MY GREAT HIMALAYA TRAIL X RANDY SUN
2021-09-15
We left Chaika in the rain in the hope that the rain would end by lunchtime. The trail is very simple, for the most part it goes smoothly down. Only after the village of Meta you need to descend sharply 400 meters to the river, but then the trail again goes with a very smooth descent. Due to the rain, the trail is slippery in places, but it is not a big deal.
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For lunch we stopped at a porterhouse in the town of Dharmashala. The rain did not end. Even worse, it became even colder than it was in the morning, despite the fact that we dropped more than 600 meters in altitude. It can be seen how it is snowing higher in the mountains, which leads to sad thoughts about the upcoming ascent of 6000 meters near Manaslu.
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After Dharmashala, the trail goes into a very narrow gorge. Now the rain causes concern not only because of the slippery path, but also because of the potential rockfalls - periodically there are very fresh traces of landslides. We try to walk non-stop and all the time we look closely and listen to the movements on the slopes above our heads.
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The river in the gorge is very rough, with many powerful rapids. I don't know how it looks out of the rainy season, but now we periodically remember Sergei Ragimov - could he pass these crazy rapids, or they are completely inaccessible. In some places, the blockages completely block the river and it flows in a tunnel under the stones, in some places these are powerful waterfalls, beating directly into the rock. There are areas where the direction of the current is not visible at all in the seething water.
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After a day of rain we got pretty wet and I again got a good impression of the RANDY SUN membrane socks. I walked with dry and warm feet in completely wet sneakers in the freezing rain.
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I recalled conversations with locals in Manang, Naar and Fu about the weather: everyone unanimously said that this year is the strongest and most destructive monsoon in forty years. Lucky, so to speak.
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We stayed overnight at the 3 Sisters Lodge. Quite a decent place, there is even electricity. And then there is a wonderful gray kitten. The animal is independent, it feeds on local mice. But this does not prevent him from begging for food and coming to the pens.