Your browser has disabled scripting - some functions of this album will not be available. Please check your browser configuration and security settings for this site

Mountains Of Travel Photos

Home | Dhaulagiri Main | Dhaulagiri References | Contact

Marpha To Below Dhampus Pass Gallery - attempt to climb to the Dhampus Pass.

Marpha To Below Dhampus Pass Gallery from May 2008

201 Trail To Dhampus Pass Goes Up Right Valley To Yak Kharka And Then Left To Ridge The trail From Marpha to Dhampus Pass and Hidden Valley goes up the wind-sheltered valley on the right to Yak Kharka, ascends to the ridge on the left and then up that wind-swept ridge to the pass. This view is from the flight to Jomsom.

201 Trail To Dhampus Pass Goes Up Right Valley To Yak Kharka And Then Left To Ridge

202 Trail To Dhampus Pass Goes To Yak Kharka And Then Left To Ridge The trail ascends steeply out of Marpha (2680m), and eventually comes out at the lower part of Yak Kharka, where we had lunch.

202 Trail To Dhampus Pass Goes To Yak Kharka And Then Left To Ridge

203 Rocky Wind Swept Ridge Towards Dhampus Pass After lunch at the wind-sheltered Yak Kharka we ascended very steeply to the ridge at about 4200m. Winds gusting to 100km/hr and blinding snow hit us immediately. After struggling for half an hour, I gave up and asked Gyan to set up camp in the wind-sheltered valley.

203 Rocky Wind Swept Ridge Towards Dhampus Pass

204 Camp Below Wind Swept Ridge Towards Dhampus Pass We camped just under the ridge to Hidden Valley in the wind-sheltered upper reaches of Yak Kharka at around 3800m. Snow was falling as Pemba Rinji and Mingma put my tent.

204 Camp Below Wind Swept Ridge Towards Dhampus Pass

205 Climbing Steep Crumbly Rocky Trail To Ridge Towards Dhampus Pass We didn’t get away the next morning until after nine o’clock because the weather was still bad. I struggled up the extremely crumbly rocky trail to the ridge. The wind hadn’t started yet, so I was hopeful. But, we met two mountaineers descending from Dhaulagiri who mentioned that there was a lot of snow on Dhaulagiri.

205 Climbing Steep Crumbly Rocky Trail To Ridge Towards Dhampus Pass

206 Crew On Ridge To Dhampus Pass. Kneeling Gyan Tamang, Pemba Rinji, Jerome Ryan. Standing Nima Dorje,Mingma, Kumar, Tenzin A few minutes after reaching the ridge to Hidden Valley at around 4500m, the trail entered snow. We could see more people descending the snow slopes ahead. Hmm, what to do. The trail plodding though the snow would be much slower, so I was worried that we might not reach Hidden Valley by the time the wind explodes. I decided once again to retreat. Just before we turned around and retreated, I took another team photo. Kneeling down are guide Gyan Tamang, cooks helper Pemba Rinji, and Jerome Ryan. Standing are porters Nima Dorje and Mingma, cook Kumar, and cook helper Tenzin.

206 Crew On Ridge To Dhampus Pass. Kneeling Gyan Tamang, Pemba Rinji, Jerome Ryan. Standing Nima Dorje,Mingma, Kumar, Tenzin

207 Plane At Jomsom Airport We quickly trekked back down from the ridge at 4500m to Yak Kharka and had lunch, and then descended to Marpha. The 2000m descent was brutal on the knees. It was a brief one hour trek from Marpha to Jomsom, where I flew out to Pokhara and Kathmandu.

207 Plane At Jomsom Airport