Deurali (2990m) > Swanta (c. 2400m): Rampaging yak trains and biting the ice
Had the same situation with the frozen tent and poor sleep, oh well. In any case, this was perhaps my favourite ‘trekking’ day of the trip.
We headed from Deurali (2990m) to Swanta (circa 2400m), complete with a descent through terraced fields and over walls to a Ghurka Aid Association donated suspension bridge. Before the suspension bridge was the fun bit.
In thickly covered jungle, and after fresh snow a few days before, the trails were totally unused since the fall. About 8 inches of snow coverage, and completely iced over trails. Very enjoyable for me.
I hold the very proud record of never falling down on a trail… and today was a challenge, but I kept it in tack.
There was a pretty hairy moment as well… Midway through our icy descent to the river, we hear a ringing of bells… Like a cowbell... I see Ang run off the trail and ask what is going on. He says “Yaks!” …So we all stand aside, and sure enough, after some ding-donging for another 30 seconds, this troop of about 6 yaks come charging past us, skidding down the hill…. Over-flowing from the 10 inch wide trail. That was something.
So yeah, many falls later, we reach the terraces and starting climbing walls to cross the fields toward the river and suspension bridge.
When we make it to Swanta, the porters are all messing around… wrestling, then a pull-up contest on a bar. I joined in with a hearty total that put me up near the leader board. These guys are amazingly strong though! After the pull-ups, they moved on to trying leaping kicks on an overhead wire. This wire is honestly just under 2m from the ground and they’re flying through the air, trying their best. Being 1.88m myself, I knew it wouldn’t pose a problem for me… so I meandered over, lashed out a slow motion inside crescent kick to knock the wire, had a laugh with the guys and swaggered back to my hot chocolate. They carried on attacking that wire for another 45 minutes until one of them ripped from the roof, haha
Back to the serious issue of back problems. With the route now scheduled to double-back on itself in a few days, we discussed over dinner about T and myself moving over to the next camp in this area, Chitre (2390m) and waiting there whilst Eric and Christina went up as close to Khayerlake (4727m) as was possible. This should effectively give T 4 days rest and recouperation.
And it was decided, Eric, Christina, Ang, and Subas would go on up, myself, T, Sittaram and Anil (a porter) would head over to Chitre to wait for the others to return.
