Rolwaling Valley 2012



While Ross was attempting to climb Mera Peak Brenda trekked up Rolwaling Valley


















Situated close to the Tibetan border and west of Everest, Rolwaling Valley is dominated by the great mountain Gauri Shankar. The trek follows the Tama Khosi north and then west/east along a narrow valley on the banks of the Rolwaling Khosi. It is sparsely populated, the ground is very rocky and steep and little can be grown. There are few tourists, people primarily go into the area to climb some of the trekkers peaks or to cross Tesi Lapcha (5755mt) and head towards Namche Bazar.
Our small group made up of Phurba, my guide, second Phurba, my porter and I started our teahouse trek at Gongar after an 11 hour local bus journey from Kathmandu. We weren’t carrying much gear but we did take a tent, sleeping bags, a flask and some food. We knew there were very few teahouses along the route and so we were prepared for picnic lunches.


The Tama Khosi is a fast flowing river originating in Tibet. At Gongur they are building a large hydro plant, funded by Nepal (or Nepali businessmen?) with many Chinese workers. They are in the process of excavating a 26km tunnel through the mountain to secure the water flow, a huge undertaking with shifts around the clock. Due to this large project the road from Charikot, although not sealed was very well graded. However there are many small waterfalls which run down the hillside and across the road, most of these have been redirected through concrete pipes under the road but we had to drive under and through one large waterfall.

We left Gongar (1440mt) and followed the trail into the valley, the first two days were warm, we walked alongside the river, slowly gaining altitude and enjoying the solitude and the views. We walked through millet fields and on the second night we stayed at a small teahouse near the Simigoan Gompa (2000mt).





Our third day took us through ‘hobbit’ country, rhododendron forest with ‘soft’ wood trees, maidenhair and other ferns, wild strawberry plants, moss covered rocks and waterfalls.  The trail was rough with river stones and boulders.  We didn’t meet any other travelers along the way and that night we slept at a lonely teahouse situated on the riverbank.

No teahouses for lunch on our fourth day so we carried boiled potatoes, chilli sauce and hot water. We stopped on the trail, sat in the sun and had a feast of potatoes, cheese, chocolate biscuits and tea. This was a lonely seven hour walk along the northern side of the valley with birds and waterfalls for company along the rocky path.






On our way into Beding  late that afternoon we saw a black bear in the sparse forest swiftly climbing the hillside.  We were very excited as this is not a common sight.  I was too stunned to take a photo but it would probably have been a black dot hidden in the foliage.  In three days of hiking we had ascended 2252metres to Beding (3692mt) where we had a rest day. 
 



Beding is a small Sherpa community with a monastery, some houses and a few teahouses.  Here we encountered our first travelers, French, on their way to Tesi Lapcha.  The teahouse was a very simple structure consisting of one room for cooking and sleeping so we pitched the tent close to the French group and I slept there.  I wasn’t keen on sharing the lodge with all the porters from the French group.



 
I slept for 11 hours so I must have been tired! Thank goodness for a rest day at Beding. We explored the small settlement, climbing the hill to see the monk’s lair, looking at the gompa and generally just resting.






We had been out of contact with Ross and Frank who were in the Solu Khumbu area trekking to Mera Peak. We called Kathmandu on the local phone to see if they had been in touch but there was no news. We knew they had met their staff in Lukla and were on their way so we wished them luck with a ‘toast’ of milk tea.





 



Na (4180mt), our final village was about 3 hours walk away along a very rocky trail.  We walked slowly, due to the altitude the oxygen rate was about 60% and breathing was getting a little harder.  The clouds were rapidly rolling up the valley bringing with them cooler air and a promise of snow.
Another small tea house with no separate rooms so this time I camped next to a Japanese group.  I was warm and snug in my tent, the two Phurbas put plastic sheeting between the tent and the outer shell to make it more waterproof and I had my walking stick to fight off any rogue yaks during the night.  I lay in the sleeping bag, with most of my clothes on to keep warm and listened to a story on my MP3 until I dozed off. 






It is absolutely bliss to be in a remote area of Nepal among the mountains with the wind at night and the yak bells tinkling and being warm in a cosy tent.






 There was little choice of food at the teahouses, there were no menus.  We either had dhal bhat, (rice, lentil soup and a small serving of vegetables, usually potato and spinach) or the guys had dee-rho (wheat porridge) with chilli soup and I had fried potato and egg. There is always enough fresh chilli!!


We consumed large quantities of tea which tended to be quite expensive at higher altitudes and the further we walked from the road.  Fortunately Phurba had brought a flask along with a small quantity of tea, coffee, sugar and powdered milk.  We would get hot water from the kitchen and then make our own tea and coffee at the tent.

A rest day is never quite a rest day, after an early breakfast we packed a small picnic and headed up the valley to Chhyugima Pokhari  or Tsho Rola lake.  We followed the river along the banks walking carefully over river stones to avoid any injuries.  We had a steep climb up the side of the lake and finally reached the summit where the lake stretched ahead of us and retreated into the Rolwaling Glacier.  The wind was fierce at the top so we found a sheltered spot behind some rocks and enjoyed our picnic of tea, biscuits and muesli bars.






This glacial lake is monitored during the warmer monsoon months to prevent too much water flowing down and flooding the villages below.  A dam wall has been built on the side of the lake with a steel gate which can be raised or lowered when necessary. This is powered by a small micro hydro plant and an engineer lives in this lonely spot to supervise the activity.





We spent some time looking around and walked a short way north to overlook another glacier.  Our original plan was to visit and explore the glacier the following day, but as I had seen similar in Gokyo a few years before we decided to leave Na the following day and head back to Beding.  By this time the wind and cloud were rolling up the valley quite rapidly so we had a brisk walk back to camp passing many yaks who were scrounging for food in the sparse fields.






I spent the afternoon in the tent and then watched the animals being brought in for the night and the cows being milked.  The next day was a leisurely walk down to Beding and then on to Donga and Simigoan and back to Gongar.  We were surprised at the number of waterfalls along the route, most must have been sourced from springs and as the valley was high and narrow they made a spectacular rush down to the river.  It was a fast flowing river with many huge boulders which created rapids and some quiet pools on the banks. 

At Gongar we negotiated with a private bus driver for a ride back to Ktm in his empty bus, we left Gongar at 5pm and 4 hours later booked into a lodge in Charikot for the night.  3am the following morning the bus driver gave us a wake up call, we staggered out of the lodge and into the bus and were back in Kathmandu by midday.

We left Gongar (1440mt) and followed the trail into the valley, the first two days were warm, we walked alongside the river, slowly gaining altitude and enjoying the solitude and the views. We walked through millet fields and on the second night we stayed at a small teahouse near the Simigoan Gompa (2000mt).







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