The journey
“Exploratory?” We are classifying this 2009 expedition as exploratory as Chessell Adventures, Duncan Chessell (leader) nor our Sherpas have been to the
mountain before, AND importantly, only 2-3 teams have ever climbed the
peak. So while the route mentioned in the notes is the intended path,
we might discover an alternative route which makes more sense and use
that instead. At least as we have researched the other team’s ascents
we do know there is a relatively easy to moderate (technically) route
to the top. The principal difficulty will still be adjusting to the
altitude and hauling yourself up to 7126m!
By the look of the terrain, it will be one axe, glacier travel mode for
the most part with a couple of sections of fixed line requiring the use
of a jumar.
We will have with us a small sherpa team at a ratio of 1:3 to assist
with fixed lines, camps and general mountain guiding. All members of
the team will need to carry their own belongings and some food with
them on the mountain. This will be a tough climb and require a VERY
HIGH level of aerobic fitness. The sherpas will not be there to pack
your bag and carry it for you, they will assist with melting snow when
they can and preparing meals, but there is a good chance we will all be
doing our own melting of snow and food production. The Sherpa team will
be employed to get safety equipment in place, such as fixed lines,
medical kits and emergency oxygen supplies. The sherpas will also set
the camps and tents for the most part and if there is any extra energy,
assist with other loads as possible. You will need your own LARGE backpack,
70L minimum or if it’s smaller, the ability to attach lots of things to
the outside.
Brief Itinerary
Day 1-2 Arrive in Kathmandu trip briefing and preparation
Day 3 Bus to start of trek
Day 4-11 Trek to base camp 4825m
Day 12-27 Climbing phase on Mt Himlung with four high camps
above BC and ABC
Day 28-30 Trek out to Humde via the Kanga La and fly Kathmandu
Day 31 Depart Kathmandu or optional stay on
Kathmandu
On arrival in Kathmandu, our staff will meet you at the airport and take you to our hotel. We will have our mid-afternoon trip briefing at the hotel which is also a chance to meet your trekking crew. Your leader, Duncan, will explain where things are in Kathmandu, what will happen in the next couple of days in preparation for the trip, and check through your gear to ensure the smooth running of the trek and climb. We will spend one full day at the start in Kathmandu allowing for people to organise personal gear, slow down from the rest of life and get any rental gear from our store in Kathmandu sorted out.
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Route map from ABC to C4 and summit Mt Himulng
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Into the hills - getting to base camp
Leaving Kathmandu in our team bus we will drive 5-7 hours to the start point for the trek, where we will unload the bus and the Sherpas will prepare the loads and organise with the porters for all the equipment to go to base camp (BC).
We will be trekking on the first three days of the world famous Annapurna circuit to the village of Koto where we will turn North East towards the Tibetan border. Our trek begins at quite low altitude of only 840m above sea level in the village of Bhulbhule, so expect the trip to be one of contrasts, from warmer climes down low (shorts and light shirt) to very cold and high on the summit!
At the end of the expedition we walk the best day of the Annapurna circuit, the section from the Kang La to the airstrip below Manang called Humde, with what is perhaps the best trekkers views in Nepal, so you get the best of the Annapurna circuit as well.
Once we turn off the main trail at Koto we go via the villages of Na and Phu which are very Tibetan in nature as this region borders onto and mirrors the landscape of the Tibetan high plateau. The people living here are more Tibetan than Nepalese in appearance and this is a time capsule of what Tibet was like before 1959. Until recently this area was closed to foreigners.
The trek
For those of you who have been on a full service Nepal style camping trek with Chessell Adventures before you will know what to expect, but for those new to us or the Himalayas, you will be amazed at work level of the local staff, cooking breakfasts and dinners if not lunches as well. Dining tents are provided to our climbers for eating, hot drinks, playing cards and a kitchen tent is used by our staff to prepare meals, hot drinks and wash up all the dishes. So the trek is the luxury part. This crew will accompany us to BC but no further and wait for us to return from the mountain. You will have a personal tent at BC which will remain standing for the whole climbing phase.
Trek out end of trip
We will trek out over three days via the VERY spectacular Kang La with stupendous views of the Annapurna peaks on the other side of the valley, down to Humde airstrip which services Manang. From here we must charter twin Otter aircraft to take us to Kathmandu, a 90 minute flight over the Himalayas. This charter is included in the trip cost.
We have scheduled only ONE night in Kathmandu at the end, we recommend you allow for two nights in case of bad WX, delayed or missed charter flight. We can assist with hotels for any extra nights you require.
Climbing Phase
We have 16 days to climb from BC at 4825m to the 7126m high summit (a 2301m vertical height gain).
This will need to be done in stages as we will need to firstly acclimatise ourselves to BC (phase one) then to about 6000m while climbing (phase two). Once we have completed our acclimatisation phases and rested for two days we should be ready to push through to the top in steady steps through our five camps above BC. As listed below from two previous teams who have made the ascent the camps are spread out evenly in altitude and distance as per the rough photograph of the route.
Climbing Camps Plan
BC 4825m
ABC 5193m
C1 5619m
C2 5987m
C3 6317m
C4 6410m