Trekking in Helumbu

Me with Frank, the wonderboy. He is 6 and has trekked Annapurna Base Camp and was completing his second spin on the Helumbu trek!

Karate session with some boys on the way to school.

Filtering water with cheese cloth.

The things we carry.

'Pharmacy' in the village.

My new friend, Nanu.

Walking 5 miles straight up a ridge to get to school....and playing ball along the way!

Llama girls at a bonfire party in the village.

Blizzard and sunset in the Langtang Himalayan Range.

This woman was at the top of a tree in the middle of no where. How in the world did she even get up there?

The intestines and stomach of a recently sacrificed goat.

View from Tharepati after the blizzard.

Sherpini planting beans.

A 'tree' with pair yellow rain boots makes its way down the path.

After trekking Everest, Annapurna and Langtang, I had one more region of the top 4 to explore, Helumbu. This region is the closest trekking region to Kathmandu and home to Helumbu Sherpas. Differing from the Sherpas in the Everest Region, this group speaks different languages, follows different cultural practices and cultivates different crops. Although all 4 of the main trekking routes offer something special and fantastic, this trek must go down as my favorite. Simply because of the people. The Sherpas, Tamangs and Llamas that live in this region are very friendly, hospitable and extremely hard-working (especially the amazingly strong women, named 'Sherpinis'). Continually I was in awe of the women and girls carrying 50 Kgs sacks of rice, large bundles of leaves and fodder for animals and firewood. Me with my ski poles, fancy trekking boots and first aid kit had nothing on these women, sometimes shoeless in torn clothing with bloody fingers and aged faces.

When we were trekking through the village of Tarkegang, a woman with a basket on her back full of tree branches approached me. She pointed to the athletic tape on my fingers (to prevent blisters from the poles) and then showed me her fingers. They were bloody with blisters, open sores and callouses from cutting through the brush day after day.

I pulled out my first aid kit and taped all her fingers. I gave her the rest of the roll and she was extremely grateful. Yet another inspirational encounter with the women in this country- through there determination and toughness. Her work is done out of necessity. Her livelihood depends on carrying loads to feed her animals (her greatest possession) and tirelessly roaming the hills for resources to keep her and her family alive. It is her blood and her heart that lives in those hills- I just feel blessed to have walked on the same path.

This trek follows through small villages, through small living huts sometimes and traces steep-hill ridges. We did it in 5.5 days, instead of the suggested 8. That meant 6-7 hour days blazing up ridges 800 meters and down 1,600 meters on the same day. It was exhausting, beautiful, and everything a trek should be. On the trail, we were time and again taking care of by people who showed us the way (we had no guide) and let us into there homes to wait out hail storms, blizzards and down-pouring rain. It was a great farewell to Nepal and another examples of why I love this place, its people and its spirit.