KANG GURU EXPEDITION

A Particular Experience

DANIELA PULVIRENTI

WHEN I HAVE A DREAM I try my best to realise it; it must not remain just a dream, and my philosophy is to help the dream to become a reality. In 1983 I went to Nepal for the first time, after reading all the books written by Reinhold Messner till that moment. In my imagination I have reached many times the summit of a 8000 m peak, Everest too, but I'm conscious that it will always remain a dream, but — yes, again but — after several climbs to the main 4000 m peaks in the Alps together with my Mountain Guide, I decided to participate in his expedition. He decided for a mountain of Nepal Himalaya situated between Manaslu and Annapurna Himal, just near the border of mystic Tibet. Kang Guru in local language means "White Mountain" so, why don't I try to reach this 7000 m after the 4810 m of Mount Blanc? It could be "my Everest". That's the way I became a member of Kang Guru Expedition. We met all together (8 in total) and mostly separately we made our preparation. In fact the group was a little strange: some climbers together with some trekkers; 15 persons in total, with Mr. Cesare Cesa Bianchi as Expedition Leader. So, 7 members were trekkers and 8 members were climbers; a mix of characters, personalities, different social cultures; may I say a naif group that all together left Italy at the end of September 1999 to reach Kathmandu, the capital of the little himalayan kingdom of Nepal. Kathmandu is always a fascinating city, even after many years of visit, because we always find a place in which we have never been, a small temple in a narrow street and where we can find pleasant local people. I personally was excited to think about the expedition and even after all information received from Cesare, that assured us about the difficulties of the climb, not difficult, but easy one with just a colour to be equipped with a fixed rope, during some nights I couldn't sleep very well. This is due also to the book of Jon Krakauer Into thin air that I read. But I was sure that with Cesare there would be no problem, I would follow him even with closed eyes, but, yes, there is a "but"! go ahead with the story.

We left Kathmandu by bus driving on "Prithvi Highway" in the direction of Pokhara. This is a very crowded road with a lot of traffic on both ways: trucks at every time carrying goods along this route that has nothing to compare with the European ones. As usual we got a break at Muglin Bazaar, then we reached Dumre, the entry point of the Marshyangdi Khola valley. 14 years ago I made the same trek and in Dumre we left our bus for an uncomfortable truck in which some of us were seated over big bags of rice and potatoes.

Now the road is narrow in some points, with some turns, but we can continue by bus. When we got off the bus I couldn't believe that I was in Beshisar, the small village of several years ago, now expanded in length like the Italian mountain village of Livigno, near the Swiss border. Shops, bazaar, children, modern things like TV and tape recorders; really like a mountain village in the Alps.

Monsoon season was not yet finished and rain during the first night of trekking started to drop very heavily over our tents. Luckly, in this case recently many lodges have been built or restored along the Annapurna trail and we passed several nights in a dry place. The group walked to reach the upper valley in a green and cloudy landscape; so cloudy that sometimes we were doubtful that were the really in the Himalaya and particularly in this area where normally while climbing up we can see Annapurna II and Manaslu Himal. After terraced fields, gorges and beautiful spring water falls we reached Tal, the first village with Tibetan atmosphere: some: chorten, with prayer flags and people dressed in Tibetan style, ladies particularly. This Tibetan atmosphere gave me a sense of peace, the same that I have when I'm in a monastry listening to the prayers of monks. I fall into a trance listening to their singing. Some of us walked fast; I prefer to go "bistari, bistari" as Nepalese people say, even if I can walk faster, as usually I do in the Alps. In my mind I thought that firstly I was here on holiday, just to relax, and I have no fixed time to reach the camp.

Secondly, if I arrive before my porter I have to wait for him and I cannot change my wet dresses, because he is carrying my baggage. I'm grateful to him because I can only carry my small rucksack. Rain was heavy during the first day of our hike and I have to say that in all the area of Pokhara and Annapurna the weather is unique because there is no reef ibarrier) faced to south able to stop heavy monsoon rains. So rain come here very strong, stronger than in Kathmandu.

Heavy rains are due to the wide glacier system of Annapurna and heavy snowfall particularly in Ghandruk, Chomrong area and Annapurna Sanctuary (BC).

The Annapurna Conservation Project (ACAP) started in 1986 under King Mahendra Trust in order to protect the natural area of Annapurna range: over 7600 kmq. This area has been called "Conservation area" and not "National Park" and people living in the area is involved in this project.

ACAP has prepared a list of things to do and not to do during trekking and also organizes training for lodge directors. To survive ACAP asks for an entry fee from all trekkers who get the permit for the Annapurna area. We reached Koto (2530 m) in a rainy day and we decided to stop in the lodge for one day. It's from Koto that normally we can see Annapurna II and Lamjung Himal. Koto is the entry point of Nar Phu valley, where trekkers are not allowed to hike as usual, to enter it is necessary to get a special expedition permit as we got. In fact there is a Police Check Point where we must register our permits and we are near Chame, chief town of Manang district.

Luckily the trekker members were with mountaineers, otherwise they couldn't see the most beautiful part of the trekking, the remote Nar Phu valley, a jewel of real Nepal, that looks like Mustang. To reach Kang Guru base camp we had to walk up in the narrow and steep valley, that takes the name from the river. Out of Koto village we had to cross a bridge over Mashyangdi khola (at right), passing a landslide, then the path runs at the same level of the river, jumping from stone to stone. Then we entered in the forest similar to some itineraries in the Alps and in Dolomites. Inevitably we loose in height and we had to climb up again (but that's Nepal too!). Information received was not really exact, because some people and an old map described the route without bridges -to help us in crossing the river, so with the necessity to wade several times. I was personally afraid because I really panic when I see water (I'm not able to swim). But fortunately we found bridges of iron and wood and we reached an old stone hut where we passed the night. Just a small hut fc5r 15 persons plus the staff was not enough and this was not the right choice. The place where we stopped for lunch would have been much better, with possibility to fix the camp near the river in a green area, but in any case we survived in the hut.

The area is nice because there are beautiful rocks similar to the ones in Dolomites. At 3500 m we found a small "chorten". All the area was full of edelweiss, many, many of them. Up over we found the ruins of the old village of Meta. A little bit up we fixed the base camp at 3600 m, closed to Tibet border. This is really a remote valley and it is not allowed to enter to normal trekkers. Only climbing teams can enter and it is necessary to pay a special mountain permit. We paid the permit for Kang Guru, a 7010 m peak that is not possible to see from the base camp.

Meta is not exactly a good place for a mountain team: it's good just for trekkers; it is too much low for a mountaineering group and up over 300 m there is a better place. Wind starts to blow at 10.00 a.m., like in Mustang. Just to acclimatize there are some hike possibilities, so it is nice to follow the valley of Phu Khola till the ruins of Kyang village; the path goes to Tibet, but also reaches the BC of some other 7000 m mountains of the area, like Nenjung. But the recommendable hike is the one to Naar village. Some of us made the hike twice. We must follow the Phu Khola and cross it on a wood bridge at the left side of the valley. After the bridge there is a constant climb up, but not so steep. After a first enter and some chorten we pass another enter and a much bigger "chorten" together with some other smaller and a bag mani wall, similar to the one in Mustang. Finally there is an easy walk to the village; we had the chance to see down the slopes under the village people working in their fields of barley. They have prepared barley in big bunches and they work on the roof of each house. Roofs are flat, easy to reach using a wood scale with small carved steps, like Tibetans use. Kang Guru was bright with its white glacier of Western face.*We have been guests on a roof of the house where our guide lives and we are in the perfect position to see our mountain and draw a profile of it. Into a chest there is a very nice baby of four months; his name is Purpa Lama, but for us is "little Buddha". He is quiet in his simple bed, wrapped in a big scarf together with some prayer flags. His face is like velour and he has a stone bracelet at his wrist. He looks like a flock of cotton asking for protection and his mummy placed the chest in a shadowed area. I personally think that he is lucky; more lucky of most of the European children or American ones, that have everything and nothing. Here there is no war, people are friendly and always smiling. This part of Nepal are still like 30 years ago when this small kingdom opened to tourism and tourism has given money (but not for all) but also gave the worst part of industrialized countries. Naar village has electricity, a school and a post office, and fortunately there are no lodges.

But it was time to start our climb. Camp I was already fixed at 4900 m. We said good bye to our friends that followed us till Base Camp, and also for them was time to go and to continue their trek up to Thorong la in Marshyangdi Valley till Jomsom.

The weather was good, but Cesare, our guide, was not in good condition as he started to have health trouble and Aristide, the expedition doctor gave us the diagnosis: kidney problems and serious ones.

We waited for some days, but health report of Cesare was always a mix of up and down. After a very bad night we decided to call for help asking for an helicopter rescue, that arrived late morning of 15 October. Cesare left us, and with him doctor Aristide. They flew back to Kathmandu and Italy and we started to prepare for pur new experience. None of us had decided to try the climb without Cesare. Why? I personally think that none of us wouldn't have been able to arrange fixed rope for 50 m over Camp I and none of us, except Cesare, had high altitude experience, even myself that sometimes I have been in high altitude but not in such difficulties. Then, and this is important, we only had one high altitude porter, Mingma Dorje Sherpa, a very strong man but alone, and not able to give help to all of us in case of necessity. It was not possible for us — at our first experience — to climb with heavy rucksack, arrive at the camp, prepare it, cook dinner and drinks and all this in high altitude.

Weather was good and we asked for the permit to trek around Annapurna, that means Marshyangdi Kali Gandaki trek crossing Thorong la and following footprints of our friends departed some days in advance. So the situation now was reversed; climbers on the footprints of trekkers. Funny enough!

Finally we moved, bistari, bistari, with not enough staff, but we moved. We left the real Nepal to enter again in the modern Nepal; nothing to compare! I hiked around Annapurna for the first time on 1986 and after 13 years I got-the chance to see how Nepal is changed: from Medio Evo to computers; a real revolution. So, here we are, in the New Millennium, and in Chame I was surprised to see in every shop the same products that I can find at home. Now that the weather is good we have to climb up. We left our Liaison officer, Mr. Rudra Prasad Khanal who returned to Kathmandu bringing some mountaineering equipment that was not necessary during the trek; we also left at the B. C. and at Camp I some- high altitude food for the French Kang Guru expedition. Finally we had the chance to see Lamjung and Annapurna II and walking towards Pisang we crossed a beautiful pine forest. The group walk was not at the same level; some runners ahead, that I considered ready for the Trans-Himalaya race and not ready for a trekking. Trekking means to hike from place to place, to look and see, to get in contact with the local people and be not in a hurry. But the group was really unequal and the staff too. Due to Dasain Festival we got the staff we found and it was really hard to find them. Porters were not young, including the lady, and due to their late arrival at the camp we slept several times in lodges.

The area we hiked in is of high altitude; we saw yak pastures and fields of potatoes started to finish near 4000 m. The hike to Thorong Phedi (4500 m) is not so hard, but with an heavy rucksack could become. Thorong Phedi (4500 m) is at the base of Thorong la, as the name means. 13 years ago there was only a "bhatti" for few persons and now there are three lodges, all crowded of people, with an unpleasant smell. It was snowing and our porters were late, so we passed another night in a lodge. Wake up call .. is at 03.00 a.m.! Outside the magic of Nepal was at is best with all the ground covered of snow and the sky dark blue pointed with millions aod millions of stars. Only here we can see such a night; sky and huts in ±e aark looks like the hut in Bethlem where child Jesus born.

Thorong la is a very important pass because it separates two of the most important Himalayan valleys, the Marshyangdi and the Kali Gandaki. This second one is important because it is the entry point of the Tibetan kingdom of Mustang, at the village of Kagbeni, and Tibetan influences : an be seen in all the upper valley. The trail goes down to Muktinath, a pilgrimage spot for both, Buddhists and Hindus, and Jharkot (Dzar in Tibetan) is really worth a visit; there is an impressive fort, perched on the ridge in view of Nilgiri, Tilicho, Annapurna Himal and Dhaulagiri. The : vo deeps valleys of Marshyangdi and Kali Gandaki make a circle around the group of Annapurna and they are part of the region named Gandaki.

This region of Nepal Himalaya is situated between Tibet and the indogangetic planes. People of different cultures, mankinds and religions stay in these two valleys living all together in a particular symbiosis that along time ago centralized the traffic of salt and wool caravans (from Tibet) and "wheat and rice from Nepal plains. We walked down to Jomson passing from Kagbeni where there is another old fortress and a Sakyapa rnonastry. As usual wind was blowing very strong in this part of the valley; that's why flights to and from Jomson are not regular. Sometimes is funny to read old guide-books as the one I have where it is indicated that in Jomson we can find one small lodge. Times are changed and nowadays lodges and little hotels developed and grow up more than necessary. I don't like to find at 2700 m facilities as in a four stars hotel in Kathmandu. I always think first years of Himalayan exploration and I compare them with clients of trekking agencies, that started to develop from 1970; how they were simple to accept any kind of accommodation and how they are difficult now (lucky not all), asking for showers along trekking routes and other facilities. But is it not so simple to accept what the land can give us and accept a real friendly accommodation in a simple Nepali house along Khumbu or Annapurna trails? But times are changed and Nepal is not in the Medio Evo anymore; I have got the chance to see this walking down in the Kali Gandaki, reaching Tukuche (2590 m), an important and storical village for trade of cereals and Tibetan salt along the Thak Khola valley where inhabitants are "Thakali" well specialized in trade and very closed to their land of origin. We got some good apples in a shop after Marpha and we walked down to Kalopani in an alpine area at the foot of Dhaulagiri and Annapurana I, leaving Tukuche and Larjung, the last Buddists centres of the valley.

Now there is electricity all around the circuit and good food is available in lodges, because ACAP has listed a varied menu for trekkers, that one can find it in all the area and Tatopani is not excluded. I still remember the old Tatopani; entering the village I saw a series of men sewing with their old machines. Now Tatopani (hot water) is like a termal village where people can take is hot bath in the swimming pool near the camp or the lodge. Tatopani is the exit point of Kali Gandaki River that continues to flow till India. We climbed in a beautiful forest till Ghorepani pass (2853 m) from where we made a nice hike to "Poon Hill" to see the day rising over the most beautiful mountains of the Himalaya range: Dhaulagiri, Nilgiri, Tilicho, Annapurna Himal, Machhapuchhare and down to Pokhara and Phewa Lake. Just an exciting experience!

In few days we reached the city of Pokhara and Kathmandu again and we fallen down into civilization grown up in rapid progress, leaving the first generation of tourists astonished to see this different capital at the feet of Himalaya. I would like to see Nepal always like at its origins, but I know, I'm a dreamer and I will never see Nepal again like twenty years ago. Nepal, with all its contrasts, is changing every day, but Himalaya is always there and its'people too; there, high in the mountains, where everything remain clear and pure, like Nepali children and Sherpas that I meet along my route and that repeat me, namaste, as twenty and more years ago.

Kang Guru (7010 m) Route : West side and Northwest Ridge

Kang Guru is located North-East of Annapurna, near Nepal/Tibet border, in a restricted area not open to tourism and not yet well known. At the West side of the area there is Nar Phu river and at South Marshyangdi river (Khola). Between Kali Gandaki and Tibet border there are several unnamed peaks of 7000 m, not easy and not yet climbed. To reach Nar Phu valley we must hike in Marshyangdi valley, from Beshisar to Koto (near Chame). Crossing a bridge on the Marshyangdi Khola we enter in Nar Phu valley hiking along a trail that goes directly to Tibet, staying at the west side of Kang Guru. The Base Camp is at Meta, a desert area with ruins of the old village at 3600 m. The village was left by inhabitants at the period of China invasion of Tibet in 1959. Meta is at the base of the mountain, in the point where a big gorge climb up the Western side of Kang Guru.

This base camp is not exactly in a good place to fix it. It is better to climb up a little bit more in the gorge around 4000/4200 m. We must be careful to climb up in this part because the route is on grassy steep slope and moraine, with possibility of rolling stones. There is a stream, so water facilities.

The previous Italian expedition that climbed Kang Guru in October 1991 fixed the BC in Meta.

Camp I is at 4900 m, under the great barrier of vertical rocks disposed like an anphitheatre at the end of the upper gorge. Be careful of rolling stones.

From Camp I to Camp II we have to pass a rocky area, a steep and iced gorge of about 400 m, a dangerous one. Over the rocky wall we have to prepare 50 metres of fixed rope. Then we continue to climb on the moraine till a place where there is a rocky rib between hanging glaciers. Under this part there is a safe place where one can fix Camp II at 5600 m.

Camp III is fixed in a wide plateau at 6100 m, under the NW ridge. This ridge and the rocky spur (West), joining the West side and the Northwest ridge together, are a safe place against winds.

From Camp III we climb till the summit of Kang Guru climbing West spur, well iced, around 40°-45° grade, for about 400 metres and we reach the North-West ridge. This ridge is long and sharp, not so steep, but with some ledges, till the summit.

Above information are from the report of the mentioned Italian expedition that our guide, Cesare Cesa Bianchi, got with him.

After few days of our departure from the BC, another mountaineering party arrived: a French one. Mr. Jeevan Shrestha, secretary of Miss Elizabeth Hawley, informed me that the French Kang Guru Expedition led by Gilles Buisson reached the summit with four members and five Sherpas on 27 October, 1999.

SUMMERY

An attempt on Kang Guru (7010 m) in Nepal.