra landscape into a pure white, arctic like landscape. It was basically the beginning of summer here but in the high mountains, the season can get confused. It could be peaceful summer early morning and deep winter in the evening. So we quickly pitched our tent and seek refuge inside our tents from the strong wind and thick snow. The last day of our trek, Lhawang took me to a nearby yak herders to photograph and film the herders living high in the mountains. Looking at them, it reminds me of my days in the Tien Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan, they look exactly the same, their style, their smell, their way of life, the hardship, everything… except the language sounds strange here.

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seeking refuge from the cold wind

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the look of summer in Bhutanese Himalayas

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inside the tent of yak herder

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getting milk from the yaks

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the yak herder

After about an hour watching the yak herders, we had a quick late breakfast and started late to trek down back to where we started. The snow was already quite thick and we had to do one last climb before walking along the summit while it was snowing. We climbed and walked slower since it was steep and slippery, the path were all already covered with snow. It was pretty safe, if any of us fall we wont get serious injury since because of the thick snow but to climb back up is a problem, as we were all already quite exhausted. After we descended at some point, the snow level disappeared and we were all fast again, descending down all the way back to about 2200m altitude at the speed at mountain goats…

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studying the detail of the view at near 5000m altitude

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no more snow after descending towards lowland

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view from the descend… notice a small lonely house on the cliff in the middle of the pic

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reaching the tree line… at about 3500m altitude

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inside the yak herder tent

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inside the yak herder tent

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the yak herder

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the yak herder

 Category: Bhutan (2016)      Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

71 Comments on “The Big Climb, The Experience and The View”

  3. Assalamualaikum Zahariz . Jazakallah Khair for your recent write ups and pictures on Bhutan Himalayas . million thanks to you for letting us see the wonderful creation of Allahswt with your effort . We are grateful to Allahswt to given us a Malaysian Zahariz whom we are very proud of . May Allahswt
    always guide and protect you for a safe
    and succesful mission always with his
    Rahmat and Nikmat.

    Wish you every success in this world and Akhirah .

    Wassalam

    Reply

  6. My experience was similar but I couldn’t climbed more than 4400 meters. Thank you for sharing your experience.

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  13. Such a euphoric view, nothing like the artistry of nature, thanks for sharing and wish you much success in your future endeavors.

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  20. I’m normally not big on reading but I got lost in this <3 I guess I've found something that captures my attention :)

    Reply

  21. Bro thanks for the awesome views .You write real good.

    Reply

  28. Pingback: When big nature speaks to the traveller | The Electric Hub

  30. This is such a lovely blog you have out here. The pictures are simply amazing – It’s as good as being in the location. Happy to have stumbled by.

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  32. Great photos.
    What part of Bhutan were you trekking in? We did the druk trail In may and experienced similar weather patterns although the highest we got was 4100 meters.

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  35. Whaou.
    Magnifique
    Take care my friend
    I Want …I would take the road and no return. …make a travel. ..Travel of my life. ..

    Reply

  37. Holy cow that is the bluest sky contrasted by the whitest snow I’ve ever seen! Awesome blog😀👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

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  41. This is pretty spectacular, you are very, very lucky. I love the photography, too.

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  47. These pictures are absolutely breathtaking. I especially like the ones you took of the people, what an amazing world we live in with so many different people all with a unique story. Have you ever wondered why that is, or if there is a purpose to all this beauty, all these stories? I know God has a purpose for every person who will allow Him to work that purpose through them. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.” And if you are wondering what that mysterious inspiration for your writing is, consider God, the creator of all this beauty the One who gives good gifts to men.

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  50. Absolutely stunning view.. the way you write makes me feel as though I was experiencing this with you. Truly breathtaking!

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  52. What a beautiful journey. Just looking at the pictures makes me want to be there. It’s like I travelled all the way while reading it. The beauty of the landscape and the toughness of the terrain mixed with the beautiful sensation of being in motion. Beautiful.

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  53. It’s so amazing.. so inspiring.. in to the discovery of peace out of this silly world.. admirable 👍👍👍

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  57. Very interesting story! I was always interested in going on such adventure, but I never actually did, maybe because I lack courage and have fear that I don’t have apropriate experience and not fit enough.

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  60. Love your post! The extravagant view, the explorer’s courage and everything else is just pure joy and happiness.

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  64. Your captivating write up and the stunning photographs enable readers to grasp what life is up there.

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  67. WOW your photos are amazing!!!!!! I have always travelled to more touristy locations but looking at your photos I want to step out of my comfort zone and be more adventurous in my travels.

    Reply

  71. this is so breathtaking….the lake looks very much like the LULUSAR LAKE in the north of Naran,Pakistan.

    Reply

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