Dear Niru, dear Mr. Teuchert,
My idea to climb a mountain in Nepal during the monsoon season was inspired by an Everest basecamp trek I did many years ago, also in the summer. Back then the weather once over 3500m high in the Khumbu region was fine. The summits where clear, snow conditions seemed to be ok. So why not climbing one of them? I contacted Adventure Geotreks in Germany (Klaus Teuchert) and they were eager and happy to realize this unusual expedition project for me and with me. We choose Himlung (7126) as our peak. We reached the basecamp after six wonderful days of trekking, starting with two days walking along the Annapurna circuit and then turning north into the Naar-Phu valley, joined and assisted by my competent and experienced climbing guide Chandra and our friendly porter Dawa. Of course we did a thorough check up of my climbing gear before we left Kathmandu. Our basecamp was already set up and we had a warm welcome by the other crew members (climbing guide Kumar, our cook Santosh and his assistant Amrit). After a deeply moving Puja and some days of acclimatisation and exercising in basecamp we started our climb. The route (a new one by the way!) was already checked out by Kumar. While I acclimatized again in camp 1 Chandra and Kumar climbed higher to check the new route further up and to find a place for camp II. Our highest point was camp 3 (6300m). Due to unsure weather conditions we decided that it was safer to climb down again. What we achieved together as a really good team was: We were (as far as I am informed) the first to try a monsoon-climb of Himlung, we took an uncommon, maybe (but I am not really sure) new route and we climbed most of the Himlung ice fall as part of that route successfully. As I followed Chandra’s instructions carefully I did not have any symptoms of altitude sickness and was able to climb in the thin air of the Transhimalaya very soon and without any problems. I am not a beginner but I learned a lot about climbing from Chandra and Kumar in the time be spent together on the mountain.
I had very competent support, logistics and crew with Adventure Geotreks, both in Germany and Nepal. Everything was professionally organized. We had a properly planed and then in this way carried out expedition. Time schedules worked out fine! I was picked up and kindly welcomed at the airport. When it was time to fly home again I was seen to the airport by Bhupal Rai of Adventure Geotreks and Naris, the company’s driver. Once again a moving gesture when Bhupal presented to me a khata to say good bye. I hope to be back again soon! I can highly recommend Adventure Geotreks, Kathmandu and it’s german partner Klaus Teuchert (when you are in Germany - dreaming and planning) for your trekking or expedition! Feel free to contact me (m.jns@gmx.de) for further information about my expedition.
Matthias Janßen, München
