Trip Report - Mount Rolleston, 16th October 2010, by Paul Swettenham

I had wanted to climb Mount Rolleston from a young age after hearing stories from my Granddad or ‘Papa’ as we called him. He spent much of his time in Arthur’s Pass and would take my mum (and her sister) to the Pass, in August for school holidays to the family bach. He climbed many of the peaks in and around Arthur’s but his favourite and one of his most memorable missions was Rolle.

He told of returning after summiting, coming down and seeing the glow of his father’s cigarette in the dark waiting for him, of course they had no headtorches back in the day and this guided him back to safe ground.

My Papa had a great life and passed away some 13 years ago. Before his funeral I sketched Mount Rolleston on his funeral programme and vowed that one day I would climb the classic Canterbury peak in honour of my Papa – Albie Fehsenfeld.



After a stint of 10 years away in Bristol, Edinburgh and the Himalayas I returned to Christchurch for a year in 2008 only to be thwarted a couple of times but yet persevered, believing that one day I would stand on the summit my papa had, joining so many other keen climbers that had come before.

I joined the CMC after finally returning to ChCh in June of this year, after another stint in the Himalayas with my guiding company Sunstone. In the back of my mind that was always going to be the focus and after a couple of postponements I turned up at El Presidente – Nick Moyle’s pad in Ilam. After meeting up with Wayne and Nick we were off to the Pass, via Darfield picking up Mike on the Friday night.



Good banter ensued about climbing & mountain biking and Wayne & Mike had also been aiming to climb Rolle for some 3 years, so there was certainly some shared karma. We listened to Nick’s comments about the classic peak amongst spear fishing & free diving stories gathering kai and we were all excited, yet a little on edge about the ensuing weather forecast.

The NorWester threatened to come in on Saturday arvo – would we beat it?

We snuggled down in Kennedy Lodge and got up at 3am, some brekkie and started to hear some large gusts coming in up the Pass – had it arrived early? Would we be hammered on exiting the bush line?

We set-off at 3.40am from the car park and when we did stick our noses out of the top of the Coral Track – it was completely still. Unbelievable - clear & calm with thousands of stars above us. Suddenly it dawned on us that we were gonna burgle this peak – bring it on. We tramped up donning our crampons, and to our surprise the snow was firm and we weren’t even breaking through too much – another bonus.



The Sun started to rise and the day was going to be a cracker – as long as that bloody Norwester didn’t come in and gatecrash our party. We started to get into the rhythm and caught a party returning concerned about the wind. Jeech it wasn’t that bad we thought– are they crazy!?

The first steep pitch the boys cruised up and the snow had good purchase, a little soft in places but timing was looking good and we pressed on as things could only continue to soften. We came to the gap with Nick checking the route out and as we decided conditions & confidence was good, we decided to climb without ropes on this crux of Rome Ridge. We rounded this and got onto that classic ridge line with fantastic exposure over to the Crow Valley and with the Low Peak firmly insight – were we really going to nail this? – Yep it seemed so – bring it on.



More hard work and we maintained a good pace kicking on and taking in the sublime views as we gained height. Finally we made it to the Low Peak having fantastic views over inversion clouds out to the West Coast and Tasman Sea and the first view of the smooth Crow Glacier that borders middle Peak and leads to our final goal – High Peak and the Summit of Mount Rolleston at 2275m.



We pressed on to finish the job off, crossing the Crow Glacier. A last crux stepping right, making a small traverse with huge exposure, hundreds of meters below to crank the axe and gain the final summit ridge. Nick kindly offered the summit and I took the honour for my Papa. I finally topped out and looked around at the majestic 360 degrees views on a perfect bluebird day. The boys came up to join me and we toasted the old boy – Albie with a beer on the summit. An unusual brew a Mad River ‘Steelhead Extra Pale Ale’ that my Dad had flicked me.

9.30am summit – just under 6 hours. We had a good old drink and reflected how bloody lucky that we’d burgled it, but of course only half the job was done!









Time to cruise it down. A snack on Low Peak and we cruised down the lovely soft conditions towards the Otira Slide and once on it pulled out a few arse slides. Warm sunshine and that lovely feeling that you’re out of the danger zone and it’s bagged & tagged, into more chilled surrounds bathing in our glory.

A spot of lunch in the valley discussing the vagaries of life and we cruised on down the creek to the start of the Otira Valley as hints of the Norwester came in and the wind started to get up. We were home & hosed and it was off to the Wobbly Kea for a couple of pints to spin a few more yarns and plan the next mission.



Thanks to Nick Moyle for leading the trip and trip members Wayne Robertson (driving), Mike Jennings, Paul Swettenham.

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(Part2) Annapurna Base Camp Trek (Annapurna Sanctuary), A benighted homestay with a farmer and return to Pokhara

We pressed on after enjoying the luxury of the hot springs with an early start and goal of trying to get all the way back to Pokhara. Normally you take a bus from one of the last villages ie Nyapul or Phedi but because of this preiod of 8 days Bandhe (political striking)there would be no movement on the roads today. A little ambitious tp try and push through the whole way and the day proved to have a few delays with an absolute torrential down pour that made for a longer lunch than planned.


We trekked on with beautiful views up to Deurali (another Deurali) as the big cumulus clouds were ever so cotton wool against the striking deep blue sky. A friendly dog joined us and as the sun began to set we were going to come up short for Pokhara. We pressed on (being well prepared with headtorches & tent if needed) but started to get very tired and with sore feet after over 11 hours on the go,frpm out of the shadows a local farmer offered to put us up for the night - we looked at each other and agreed - YES that would be lovely - not much debate there. We were fed beautiful Dhal Bhat and warm goats milk in the traditional Nepali kitchen by Grandma - and I have to say it was one of the best Dhal Bhats I've ever had!


A friendly dog decided to follow us for about 3 hours (not uncommon in Nepal) but it was rather embarassing as the farmer (and his family) presumed it was ours. We couldn't seem to shake him and so attached to us he even came and stayed in the room we'd been put up in for the night! The family seemed to accept this but I think maybe they thought there was something in it for themselves, evidence of which when they tried to shackle the dog to a pillar, but he duely escaped, as this dog seemed a bit special, a bit of a littlest hobo and he seemd to have his own agenda, calling his own shots!


The next day we awoke to a beautiful sunny day and headed off, thanking the family for there most generous hospitality and delicious chai for brekkie. The dog kept on our tail, outrunning some rather possessive local hounds until we caught a taxi past Palme. Rather odd, we'd thought the strike was still on, maybe an illegal ride, we piled in with 5 other people and a goat, which started nibbling John's collar to my amusement. We were on the home stretch and pulled into Pokhara discovering that yes in fact the strike had finished, and no we wouldn't have to walk, bike or fly to Kathmandu. We were back in Pokhara over and now could relax and celebrate our trek - lakeside style with a huge breakfast (eggs holandaise, pancakes, refillable coffee) at Mike's restaurant!


We met up with all the new friends we'd met from the trek and had a couple of days hiring a giant pedaloo (pontoon platform boat), kicking back eating & drinking and swimming in the middle of the lake where it's pristine clean with more gorgeous views surrounding us!




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(Part1) Annapurna Base Camp Trek (Annapurna Sanctuary) - Hotsprings, a Fishtail and a Leech!

I met up with John in the beautiful lakeside town of Pokhara before we set off on the classic Annapurna Base Camp Trek, made famous by legend climbers Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal whom in 1950 climbed Annapurna I, Don Whillans and Dougal Haston climbed the very difficult 8,091 Annapurna South Face in 1970. Monty Python’s Michael Palin tackled the trek in his documentary ‘Himalaya’ adding a down-to-earth comical insight also.

John was introduced to me through a mutual friend Steve and had been living in Kathmandu for 7 months and had set out on some wild cycling adventures biking across Nepal and venturing down to South India on a 2 month riding soiree, an artist and self – confessed freak we were going to hit it off on our next adventure up to Annapurna Base Camp!

We headed to the local bus station and caught the local bus to Nyapul, where the trail head is situated to start our journey. This was good timing as the strikes or ‘Bandhe’ as they're known was about to kick off on the 1st of May in which the Maoists would use roadblocks to starve people of necessary resources country wide in their campaign to take over the government as the constitution deadline nears conclusion on the 28th May. A little background, the parliament has been made up of an MMP (mixed member parliament)style with all parties having to agree on certain policies to contribute in writing a new constitution. Most commentators agree there is no chance of the majority government making this deadline and this gives the Maoists the perfect opporuntity and justification to try and oust the current Prime Minister/Government and take power, most likely by force. Thus we were happy to escape the mayhem and head for the hills.

We followed the snaking Modi Khola River making our way up through the small villages to Kimche where we would stay, before trying to meet a friend (Saran) in Ghangdruk the next night. Great views down the river valley and a superb Dhal Bhat that had the zingiest fresh tomato, mint, chili sauce - divine to go with the huge carbo load. On to Ghangdruk over a large landslide and surprisingly this village is rather traditional and not a big town as it would seem on the map, no ATM and no internet working - this is definitely more down-to-earth and soulful than the Khumbu Region! We chilled out here for the day meeting our next groupie - Ray from the Nether regions and were lucky to get first views of Machhupachure - 'The Fishtail' peak amongst kids playing in the traditional village Good apple pie and chocolate cake with coffee in the afternoon too!

We awoke to a beautiful day and contoured around the hill to a small village before descending steeply nearing Jhimu (Chimru). A well needed swim was had as we braved the cold glacial waters and were surprised that it wasn't as 'ball-shrinking' cold as we thought. A lovely little waterfall and a 5 minute swim before heading to Jhimu for lunch and to our goal - the legendary Hot springs. A 20 minute trot down the path and we were stoked to see some nice girls in bikinis drinking beer - bonus! Jenny from Sydney and Suze from Dunedin were cool chix, although they did rub in the fact we'd made a critical schoolboy error in not bringing beer down as they quaffed there's down merrily. Great springs at a gorgeous temperature of about 38-40 degrees Celsius it had us jumping in the Modi Khola to cool down and get that tingling feeling through our well used bodies - great times! That night a few beers and we et the lovely French Girls - Constance and Fannie who would make up our group of 5 for a few days!

A beautiful morning with views of Annapurna South 8,091 and Hiunchuli 6,441m as we started the steep climb up to Chhomrung. A little over an hour and we were sipping chai on one of the most gorgeous spots - the view hotel looking right up the valley - just magic! Down the steep steps and a climb to Sinuwa for lunch, pulling in as a torrential downpour hit us, great timing and it only lasted to our 2nd cup of chai! On through the dense rhododendron & bamboo forest towards the village of 'Bamboo', as we rounded the corner we were hit with killer views of the 6,993 sacred peak of Machhupachure - rising hugely to our right with it's definitive double summit and 'Fishtail' profile! A party have only climbed it once in 1957, to 50m of the summit in respect as it is a sacred mountain and no longer is permission granted.

On from Bamboo, another gorgeous day through forest and small tributaries cutting across the path making lovely river crossings over smooth, carved rock. Again we stopped for some 'TrekAir' or 'TrekJumping' a bit of fun with the camera to embellish some small jumps with killer backgrounds - we had found a perfect place.

Check out: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sunstone-Adventures-Limited/125604380964?v=photos#!/album.php?aid=180147&id=125604380964

Lunch at 'Himalaya' settlement, following the Modi Khola, up to Hinku cave and we started to get some huge waterfall action, stunning atmosphere as we pulled into Deurali. As we were having a chai I noticed a leach down by my foot, thinking it was rather odd, as we had gained height out of the jungle now and jokingly said 'it must have hitch hiked up on someone!!!! Little did I know that ride was me. Not until the next morning when we had set off in cloudy, rainy conditions had I started to get hot and pulled my woollen hat off, with Ray spotting something on the back of my head. Of course I thought he was joking, it felt like a big lump of dirt, but in fact was a mass of congealed blood. Unbeknown the leach must have attached itself to the back of my head when I stopped to rinse my face in a small but rapid, waterfall and clung on for the ride. It must have just fallen off at Deurali just before I put my hat on as I cooled off and because I had left the hat on all night, even when I slept, it had nicely compressed the 2 pronged wound rather nicely. it was very clean, as leaches are and as they release a local anaesthetic, very cunningly, you just don't feel it! Oh well 'onwards and upwards' we pressed on, with clouds and rain threatening, up through a beautiful valley, lined with waterfalls very reminiscent of the Milford Tramp in Fiordland, NZ. We made it up to Machhupachure Base Camp just as rain was starting, but it is often only for short periods, so we'd timed a chai break nicely once again! Our plan was to head up to Annapurna Base Camp after lunch and return to sleep at MBC.

The rain cleared offering us a small weather window, donning our wet weather gears,
we gave it a shot! It's a gradual climb from MBC to ABC, but be warned the altitude can catch you out if you aren't already acclimatised! With the old addage "climb high, sleep low" we thought we would take it easy and get up to ABC for a cup of chai and return to MBC! We cruised it, although Fannie did start to feel the mild effects of AMS (Altitude Mountain Sickness)being a bit nauseous and head spinning and she made the right decision to head down accompanied by Constance. The boys pressed on, feeling fine and it up to the 4180m Annapurna Base Camp as another front of rain came in - it wasn't going to be our day for views but fortunately we had tomorrow morning up our sleaves. We decided to keep it a short cuppa and run down to check on the French Gals. The rain was coming down and we arrived back at MBC in half an hour to meet the girls just pulling into the lodge. Fannie was still a little spun out, which can be quite normal considering the large ascent we'd made from Deurali (2700m)which meant we'd climbed some 1200m to MBC! My advice in this situation is to hydrate a lot (water, soup, chai etc) and not go to sleep as you may not wake up and often your body just needs those extra few hours to acclimatise and settle down! Always good for your mates to keep an eye on the patient too to observe any changes like vomiting, frothing at the mouth, irrational behaviour etc which may indicate a worsening condition into HACE (High Altitude Cerebral Edema) or HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema) which can be fatal within hours if not treated correctly. If in doubt get the patient down 300-500m ASAP!

A good night of cards and great momos ensued with an amazing sunset in which fishtail reared it's head a long with Gangapurna and an amzing inversion looking down the valley! Spindrift was licking off fishtail and the light became a photographer's dream exposing the sharp jagged peaks.



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The next day we again awoke to atmospheric cloud action and John & I decided to head down, with Ray and the gals deciding to at least tag ABC and also give themselves the opportunity to potentially score some better views, if it did clear. John and I were focused on a big day, heading right down to Jhimu (to collect beer) and hit the hot springs for 5.30pm! We cranked it down, with lunch of Dhal Bhat at 'Bamboo' and motoring up the steep steps up to Chhomrang and hitting our hotspring date just nicely! That beer did taste great!

Check out some photos of TrekAir /TrekJumping:

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Lobouche East Peak climb 6119m

Monday 11th April - Approach to Base Camp.

We dropped down to Pheriche having some farewell beers and goodbyes to the Everest Base Camp Team of Mats, Emma, Steve, Om and Nima. A quick update on the excellent, albeit expensive Internet connection near the HRA (Himalayan Rescue Association) and we set off back up the Hill. Lunch at Thukla and we were heading our way to Lobouche Base Camp, a mere 1 hour after drinking chai. Low pressure with snow clouds really started brewing giving us the hebee jebees but things can change quickly in the Himal, and we were ever hopeful. It calmed slightly but the amazing clouds gave an incredible fiery red sunset viewed from a ridge above Lobouche Base Camp with views of Cholatse, Taweche and toward Ama Dablam were epic!

Check out the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDFDHb4K4OA

Back to camp for a great dinner - broccoli soup with mini pompadoms. Main of rice, dal, mutter paneer (peas and nak's cheese), mini sausages, eggs that had been boiled & fried with a super interesting dessert of Aloe Vera cubes which were delicious! Reading the 'book thief' so off to bed to chill and await tomorrow's sunrise and chill out in Base Camp for a nice laid back rest day!

Sunday April 12th - Rest Day at Base Camp.

Awoke 5.30am - it just gets earlier and earlier - age!? or Environment!? Probably both! A superb super clarity bluebird day which had been the norm, disrupted by the low pressure last night and was great news as the snow flurry that signified an oncoming storm had passed or we had thought had past! We may just get the good weather we're hoping for but we'll have to wait and see. I walked up the ridge taking in views of Ama Dablam. Cholatse and Lobouche Peak as the sun started to dance on the high ridge tops. I was joined by a beautiful black Himalayan dog as I climbed higher on the ridge on the perfect morning perched over Lobouche Base Camp! Gotta love those Himal dogs - proper hardy dogs them. Don't build 'em like the use to in the West!

Monday 13th April - Trek to High Camp.

Another bluebird day after a clear starry night. A crazy little mammal running around which was either the yellow-throated marten or a mongoose!? Anyways provided much camp side entertainment as it circled around doing laps at a million miles an hour - but always staying close to the safety of the rocks.
We trekked up, slow & steady taking in views of the crags and spotted a Golden Eagle circling for prey! We arrived as they Sherpa boys were putting up the tents for us but again swirling clouds started coming in! Check out Pics from the Sunstone Face book Page:

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I awoke to what sounded like slight drizzle about 11.30pm at night, but peered out of the tent and thick snow had started to gather. Again an hour later it wasn't stopping - I really thought our chance at climbing was over - due to avalanche danger, deep unaccessible snow or just a humdinger of a storm (visibility)! But I awoke at 3am to Mingma opening my tent with porridge (hot milk too) to starry, clear skies - wow - I had really given up - but the excitement and adrenaline was back on -we were going to climb - yee haa! However the snow had warmed and then started to freeze again causing the (normally dry straight forward, dry, smooth) slabs to become icy. I started slipping about a minute in and announced the crampons are going on, the Himalayan boys weren't use to this and I was of the thinking - if ya got 'em smoke'em I mean use 'em! From High Camp we made our way in the dark padding our way up the treacherously icy slabs, using the cracks and features for purchase and light started to slowly break. We made our way to crampon point and, as it snowed a foot of snow in the night the valley and surrounding peaks were beautifully blanketed creating an almost sepia or black & white effect giving beautiful contrast!

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We made our way up the 650m of fixed ropes (400m vertical) as the day broke into perfect weather and started to warm the bodies. Some good sustained medium steep climbing, really at about 40-55 degrees and some 60-65 degree cruxes in places. Three quarters of the way up the slope, the route kinks towards the summit ridge, I was behind Saran as he pulled around the corner with views of Everest starting to appear. Saran continued cranking it up the lovely sustained steep 55-60 degrees pitch, looking over the exposure you can see the small town of Lobouche right below you...between ya legs. We pressed on reaching the false summit and curved around to the real summit, one small jump over a crevasse (yeah great)which had the heart flutter and we were there - 6119m with epic panoramic views - just sublime! We had summited at 9am after leaving High Camp at 4am in the morning which was great going considering the added precarious smooth slabs and now it was time to parade the Sunstone Adventures banner before getting the hell out of there!

We returned down stopping at High Camp in great weather, as the wind started up throwing spindrift off the top of the peak making our way to Base Camp. We had a lovely greeting by the Sherpa boys whom had done a great job supporting us on our climb. We had chai and I was even made cheese & tuna sandwiches, chilling on the rocks as the sun bathed down on us. We retired to our tents, wallowing in the summit glory having a great siesta! We rose for a good dinner of spaghetti and fried chips. Pretty knackered and we all slept like a baby, knowing we'd bagged a beauty of a 6000m peak!

I awoke to a beautiful blanket of snow as we again had a couple of hours snow. Again bluebird day and time to pack up BC and cruise to Pheriche for lunch and update the world on the Internet. A surprisingly good connection at 4300m but a little pricey at 20 rupees per minute....you can pay 20 rupees per hour in Dolohiti, Kathmandu! A good lunch at the lodge and we pressed on to Pangboche, but before we did we stopped in for 'tea' which quickly turned into 2 jugs of the local 'chang', the millet beer from Mingma Sherpa Tshering, our climbing Sherpa and his wife. We cruised on, rather happily tipsy and pulled into Pangboche for cards, dal bhat and a few more glasses of chang! Nice to have a wee celebration in aid of summiting Lobouche Peak!

A few more updates on the Internet and soaking up the congrats emails was great as we made our way further down the valley. We walked to Phangetenge and had a killer chili tomato soup which not only cleared off the 'chang-over' but blew my head off! As we were dropping altitude some swirling clouds arose, creating an atmospheric walk back up the 3 hilly sections to Namche Bazaar. We reunited with team member Steve who had descended to Namche and done a side trip to Thame. Steve went up to a medieval Sherpa village called Taranga, mostly inhabited by Sherpa farmers producing spuds. He had enjoyed some good photography and relaxing after a top effort making it to EBC and up KP!

Made our way down to Lukla and were delighted to see Man U beat City in the local derby in the English Premiership with Scholesy finishing a tight game in the 93rd minute. A few beers to celebrate especially with spurs doing Chelsea suddenly the Red Devils are looking like winning the premiership! Awoke early and had a smooth transfer returning back to Kathmandu! Happy days and a zeeperb trip. Although how many frickin' motorbikes are in this town!? I swear I'll get my toes run over one of these days....it's only a matter of time!

A big thanks to all the Sherpa support from Saran, Mingma, Nima, Om, Dai and Bhopal!

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Everest Base Camp Trek & Kala Pattar

A good climb up the dusty steep track to Namche we honed in our first acclimatisation goal to stay 2 nights at the busy little trading bazaar. It was great to get there and have a decent espresso coffee and chocolate brownies at the Everest Bakery - yumlicious! The next day (a rest day) we carted ourselves up the relatively steep track to Everest View Hotel to let our bodies feel some altitude and return down to sleep. Lovely hot chocolate on the balcony with sublime views of Everest 8848m, Lhotse 8516m, Lhotse Shar 8386, Peak38 4587 and Ama Dablam 6812 - what a beauty of a day and great 'posi' for a drink or lunch!

The next day it was time to set off to the beautiful Monastery of Tengboche to see the Monks perform their Mantras. Again a steep climb after lunch but well rewarded as we pulled into town greeted by the beautiful chortens and rich coulurs of the temple. Again we found the 'Lavazza' sign and it was another last chance for real coffee. A great little guesthouse and an early rise to capture the first of the sun and the young monks welcoming in the morning blowing Conch Shells. For cool video please see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcQsnI57lMA

We trekked on through Deboche and winding our way up to Shomare and nearing our next acllimatisation spot of Dingboche at 4420m where, as entering we received our first views of the 6119m East Lobouche Peak. Our group was divided into 3 whom were heading to EBC (Everest Base Camp) and a couple of climbers to make their first ascent of this classic 6000m peak.

Another 'Rest Day' although local guide and slave driver Super Subbaman had a half day trek planned up the Nankhanshang ridge fopr us which takes you up to 4800m although you can go to the peak at 5100m which was perfect acllimatisation for the Lobouche climbers. I was very lucky to see a huge Golden Eagle making an awesome flight right over me, searching for prey. A good climb in gorgeous weather and it was down to chill out, do some washing of socks/gruds etc and a spot of reading. For lunch I tried some unusual fermented cheese that was wrapped up in savoury pancakes with garlic & chilli and tasted like blue vein cheese - delicious! We were sharing the lodge with Russell Brice's Himalaya Experience group which was made of both clients looking to climb Mount Everest and trekker heading to EBC in support of them. Was nice to catch up with legendary Mountain Guide 'Woody' from Queenstown,NZ whom I met skiing in Gulmarg, Kashmir just a month previously! It's a small old world!

We cut across the hill, the next morning, overlooking Pheriche and a huge braided river valley which led up to views of Taweche, Cholatse and across to Lobouche Peak. Tea at Lukla and up through the Everest Memorials (in memory of past Everest climbers) and up to Lobouche, where at close to 5000m the air was beginning to thin rapidly. The next day it was all on, the push to Gorak Shep and onto the iconic Everest Base Camp. We toiled through the moraine, again with blazing sun coming down on us, sucking up as much water as possible to counter that thinning air. We were all on good form after some good sleeps and looked to be all on track! A final push and Mats, Steve and Emma and the rest of us looked in good form. We wound our way up through the moonlike landscape, undulating up and down with surreal views of the Khumbu Glacier that curves around past EBC and up into the legendary risky Khumbu Icefall. Views of Everest start (only viewed on approach to EBC nad are obscured when you are actually there) as we finally reached the 5364m cairn and start of Everest Base Camp - we'd made it and took some great celebratory photos/videos and a wee celebration ensued.

The mission wasn't quite complete with the fantastic viewpoint of Kala Pattar (5545m) yet to be tackled the next day. A lot of people get up for sunrise but I’m a fan of a little later, as it's less cold and the photos are a lot better with the sun rising over mighty Mount Everest and the huge Nuptse wall. Steve, my Aussie roomy (yes be careful of your wallet with those Aussies ;-) had a bad sleep but showed good determination to give it a crack. I was to climb Lobouche so decided to head off in front and give the body & lungs a bit of a push which proved great as I beat my 70 minute record getting to the high point in 62 minutes. The rest of the group did a great slow & steady effort reaching an hour later which was a good effort for veterans and rookie trekkers alike. The views were extremely rewarding and I would always recommend going to both EBC & KP as they each have their own unique, amazing features of mind-blowing landscapes.

Well done guys & gals what a great effort and Everest Base Camp and Kala Pattar are certainly no walk in the park - just ask anyone who's completed them. It takes a tough, focused effort with many elements having to slot into place to get the result and achieve the goal. Now we just had to get down!

Thanks to all the team of Saran, Nima, Om and clients: Mats, Emma and Steve - a superb time had by all!

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Helicopter ride to Lukla with some pre-flight sightseeing in Kathmandu

After catching up with friends Saran (Nepalese mountain guide) and Steve (ex-pat Aussie and Nepali language scholar) in Kathmandu for lunch it was great to meet the trekking group. A lovely traditional Nepali welcome dinner with great food (royal dahl bhat) and traditional dancing we all got acquainted with Emma (swede), Mats (swede) and Steve (Aussie) over some Raksi (local rice wine). The group were all planned to trek to Everest Base Camp, with Steve heading off to Gokyo Lakes, Emma & Mats returning to Namche and Sarran and I to climb 6119m Lobouche Peak with support from expedition Sherpas. Interestingly Lobouche is a classic 6000m peak used for acclimatising for Mount Everest expeditions and is one of the most technical trekking peaks with 250-300m of steepe, fixed rope ice climbing. I had bumnped into legendary Kiwi mountain guide 'Woody' who was working for Russell Brice's Himalaya Experience and they were planning to summit Lobouche in preparation for an Everest summit attempt. If successful this would be Woody's 14th Everest summit - pretty full on! 

A city tour was planned the next day and we met up 9am setting off in the mini bus to Boudinath Stupa, a short drive from thamel in Kathmandu. It's an amazing stupa with the characteristic 'buddha eyes' and huge white dome-like body surrounded by temples and yes the commerce side of things - tourist shops! We were given an excellent talk and tour by our guide Nabeen and learnt about the wider history of Buddha and how this related to Boudinath. We learnt about the traditional Thanka paintings - mandalas and the wheel of life and how they are painstakingly crafted over months and sometimes years! 

After a good look around it was off to Durbar Square in old Kathmandu. An ice cream and a look at some of the beautiful temples, one of which had some rather intricately carved sexual positions from what they call'lion style' (doggy style to us Westerners) to 'the wheel barrow' and so on - a good laugh had by all. That night we chilled out and made last minute purchases of supplies (snickers and bounty bars for me) and had a nice relax over a few beers.

The airport over the next couple of days was the usual chaos and we found ourselves waiting, being pushed back because of delays (the day before) and losing the 'calm weather window'. So by midday the wind had risen above the 12knots in Lukla(apparently this is the benchmark of wind knots they won't fly over). Frustration was starting to mount after being put on the runway bus several times and returning to the departure lounge. It was obvious it was not our day and better to try and secure a morning flight slot. Off to 'fire and ice' for the best pizza in Thamel and to Kilroy's that evening for more comfort food feasting! 

Take 2 and things went from bad to worse with a plane breaking down and not much action of planes flying to Lukla at all. Classic disinformation and time was ticking for clients on an agenda - we needed to get out of here! Mats (Swede) decided enough was enough and hired a helicopter (knowing the rest of us were not in a position to fork out the $600USD each) he spoke to us saying there was no obligation but there was however, 4 available seats on the chopper if we were keen! Of course we took up this very generous offer and bailed from the dysfunctional mess humming our way to Lukla on the giant mechanical insect. As thanks I bought him 'touching the void' by Joe Sumpson as I had discovered, in previous conversation he hadn't read it and he was delighted by the gift.

We were off buzzing over the dry, mountainous landscape with cut gorges from silky relecting rivers - what a way to start trekking to Everest Base Camp by an adrenaline filled 50 minute chopper ride! We touched down in Lukla and we were finally on the trail tramping our way to Phakding , sucking in the clean mountain air, taking on the dramatic environs of the Everest Highway and soon slurping on tea as we pulled into our teahouse! Thanks again Mats - hero of the day! Rock on!

Vids to follow on Sunstone Facebook page.

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Crazy Indian VISA rule made in January – you must be out of country for at least 2 MONTHS before returning to India even if you have a multiple entry

Yes it would seem, after much investigation the rumours are true. Even if you have been granted a VISA with allowable re-entry, the Indian Customs can and will deny you entry back into the country if you have not remained outside for AT LEAST 2 MONTHS!

On exit Customs officials are stamping some passports with a stamp reading you may not return within 2 months and others, like myself seem to get no stamp which is adding to the confusion as I flew my way from Delhi to Kathmandu in Nepal.
Even failing to verbally pass on this vital information to myself or other fellow travellers just seems crazy.

This seems absolutely absurd as it seems to apply to travelers who have already been issued a multiple entry VISA and now they have just slapped down this rule to include EVERYONE without any kind of notice. Initially I thought this was classic Chinese whispers amongst the backpacker community and just applied to people wanting to leave the country, get a new VISA and then return to India. Ok I guess I was trying to use some logic, stupidly my friend Pete reminded me!

You can apply for a ‘Permit to Re-enter Within 2 months’ ‘This permit is granted only if the need is urgent, and not for Business Activities/Employment or pursuing studies/research, etc.’ Or ‘If the visa holder is traveling to multiple countries on the same itinerary, no permit is needed as long as trip follows the itinerary exactly. The visa holder must carry a copy of the itinerary to show the Immigration Officer.’

Again this is just added bureaucracy making for more hassle and lining up in unorganised government offices, where process is extremely unclear and officials unhelpful. The BBC article written in December states that the Indian Government are using this as a justification because of David Headley’s involvement (who was charged in connection with the 2008 Mumbai attacks) due to his travel back and forward to identify targets.

Rumour has it that even some foreign nationals now have to return to their place of origin to gain a new VISA to return to India which in some cases can mean timely and expensive travel, rather than shooting off to Kathmandu or Bangkok to get a renewed VISA.

I hate to think how this will affect tourism in Nepal, as many backpackers wish to just trek or climb for a month and pop back over to India, within their 6 month VISA, now this seems a little more difficult and may take some extra planning & thought. Good old Indian bureaucracy....when will the unbelievable cease to amaze?

Further Links:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8427798.stm
https://indiavisa.travisaoutsourcing.com/guidelines?id=16

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