Last Blast: Nepal -- Three-Passes Trek

One last Asian blast before we set sail from Indonesia: Nepal. It’s been on our “to-do list” since I trekked Nepal’s Annapurna circuit back in the early 90s. Amy got tired of hearing me rave about it, so we decided to take advantage of the cheap flight and just do it. Jakarta to Katmandu, 200 bucks! – never going to beat that again.


OK, so what’s all the fuss about? Nepal is one of those special places in the world where roads, and all the associated evil spin-offs, do not make up the fabric of everyday life. It’s a hard concept for the rest of us living in the “real” world where “no roads” just doesn’t exist. It’s not a park, it’s not wilderness….there are villages, and towns, and houses, and restaurants, and hotels. There are simply no roads, no cars, no motorbikes, no combustion engines tying society together.


So how do they get around? They walk. What about all the “stuff” that goes along with houses, and towns, and restaurants, and hotels? They carry it in on their backs.


So that’s the picture: villages and towns, complete with houses, restaurants, and hotels, strung together by walking paths that have been burned into the ground by generations of people living out their daily lives.


Now, add to that, arguably the most spectacular mountain setting on the planet, and you have a trekking paradise. Where else can you hike unsupported for weeks across glaciers and over mountain passes, then end your day in a trekking lodge and a steamy bowl of yak noodle soup, overlooking a Buddhist monastery and perhaps a glimpse of Everest in the distance? (answer: nowhere else)


Nepal’s trekking network is huge and offers a ton of options from short and easy routes, to long and hard. Having already been to the Annapurna area (the early 90s thing), we decided to focus on the Everest region, AKA the Khumbu region, and specifically on a route called the “Three-Passes Trek”.


The 3-passes route is a newish 20-day +/- trekking route that includes the best of the Everest Basecamp (EBC) Trek – the standard trek to Everest Basecamp that 95% of people trekking in the Everest area are on – but tacks on a mind-blowing series of three high-elevation passes, and also hits on the infamous Goyko Lakes area – the world’s highest-elevation freshwater lake system. It’s pretty much the best of the best that the Khumbu region has to show off.


What’s the catch? The catch is that the 3-passes trek is not a cake walk. The most common word to describe it seems to be “challenging”. Not one, or even two, but three 5000-m+ passes back to back. The beauty of that combo though, is that it weeds out the crowds, and very few people do it compared to the EBC trek (we met 3 other couples doing the route, the whole time). Want the trails of the Himilaya to yourself? The Three-Passes Trek is for you.


We saw even less people because our trip dates (which were dictated to us by Amy’s teaching schedule) coincided precisely with the end of the season (late May/early June) – beyond the “shoulder season”, this was shut-down season. In fact, we had lodges to ourselves more times than not – pretty funny actually. More than once we were a bit worried if there would even be a lodge/guesthouse open where we were heading for the day.


So ya, crowds were no concern to us. We almost had the entire Himilaya to ourselves – remarkable given the Everest area’s reputation as people soup, which it is during peak season (April/May, and October). 


To top that off, we won the weather lottery, and pretty much had clear weather every day (morning at least), and downright amazing blue-sky weather a lot of the time. Again remarkable because June is supposed to be “monsoon season” (and hence the end of season shut-downs), meaning wet rainy weather. Er, that memo didn’t get through obviously, because our weather was fantastic!


The cool thing about the 3-passes route, is that it takes in 80% of the EBC trek, meaning you get up close and personal with Everest Basecamp, and obviously, Everest itself. The big twist though, is that rather than simply turning around and going back the way you came (EBC trek is an “up and back” route), the 3-passes goes sideways, literally, and takes you up and over three high passes that gives the route its name: (1) Kongma La – 5535 m, (2) Cho La – 5368 m, and (3) Renjo La – 5360 m. BTW, “la” means “pass” in Tibetan.


Does it get any better? Yes! Doing the passes forms a loop back to the start and finish of the Khumbu universe: the infamous Namche Bazaar, capital of the Khumbu region. 


If you are up for it, it’s a fantastic route. It is indeed a mission though, and took us 21 full days, including rest/acclimatization days. We both agreed, the 3-passes route is as advertised: long, hard, challenging, but endlessly mind-blowing and rewarding.


The two biggest worries, and the two biggest reasons people don't complete the route are: (1) altitude-sickness related issues, and (2) weather. You need both of these things to go well. Unlike Amy – who seems to have Sherpa genes – I struggle with altitude issues. I spent the first week popping Tylenols like breath mints to deal with throbbing headaches (headaches are the number-1 symptom of altitude-related issues). But after a week or so, and a little help from the drug Diamox, my head was fine and it was all systems go.


All in all, two-thumbs up on 3-Passes. Oh, but it’s cold. Real cold! Amy spent most of the time freezing her butt off. If you go, bring all the down garments you own. An interesting factoid about Nepalese buildings is that there is no heat, other than a yak-dung stove in the middle of the main room – if you are 10 cms away from it, you’re too far J. Bedrooms are usually colder inside than outside. And….outside, it’s freezing! J Amy was wrapped in down most of the time.


Highlights included mainly just being there and experiencing the grandeur of it all. But you know, despite the hype, Everest Basecamp is an amazing spot. On the edge of the Khumbu Glacier, looking up the Khumbu Icefall, huge glaciated peaks in your face…..it’s an awe-inspiring spot. Then there’s Goyko Lakes, and the view of Everest from Renjo Pass, and the yaks, and Tibetan monasteries, and the teahouses, and the donkey trains, and the prayer flags, and endless Dahl Bhat, and….basically just being there. J  


Namaste

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!