All posts tagged: No Roads Expeditions

Day Three – Les Chapieux to Courmayeur

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(19kms…6 hours) Another great start to the day, with a breakfast of muesli, the freshest croissants ever, home made yoghurt, and a multitude of different breads and fruits. We had time for a quick wander around town and a team photo by a wonderful two story stone barn before being bused up the narrow winding lane to our start. We had a slow steady climb in the morning which was meant to provide stunning views of Mont Blanc for the first time but with the weather slowly deteriorating we lost our views and discovered the variables of weather in the alps as the rain slowly built. After three false starts on whether to put on the wet weather gear or not, we were finally kitted out but not before a few of us got wet with our indecision, lesson learnt. With weather gear on, we continued up the hill till we reached a saddle in the mountain which was the border between France and Italy. Luckily the rain dissipated and we were able to see …

Day Two – Les Contamines to Les Chapieux

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(8.5 hours…21km’s) After a restful nights sleep, weary aching joints staggered down to a great breakfast, before heading off at 8am. Ismael claims today to be the most difficult day of the walk with over 1200 metres of ascent, and 900 metres of descent, food for thought as the body warms up. The Mont Blanc circuit is essentially 10 days of climbing from the valley up over mountain passes, and back towards the valley each day. Total ascent is about 10,000 metres, and the same descent. Basically we are going up and down big hills as we sort of circle the Mont Blanc Massif, the group of glacier fields surrounding Mont Blanc itself. From Les Contamines at 1170m we climbed slowly and steadily up to Croix du Bonhomme at 2443m, through beautiful pine forest, into low covered flooring all with breathtaking scenery to elevate the aches and groans of protesting muscles and joints. The path we are taking this morning is an old Roman road and the highlight of the morning was crossing an ancient …

Day One – Chamonix to Les Contamines

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Day One – (7 hours…16 km approx) Finally the day we start walking arrives, after two years in the making and many training sessions up and down hills, stairs and ramps! An early start with breakfast at 7.30, and on our way at 8am to Les Houches by mini bus, and the cable car to our much anticipated start at La Chalette, but not before plenty of photos to commemorate the moment. The morning was a mix of beautiful pine forest trails, short steep climbs and descents: fields of low shrubs with wild blueberry bushes carpeting the floor. A cable bridge crossing at the Passerelle du Glacier was a highlight, especially for Kate and Rach who may not like heights! More up and down, then a great lunch of potato omelette and green salad at the beautiful Refuge de Miage. Most agreed that the morning had been tougher than expected, with legs taking time to acclimatize to the steep terrain. The weather was mild to warm, producing buckets of sweat, as glutes hammies and quads …

Annecy to Chamonix

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We left stunning Annecy in mid afternoon by bus, arriving in Chamonix at about 5.30. We were met by a few of our crew and hiked out to our hotel which is a little out of town, as the biggest endurance event in Europe climaxes today. The UTMB ultra endurance races around the Mont Blanc region, including a 160km run around the same route we will be taking. Our walk takes 10 days, the winner of the ultra marathon took 20 hours! Lots of undernourished, skinny people staggering around town as our crew chowd down on pizza/pasta/hamburger & and or steak at a restaurant in the centre of the village. Chamonix is quite a large town, with a vibrant shopping/restaurant/cafe strip, and a typical holiday vibe. It was great to finally be all together, as we rounded out our walking crew with Gemma & Liz, who have been in Italy for a few days, and Denise & Dan straight from Oz. After a busy evening we only have one full day in Chamonix, spent wandering …

Lukla to Kathmandu for 3 days

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Last night was hilarious, a celebration of the end of our trek, with us shouting our crew a few beers after a successful trip. For days now we have been hearing about Suba’s (one of our porters) prowess on the dance floor, and we finally got to see him in all his glory jiving away, with a few beers under his belt, to the intoxicating Nepalese beats! What a groover! The rest of the boys didn’t hold back either, especially after lubrication, hitting the dance floor at the lodge till the bar was shutdown, thankfully at 10 as our bar tab was getting substantially inflated! Great to see everyone in relax mode, especially the porters who have a tough job lugging our gear for 17 days, and deserve all the beer they could down, which was A LOT!! Credit to them though, they all crawled out of bed at 5.30am to farewell us at the airport, especially Mingma who looked decidedly wobbly! Only Dawa was flying back to Kathmandu with us, the rest live in …

DAY 16 Phakding to Lukla

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Our last day of walking, and a nice easy three hours at that with only one hill near the end to remind us of what we will be missing! As we walk we see reflections of ourselves going the other way, all fresh and eager, chatty and excited, still smelling like roses unlike our own slightly grubby, well worn and worn out fragrance! The closer we get to the finish the slower we seem to go as the magnitude and scope of what has gone before dawns on us. The culmination of 15 days battling both the elements, the environment, and our own mental demons (especially the Chola Pass, thanks very much!) is just at the top of the hill, through the arch we gathered at to date stamp the start of our trek….and soon, the end. Our final destination. But, it’s not the destination, but the journey we celebrate. At times it was hard, bloody hard, but for every tough climb, a moments rest was had to bask in the satisfaction of being here. …

DAY 15 Namche to Phakding

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We are truly on the home stretch when wake up is 7.30, and we don’t need to leave till 10…so, some random thoughts/insights on our fellow trek warriors. 1. They come in all ages, male & female equally, and in varying states of preparation & condition. 2. Dinner conversation in luxury apartment (anywhere in China)… “What do we want to do for our next holiday? How about a nice stroll in Nepal?” Next week!! “Better prepare by getting the best gear, must be organised”. 3. Re point 2, a lot of mainly Chinese, but not exclusively, seem very ill prepared physically. The pain on some faces at the start of a climb, and the agonising, crawling pace makes you wonder if they will ever complete any days trek, let alone the whole thing! 4. Lots of chirpy banter on day one, less so day two, almost none by day five! 5. We saw some spectacular outfits, from the stunning crocheted poncho, ultra wide brimmed hatted, monster sunglasses ensemble; thru to the parasol shaded gent staggering …

DAY 14 Dingboche to Namche

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Today looks to be a long one, so up early for breakfast and hoofing it by about 7.30. Breakfast was a little slow, and then the attractive aroma of someone’s scent (read BO!!) had us rushing outside, screaming for mercy. Oh, the humanity!! Finally, de-scented, we headed off for lunch at Tengboche, which houses the most famous Monastery in the region. The walk was mainly uneventful, rolling hills with a few ups and downs, including a solid climb to the monastery which sits proud on the mountain ridge. The monastery was quite beautiful, which Liz would attest to if only she hadn’t been wearing shorts! Read the fine print, Liz!! A nice lunch with spectacular views back to Everest, then the long descent to the valley floor. We spent over an hour going down, while hundred of miserable suckers (umm, I mean, trekkers) slogged their way up, up, up! One nasty hill climb to Tengboche Monastery. Actually, murder on the feet going down, not that we would have got much/any sympathy from the climbers. We …

DAY 13 Kala Pattar to Dingboche

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This morning will be the last ascent of our trip, and to celebrate we thought 4.30am would be a great time to commence said journey. Liz, who has been troubled by an ear ache plus a dry cough, valiantly attempted the climb, but wisely saw the folly of her ways, a bridge too far, and went back to the lodge, and bed. Rachael was fresh, and I had run out of excuses, so off we went with our faithful guides, Dawa & Mingma, climbing to our highest point of 5550 metres, reaching the summit after about an hour and a half of up hill grind. The cloudless sunrise produced breathtaking views, with Mt. Everest the shining centrepiece surrounded by nature in all its incredible beauty. It was freezing, about -5C, so we didn’t hang around for too long, but long enough for plenty of snaps, and a few moments to contemplate the awesome power of the Himalayas. Getting down only took about 20 minutes, breaking into a jog as we needed to thaw out, and …

DAY 12 Lobuche to Gorakshep plus Everest Base Camp

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We are sitting in the dining room of our lodge in Gorakshep, knackered after a long, fruitful, and ultimately very successful day, culminating in finally getting to Everest Base Camp. We started early leaving Lobuche at 7, to be instantly stuck in peak hour EBC traffic! One of the beauties of taking the Gokyo/Cho La Pass route is the lack of traffic on the trek, as only about 10-15% of trekkers tackle this journey, mainly due to the perceived fear of the Cho La pass, and the extra five days required. The rest take the road more travelled, and today we get to see firsthand how travelled that road is…A LOT! The walk to Gorakshep was bumper to bumper, making what would have been a pleasant walk quite the culture shock. The scenery was as magnificent as always which certainly made up for crowds, though. We got into Gorakshep at about 10, dumped our packs and ordered a very early lunch of Sherpa stew, soup & macaroni. By 11 we were back at it for …