Kloof father and son’s journey in the Himalayas

GLENN Robertson is a Kloof father with vision.

“I have three sons and have always felt a need for a sort of ‘rite of passage’ into manhood for them. I’ve often wanted to return to the Himalayas (I visited there in my 20s), and as my oldest son, Ben, turned 13 then 14, I knew it was time to get cracking,” said Glenn.

“I wanted to take Ben on a challenging adventure where there was some hardship to be endured, so we packed our bags and headed off for a month in Nepal, on a 21 day hike to Everest Base Camp and back.

“Once in Kathmandu we spent a few days getting organised with permits and buying a few items needed then we took an 11-hour bus trip to Jiri, the original town Edmond Hillary and Tenzing Norgay set out from on their Mt Everest expeditions.”

Glenn said it was a 100km walk from Jiri to Namche Bazar, a scenic and taxing route passing through dense forests and Buddhist hill villages, some higher than the highest Drakensberg peaks from where they could glimpse the snow-covered Himalayas in the background.

“It was always up up up and then down down down, they don’t seem to believe in following contour paths there,” said Glenn with a smile.

“This part of the hike was beneficial in that it helps you acclimatise for the altitudes to come,” said Glenn

They slept in lodges known as tea houses along the way, people’s houses adapted for tourists to spend the night. Some are free but you pay for the food.

“They cater to the western palate and offered a range from pizza and pastas to the morning breakfasts of Tibetan bread and omelettes with refreshing and spicy masala tea.

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“The people are small in stature, humble and friendly.”

On day 8 they reached Namche Bazar where they enjoyed a ‘rest day’ as advised for acclimatising and spent the time enjoying a few comforts before heading into the mountains proper.

Namche is in in the foothills of the Himalayas and conforms to an amphitheatre shaped valley with cobbled streets, hotels, bakeries and coffee shops.

“The surrounding peaks are massive and the valleys are so deep, the scale of everything is immense, so much more so than what we are used to in the berg.

“The suspension bridges we traversed were an adventure in themselves, some being more than 110 metres long. And then there’s always the chance of meeting a ‘train’ of yaks carrying cargo or the donkey trains that herald their arrival with the chimes of the bells they wear.”

After Namche, AMS or altitude sickness starts becoming a real threat and the advice is to never ascend more than 500m a day. “While we were up there we heard of two separate situations where someone had died overnight from AMS so we had to be cautious and I kept asking Ben how he was feeling but I could tell from his massive appetite that he was ok.”

On day 15 they achieved their first objective crossing the Kongma La pass. At 5 535 metres, it is one of the highest mountain passes in the world. “That was a long, hard, slow day for me. Ben, however, was like a mountain goat and seemed to bound up the pass!

“The landscapes at these altitudes are surreal; rugged black peaks, frozen lakes and glaciers, very little grows there, it was like hiking through a scene from Lord of the Rings.”

At the top of the pass they were greeted by colourful strings of prayer flags blowing in the wind. “The top of the pass is a narrow ridge with a steep descent on the other side. From here we felt on top off the world and could see across the border to peaks in China. We stopped for a while to take it all in before descending into the Khumbu Glacier in the valley below.”

The glaciers were not what the intrepid pair imagined them to be. “It was like walking in a desert, but the ice is underneath the dust and boulders and you can hear it creaking as it shifts and moves down the valley.” Here, too, it is hazardous and not a run -of -the- mill walk and cairns are placed to guide the way for stable ground across the glacier.

The next day they headed to Gorak Shep, at about 4 900 metres the last ‘village’ before Everest Base Camp. “I’d been feeling the effects of altitude in that I was having weird dreams and battling to get any sleep but by the time we got to Gorak Shep it was becoming ridiculous.” Glenn said.

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At Gorak Shep they took on their second objective, a peak, Kala Pattar at 5600 metres in height to get a good view of Mount Everest.

“It’s amazing when you realise you’re looking on the highest peak in the world with your own eyes but it’s not quite what I expected. It doesn’t look as threatening as some of the other peaks around it… still don’t ask me to climb it.”

After a night in Gorak Shep they headed on their final object, Everest Base Camp on the fabled Khumbu Icefall. “At these altitudes you’re working with about 50% oxygen when compared to sea level, so basically you’re using one lung and I could feel it. Climbing season for Everest is around March/April, so there’s not much to see at Base Camp in December, still it’s a tick on the bucket list.”

After 10 days at these altitudes, no bathing and night time temperatures of -18º all they wanted to do was get back to ‘normal’ and it took them 3 days to get down to a town called Lukla were they were able to fly back to Kathmandu. “That was another adventure in itself. The airport in Lukla has the reputation of being the most dangerous airport in the world with it’s short 60m downhill runway that drops off into a deep valley.”

“It was a fantastic time for the two of us. What Ben learnt or gained from it I cannot tell, I just hope that when he looks back one day on that month in Nepal it will loom large as Everest for him.”

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