bedellympian

Trip: Indian Himalayas (Thailand too) - multiple Trip Date: 07/15/2019 Trip Report: My wife and I spent 2 months in Asia (1 mo India, 1 mo Thailand and Cambodia) this summer. Most of the trip was non-climbing, but we did get to do some cragging and got into the Zanskar region of the Hiumalaya for what I termed a "mini-exped." We learned quite a lot about logistics and have some insights for how to do this sort of thing on the cheap (not the rep of the Himalaya I know) which I thought I'd share here for others interested in getting out/up. Transport is the biggest logistical difficulty I'll mention here. Getting you and your gear to a "trailhead" or basecamp is the most difficult. If you want this part of the trip organized for you, figure out where you want to go and then contact Rimo Expeditions, these guys are by far the most experienced and dialed exped support company for Indian side of the Karakorum, Ladakh, and just about anything in the Indian Himalayas (Zanskar, Kishtwar, etc.). This will be expensive but still relatively cheap compared to the US for what actually needs to happen in terms of vehicles and people doing what you want on really f**ked up roads. If you want to avoid this, you can still go full dirt bag but it will require some discomfort on your part, a minimal kit, and lots of patience. There are several forms of transport in this area, all work, some are way better than others for your given objective. If you are truly light-weight you can rent/buy a Royal Enfield motorcycle and load up (you could even go KD-in-Kyrgyzstan style and ride a bicycle). This requires that you are very comfortable driving in some seriously narrow, rough roads with traffic. If you think that crappy dirt roads in the western US conditioned you for this... think again (its truly next level in terms of rugged, poo-yer-pants driving). The next level is to rent a "taxi" (jeep). This will be expensive but very convenient as you can have the guy drop you where you want. Expect about $100 per day which will get you sometimes as little as 100 miles of road travel. You can also get a shared jeep where you pay for your seat but this will only get you to near the area you are trying to go and your bags have to fit in the roof rack and share space with other travelers. We did this on the way out to our objective, got dropped at a tent-stay place by a village, then organized a private jeep (very beat up) with a local to get us and our two porters to the actual start of hiking. The problem with this and having a flexible itinerary was arranging pickup (sat phones are banned by India in this region due to fear of terrorist organization. Buses are quite cheap, bags are an issue if you are going heavy. They are also slower than taxis and can be rare to non-existent in remote areas. Hitch-hiking is possible, but most people will expect you to pay them something. My wife and I were able to hitch-hike on Tata trucks (India's semi-trucks) driven by some friendly Kashmiris to get back to the town of Kargil. This was a an extremely LONG but enjoyable and interesting way to travel (no issues with the amount of bags if you don't mind them getting very dusty/muddy/wet. The next issue is food. There are grocery stores (not what you're used to) in major towns (Leh, Kargil, Manali). Finding dry goods is hard. We went with quite a bit of canned goods knowing that our approach from road to basecamp was short (3-4 miles) and we would have a porter or two to help us carry stuff. You can easily buy lots of ramen packets and also poha (rolled potato flakes that can be cooked like instant rice). You can get some bars, instant oat meal. Peanut butter can be found but is expensive and will taste more like thai peanut sauce than PB we have here. Dried fruit, nuts and candy bars are easy to get. Bringing gear from the US is tough with the standard array of airport "security" (read bureaucracy) BS you will encounter. Groups like Rimo can provide you with high quality camping stuff (pads, tents, cook stoves, etc.). If you are renting it can be good in both price and quality, just make sure to reserve early in the year for a company like Rimo and check the items carefully before taking them out in the field. I would plan to bring your own climbing gear, sleeping bag, and light tent or bivy sacks if you are planning to sleep on route. All other camping equipment you can get in Leh, probably Manali, Kargil you'll probably be out. Here's our itinerary, then I'll tell you what I would change if I went back with a climbing focus... Flew to Delhi, train to Chandigarh, private taxi to Manali (6500') 5 days in Manali with day hikes to 8000' and 11k' Two day Himachal Tourism bus to Leh (day 1 go over 13500' pass, sleep at 10k', go over multiple passes 3x 15k' 1x 17k', arrive in Leh 12.5k') Spend 6 days in Leh with easy walks, buy food, get rental gear, research and finalize objectives. Bus to Kargil (11k'), spend night, shared taxi to Rangdum (14k'), spend the night, private jeep and hike to foot of glacier at 15k'. 5 nights sleeping at foot of glacier (15k') day 1 navigate toe of glacier and dial in approach route, day 2 go up ridge next to glacier to 17k' (shut down by knife edge of stacked blocks), day 3 rest (boulder around camp), day 4 go up different ridge to 19k' (shut down by overhanging rock band), day 5 hike out If my goal was to climb in the same area, or other areas North of the Himalaya crest in summer I would change it up and do the following... Acclimatize before hand on mountains in the US and fly straight to Leh at 12k' plus (book Delhi to Leh separately with a discount airline as it will be way cheaper). Gear up and buy food in Leh. If it were me, I'd go pretty light and ideally have 4+ people who I was going climbing with. This way you can hire a taxi/jeep at a reasonable cost per person to get you and your stuff to your area (jeeps can fit 7 passengers with limited room for bags in the back and a roof rack). If you need a couple porters you can probably just find them the week of if in Zanskar and most other areas of Ladakh, but be specific about what you want (lots of people speak just enough English that you think they understand) and use lots of pictures (most villages will hav no electricity or internet so be prepared). If in the Karakorum the proximity of the border means that the army will over pay porters and it will be difficult to find people, pack animals may be the way to go for getting to the glacial travel part. If in doubt I'd hire Rimo for logistics. Other thoughts... -snow can be really soft and slushy, look for hard freezes and plan to travel during those times -sunny aspects can actually be more consolidated on steep slopes -everything is bigger and takes more time than you think, especially figuring out approaches through glaciers, rivers, scree, etc. Feel free to message me with Qs. Here are some sweet pictures for your viewing pleasure (apologies for the crap iphone pics)... "trail head" approach to BC bouldering at BC views from a ridge less ideal views from another ridge bailure time make-shift gaiters hitch hiking w/ our homies #freekashmir #modiisafascist luxury hotels (slobber slobber) and NO, I won't tell you where this is Summary: It's cheap, the peeps are nice, place is easier to deal w/ than you probably think... go get it! P.S. Thailand is fun too... Gear Notes: rented tent/pads/sleeping bags/stove bought with: light axe and pons Approach Notes: fly, train, bus, taxi, jeep, walk

Looking for a partner to do a quick ascent of either Lib Ridge or Ptarmigan Ridge. Looking for experienced and fit individuals. PM me if interested. -Sam

Worth a watch... https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOYnpuacr0hmFlciAgGvMYw/videos

Little late but as up there two weeks ago. A couple people did Nemesis. Skiied in. Crappy snow pack. Would not walk wit what I saw but it might have solidified by now.

Where are you located?

What routes are you looking to do? Do you have skis? If you're interested in more technical ice routes and/or ski descents let me know. I'm down in Oregon but will have weekends and some time in mid June. -Sam

Good for you guys for getting out there. Pretty sure this is in almost every year. Also, how did it take you 9am to 5pm to get up there??? I would review your efficiency.

What kind of routes are you trying to climb (at the crag and in the mountains)? Keep in mind you'll replace a rope after a couple years of hard use, so forget those dream goals and only consider what you'll do in the immediate future. Second, is age/fitness or budget more of a constraint? When I started doing alpine routes I was working a shit job part time, but I was 24 and an ex-collegiate distance runner. I got one fat rope and took it on everything and it worked fine. Simplicity will force you to adapt and think creatively. My advice, spend the extra money on gas, go climb more with a cheap rope and the mountains will let you know when the extra skinny line is worth it.

I've got a couple people partnering up on different days but otherwise free. Looking for partners for multi-pitch ice or alpine depending on conditions. Happy to rope gun WI4/M5 or follow harder. PM me if interested. -Sam

Oregon111 could you possibly say where you were on the John Day River?

Thanks for the responses. I'm not going to be paying that much for forecasting, just an exploratory trip and low budget. Would be nice if there was a good international weather stats page I could just check at an internet cafe in Leh or Padum before heading into the backcountry for a week to see what the general trend is in terms of pressure and what not. If anyone has ideas for that let me know. Thanks, Sam

Wondering if anyone with recent firsthand experience can comment on what they used to predict weather in Northern India in both the Himalaya or Karakoram. Heading over there this summer and would especially like something I can use for elevations outside of towns in the 4-6000m range. Thanks.

I hear Steve House dry-tooled Picnic Lunch Wall before he moved to Colorado (it hadn't yet been free climbed, but now goes at 5.12+ R). Also, a certain mountain guide claims to have dry tooled Churning in the Wake (13a). Personally, I think as long as you stay off of popular climbs no one would care, but we have a couple other crags in the region that offer dry-tooling in a colder and less-popular location.

Go ski touring or go rock climbing. Based on what you are looking for the nearest reasonable objective would be to climb something on the south side of hood (timberline is only a 2 hr drive). All other objectives are going to be prohibitively longer approaches for minimal "climbing".

Last Feb I took a 40 foot fall when a block came off while I was 3rd-classing back to the car at Smith. Most of the damage was on my knees. My R knee had a torn ACL, partially torn MCL, tibial plateau fracture to name the worst of it. My L knee had torn PCL, fibula head fracture, 3"x8" laceration into the interior knee joint cavity that also chipped my patella bone and shredded part of the patellar tendon. I was in a wheel chair for 6 weeks, on crutches for another 9 weeks (non-weight bearing on R leg), then had ACL surgery on R knee two week before the crutches came off. Since ACL surgery and my slow return to activity I have been really fortunate to recover faster and better than anyone expected. Obviously all injuries are different and not all factors are in our control but I wanted to point out some things that I think helped to accelerate the healing and reconditioning process so that others can benefit. Obvious things that are probably out of your control but worth pointing out for perspective... 1. Being really well conditioned pre-accident (middle of Max Strength Base training from TftNA). 2. Having been through long-term injuries before allowed me to mentally deal with the process better. 3. Having a shit-ton of family, friends, and most importantly a wife who took me to appointments, cooked me good food, and kept me psyched. 4. Happening to have a really good surgeon available when I came to the ER who did my ACL repair later on too. 5. Having time-off from work to focus on rehab and fitness. Things that were within my control... 1. Getting a really good PT who has worked with lots athletes and has tons of experience with knees, Ellie Meyerowitz at Rebound PT in Bend. Compared to other friends who had also had ACL surgery in the last few years I was on a much more intense and proactive program. 2. Working with a strength coach to plan an upper body strength training program that I was able to implement in my wheel chair at home so that I could continue to progress in some way (set huge hangboard PRs and got way stronger in the shoulders). However, this was most beneficial because I was able to super-set these exercises with my early PT. Doing pull-ups, dips, etc. are big muscle exercises that have been shown to release Human Growth Hormone (HGH). This is why climbers will super-set dead-lifts with hangboard sessions to release HGH that then helps their smaller finger muscles respond better. I was flipping it and doing big upper-body muscles to benefit doing small exercises in my legs. 3. Finding a LMT. I was lucky enough to befriend our neighbor Mary as she was starting massage school. She used me for practice and multiple school case studies. I had weekly deep tissue massages for several months. 4. Diet was super high quality and I took a light protein supplement too. I ate more than I ever had as an adult and only put on 5 lbs. 5. Pool workouts rehabbed my movement. I was cleared to move in the pool as long as my feet hit on the bottom (not swim or aqua jog). I practiced A/B/C skips and other running specific drills. This was really helpful to retrain my muscle movement in a non-impact environment while also controlling inflammation with water pressure. When I was starting to do plyometric movement at PT again I was way ahead of the curve because of this. 6. Maxing out my workout time with aerobic activity rebuilt my aerobic system and increased circulation which is a limiting factor with any healing process. I was cleared to start with 10 min of biking on the stationary bike and add 5 min every 48 hrs if not painful. Within 2 months I was doing 2+ hrs on the stationary bike (thank god for entertaining podcasts), plus 30-45 min of pool drills, plus over 2 hrs of PT exercises every day. Results... 1. Able to start running 4.5 months post-ACL-op (faster than normal ACL repair despite massive leg atrophy from 15 weeks non-weightbearing). Six months post-op able to run 10 miles comfortably. 2. Climbed numerous 5.10 cracks, started taking lead falls again, climbed Royal Arches in Yosemite last week in under 5 hrs (not super impressive but also not too bad given that we pitched everything out). 3. Climbed Broken Top with the wife and friend in September 4 months post-op, was the fittest uphill walker of the three (YESSS!). After-note: was told by my surgeon after my ACL surgery that there was a good chance I could never run more than a couple miles or do long hikes again, so this is definitely a success.