Trip Reports

Mera Peak - 12 Oct to 4 Nov '07

Written by Leader Rob Jarvis, November 2007

The whole expedition is assembled at Mera High Camp (5,800m). 12 Members, Sherpas and cook staff. Sherpa stew is served and across the Hongu Valley the snowy pyramidal bulk of Chamlang (7,200m) is turning from white togGold. The stew is finished quickly. It’s getting both dusky and cold. The Sherpa team bustle around serving tea and desert. The peaks are turning from gold to pink. Cho Oyu, Makalu, Kanchenjunga and Everest. They say Concordia in the Pakistani Baltoro is the throne of the Mountain Kings but this open Himalayan amphitheatre rivals it, both for sheer mountain aesthetics and a tick-list of famous 8,000m peaks.

The team has come a long way to get here. 10 Days of trekking through a variety of climate zones. From thick Rhododendron forest to open heathland and culminating in a fine glacial journey, taking an interesting and objectively safe route up through the complicated Mera Massif.

These 10 days of jungle, high passes, rest days and sleeping above 4,000m are the reason we are not only here, but here happy and healthy. A great acclimatisation profile ensuring the worst symptoms of AMS encountered are the odd headache.

The team arrived in Katmandu, then Lukla fairly tired after a long flight and an even longer ‘transit’ through the building site that is Delhi airport. So it is appreciated that the first few days are both fairly easy and stay low. We ignore the quick dash over the ‘too high too soon’ Zatrwa La and instead head off South and downhill out of Lukla. Although we are heading in the opposite direction to the mountain we are getting into our stride, meeting the locals and sampling the thinner Himalayan air.

Brendan has brought a stash of balloons which never fail to place a huge toothless grin on the face of the local Sherpa youth. Other members enjoy snapping the highly photogenic tough, but warm hearted Sherpa people and the digital revolution means the results can be immediately enjoyed by both subject and photographer alike.

We are a large team of 13 with a wide variety of ages, background and mountaineering experience. Conversation flows freely in the mess tent although on one cool, starry night in Pangkongma it is, briefly, so quiet you could hear a leach drop…quite literally!

The first phase of our route steadily gains height to culminate in a rest day and two nights above 4,000m at the fine natural high mountain campsite of Panch Pokhari (5 Lakes in Sherpa). We have just missed the large Sherpa music festival here so are left to a peaceful and welcome rest day only disrupted in the afternoon by a massive hail storm. This confines the glacier travel training session to the mess tent. Not ideal but as it later turns out conditions are so good on the upper mountain that we barely need the rope anyway.

The route from here descends back into the main Hinku Valley for a brief respite before the steady ascent into the upper valley and onto the mountain begins in earnest. After nearly a week in the jungle most team members are glad to break out into the more open heath covered slopes and relish the fleeting glimpses of Kusum Kanguri, Kyashar and Mera West. It feels like we are now trekking in the high Himalaya and from here on upwards the weather will remain utterly perfect. Super clear starry nights, cold starts and warm, sunny days.

On one of these late evenings, wandering about after dinner, down jacket on, hood up, MP3 player banging out Orbital [time to update his music collection? - Ed], a huge serac peels off the West Face of Mera. The resulting icy dust cloud gathers massive momentum and travels into the valley floor. It is brightly illuminated by the full moon and provides a surreal and euphoric combination of sound, light and atmosphere.

At 4,905m Mera Base Camp (Khare) is a fine sunny spot with a view of the summit and ample opportunities for resting, washing and supporting the highly seasonal local economy by buying Coke and Pringles! Most members have an acclimatisation day here pottering up onto the snout of the Mera Glacier, getting used to crampons and ice axes again and sampling the air at 5,200m. After that we have a full rest day and, promisingly, all members sit in the sun eating lunch, relaxed and looking forward to getting to grips with the upper mountain.

We opt for 2 short ‘hops’ to High Camp with an atmospheric night illuminated by the massively bright moon on the Mera La. I get rather excited on finding some Yeti footprints here (I’ll show you the photos if you are a non believer!). Some of the members seem a little skeptical but then the air is a little thin at 5,300m for enthusiastic Yeti hunting!

The increasingly spectacular ascent to High Camp next day gives many members their first views of the wider Himalaya and this short trek puts us in a good position for our pre-dawn departure and summit bid a’demain. Whilst a sleepless night and rushed bowl of porridge may not seem like the ideal preparation for a tiring days Himalyan mountaineering the trick is just to get up and get going – but “bistari, bistari” as the Sherpas would say (slowly, slowly!).

Gearing up in the sheltered and rocky High Camp left many of us thinking it was milder than it would prove on the breezy open slopes higher up. We would all be glad of our mitts and down jackets despite the perfect weather.

At around 6,000m Bill started getting cold and tired and wisely returned to high camp with one of the Sherpas for a surprisingly good kip. Martin followed him from a little higher up – the eyes peering through the balaclava said it all – I’m OK really... just totally knackered! Happily though, all members had experienced the thrill of high altitude trekking and the feel for Himalyan mountaineering – whatever you call it, the views are superb and although the air is thin there is a natural high.

All the remaining members plodded up to the relatively steep final slope and onto the thrill of a proper Himalyan summit. Feelings ranged from jubilation to exhausted relief, but all were able to appreciate the fruits of their efforts and panorama par excellence. Not only that but everyone stoically kept plodding back down resulting in lunch at base camp and an afternoon relaxing and enjoying the warmer and thicker air 1,500m lower down the mountain.

3 good solid days trekking took us back to Lukla and our last night in the Himalaya. This was to prove no anti-climax and the ensuing party continued long into the night with our team of 22 local staff. The members had been extremely generous in their donations of over 60 items of outdoor gear which were raffled off to some wildly grinning and appreciative porters, cook staff and Sherpas. The Sherpas probably had the edge on the singing and dancing cultural exchange although Astrid kept the Jagged Globe flag flying by barely leaving the dance floor all night!

And so, next morning, slightly worse for wear, thoughts turned to Katmandu and home. The reassuring little Twin Otter sped off down the steep runway at Lukla and was suddenly high above the rushing milky waters of the Dudh Kosi below. Everyone was lost in their own thoughts and reflections on the trip. The main thought occupying my mind was... ”how soon can I get back?!”

Yet again it had been a pleasure and a privilege to work with and share a mountain journey alongside the ever cheerful, hardworking and oh so friendly Sherpas.

Rob Jarvis, Expedition Leader« Previous report | Next report »

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