Trip Reports

Dhaulagiri Circuit - 15 Oct to 4 Nov '17

The Dhaulagiri Circuit having crossed French Col

Written by Leader, November 2017

Terminal 4 at Heathrow in mid-October can’t be accused of being among the most exciting spots on earth. It is however, frequently the first place Jagged Globe teams get to meet each other, identified by the bright red duffel bags straining at the seams. This autumn about half our team met here and then tried not to scare off the other half when we found them in the haven that is the Summit Hotel in Kathmandu.

This trip had a quick turn-around in Kathmandu and after extracting heavy double-boots from our bags to travel by road, the team, with light bags, flew to Pokhara. This sounds smoother than it was…the 2pm flight eventually leaving at 4pm….delays and cancellations being a common occurrence here.

It was a shame that we hadn’t arrived earlier as our hotel in Pokhara was absolutely gorgeous; Fabienne threatened to stay!

Day 4 brought us back to reality as our journey continued by bus and we got to ‘enjoy’ the Nepalese road system and the ‘views’ from the bus; thank goodness for a brilliant driver J.

By evening we had arrived at Darbang and could happily leave the bus behind…..our trek could begin.

Throughout this trip, we were lucky with the weather; consistently it was dry and sunny in the morning, clouding over by lunchtime and then frequently precipitating during the night. Consequently, we set off in the sunshine on day 1 in shorts and T shirts stopping frequently to take photos.

The local villagers often raise funds by entertaining the visitors who come through and our visit was no exception. After the traditional and elegant Nepalese dances, we were dragged (literally in some cases!) onto the dance floor and attempted to show some style. Pete definitely won points for sheer enthusiasm as he kept up with the local male dance star. The rest of us found that after the first 5 minutes, it was surprisingly good fun!

The next few days found us weaving our way steadily upward through thickly forested hillsides, deep river gorges, spectacularly exposed trails and remote villages. Catherine & Pete displayed an uncanny ability to find any potential bathing spot near the campsite and definitely looked and smelled fresher than the rest of us!

After 5 days trekking, we left the jungle behind us and arrived at Italian camp, where we stayed for 2 days; the huge mountains that we had previously glimpsed in the distance now surrounded us on all sides. The views of Dhaulagiri were fantastic. Here we all checked our double-boots and crampons in case we needed them soon….only to discover that Nick appeared to have borrowed his 2 right-foot crampons from the local alpine museum! Much teasing later and some Blue Peter modifications and he had a functional ‘pair’ of crampons.

With 2 nights at Italian Camp it was a great time to dry kit, make use of the delightfully refreshing outside tap (you loved it really Murray!) and decide whose tent you really didn’t want to pitch next to in future to avoid the snoring….Jeremy you deserve a special mention here!

From here on, the scenery was oversized…..all normal perspective was gone with enormous mountains, huge glaciers, and thunderous avalanches. Oh and it got colder, much colder……to the ‘delight’ of our antipodean contingent, Niall and Michele L.

Our camp grounds for the next 3 nights were on glaciers covered in rock debris. These are a somewhat acquired taste and it would be fair to say that not everyone acquired it in the time-frame of our trek! Bob pretended to feel bad with a chest infection and I considered a heli-vac, but he responded miraculously to modern drugs overnight and proceeded to regale us with tales of ‘daring-do’ for the entire duration of the trek over French Col and beyond……next time no drugs!

Hidden Valley camp was beautiful….and very, very, very cold. I think Leslie was up to about 10 layers here J; the chest infection, that we blamed Fabienne for donating, (even if she didn’t) was working its way around the team. Consequently of the 12 people who had signed up for Damphus Peak, only 2 seemed keen to get up at 3am for a quick trot up a 6000er.

Pete, Catherine and I followed our 2 climbing Sherpas for several hours endlessly upward. The views were breath-taking in all directions….well I think that’s why we couldn’t breathe. Our ‘summit’ became 5850m when the unconsolidated snow on the actual summit ridge made the last few metres unviable. We were able to communicate our success to the others by VHF radio: Steve, who is a ‘volunteer-professional’ with such toys was remarkably relaxed about my ‘alternative’ radio dialogue…and an excellent person to have at the other end, thank-you J.

The team regrouped just below Damphus Pass after what had felt like a tough day for everyone.

Our last trekking day was Sam’s 77th birthday, what a location! After a long and spectacular traverse, we descended to Marpha in the valley. Mike particularly enjoyed this section and is probably still losing toe-nails because of it!

Marpha back to Kathmandu was a journey endured rather than enjoyed. The road is long and rough….and scary. When we finally arrived in Pokhara, our flight was cancelled and we had another fun-packed 8 hours on the bus. This can be the price to pay for being able to access some of the most stunning landscapes in Nepal.

On our return to the Summit Hotel we were pampered and fed and, after showering, memories of the journey soon faded.

Our last day was spent enjoying Kathmandu in our own various ways before Sam started the last evening off in style……with a champagne party J.

Thank you to a wonderful group of people. A particular thank you to the medics among you for your help and advice and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Sam, Bob and Jeremy J.

Alex

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