Samdo to Dharamsala – Back to Basics

It had rained heavily last night and my chest was tight with the altitude so I didn’t get much sleep again. But more than the night before. It’s like waking up trapped in a box and you desperately want to breathe cool, fresh air. This was the last day before the final, gruelling trek over the summit of the pass. Looking down the valley it was dark but not too foreboding.

Looking up, in the direction we were heading, was much brighter.

Porridge again for breakfast and we were off by 8.30. Today we were going up to the highest place we could, before crossing the pass tomorrow morning. It was a camp for people doing the Manaslu Circuit and, as it wasn’t the full season yet, we were hoping it would be open. If not we were buggered. After 45 minutes the view back to the village was lovely.

I’m lucky. When I think of wife, family, home, security, enjoyment, fulfilment and Sheffield United I am blessed. Particularly SheffU, we’re in the Prem you know, and I’ll get back for the Liverpool match.

There may be trouble ahead. Hello darling. Love you.

From higher up, and a bit of magnification, the view back was great.

It was one of the steepest climbs we’ve done this Circuit and I got in a bit of a lather. I was trying to drink as much water as I could and the air wasn’t cold. That combination, added to my rucksack, produced a sweaty, fat bloke who smells. I was struggling. Bhim offered to swap rucksacks again, he could see I was in difficulty. What a star that man is. I refused, like a lemming desperate to jump over the cliff.

Then we came across the moraine, being rubble pushed or discarded by glaciers over the millennia. And amazingly underneath some of this moraine was a living, breathing glacier, covered in rocks.

To the right of the moraine is Dharamsala camp, about an hour away.

Give me legs, give me oxygen, give me strength. I’m in pain.

We got there and I got a suite again. Outside hole in the floor toilet, no electricity, no tapped water, no WiFi – oh my God, no WiFi! Again.

We lunched, I slept and then we did some more altitude assimilation by climbing for an hour and trying to get my breath back before my poor old heart packed in from beating like Keith Moon on amphetamine. And then sitting and enjoying the earth for half an hour before descending for dinner.

The river we had followed for 10 days was getting smaller as we neared its source.

We ate and had an early night, preparing for a 5am start on the final push over the top. Ominously a Himalayan thunderstorm started shortly after. The top had not been clear of cloud for months and the thought of dodging lightning bolts was a bit scary. But you think scary things when you’re on your own in the dark. The morning makes things better. Dunnit?

Night night.