Trailblazer Guide Books

Practical guidebooks for the more adventurous traveller.
 - The Herald

 

The Nepal Himalaya is amazing; a place where you can immerse
yourself in authentic cultures and be inspired by the greatest moun-
tain scenery on the planet. Since the early 1950s, trekkers have been
exploring the countless valleys and peaks of the mid-hills, pahar, and
high ranges, himal, throughout Nepal. Recent democratic elections
and relative political stability have led to a surge in visitors and the
mountains once again offer unhindered trails for anyone to explore.

The three main trekking regions, Everest, Annapurna and
Langtang attract tens of thousands of trekkers every year. Facilities
have never been better and easily rival those found in Europe or
elsewhere: there are even country-style teahouses in the Everest and
Annapurna should you want a touch of luxury. Trails are well main-
tained and safe, and locals will welcome you with a genuine friendli-
ness that will make your heart melt.

 

The other two-thirds of Nepal’s mountain terrain is normally
considered ‘off the beaten track’ and counts visitors in mere hun-
dreds. From the lush rhododendron forests of the east to the dense
woodlands of the west there is wilderness, and remote communities
that have remained relatively untouched. In these regions, a small
trekking group can make a real difference to lives that often barely
subsist.

Although the mountains are beyond compare, it is the people you
meet along the trail that linger in your memory. You can’t help but
admire their indefatigable boldness and energy, their independence,
strength and resilience when times are bad, and their fun, open-
hearted, generous nature towards strangers who may never return.
It’s impossible to make a comparison, but surely the people of the
high himal are the very best of mankind?

In 2002, the Nepali government reconciled all border disputes
with its northern neighbour China. This de-militarised seven border
areas and for the first time in over fifty years tourists were allowed
to explore them. All of these areas offer unique trekking opportuni-
ties, with many resembling the now popular regions as they were
thirty or more years ago. They also tend to be next to the major trek-
king routes so it’s possible to design itineraries combining old and
new routes thus making your holiday a more ‘complete’ Nepali expe-
rience.

For many years, one of the great trekking ‘holy grails’ has been
a possible route through the remotest peaks of the entire Himalaya,
which would join all the major trekking regions. The author is the
first person to survey, plot and describe such a route: the Great Himalaya Trail
(GHT). The Nepal section of the GHT would take about 160 days of continuous
walking so for convenience it is broken into sections, all of which have easy
access through the pahar. The introduction of new trekking routes through
impoverished communities will encourage micro-tourism projects in places that
are too remote for infrastructure development. By creating value in regions that
previously had little to offer to tourism, it is hoped that the relevant govern-
ments will establish a network of National Parks and Conservation Areas as a
trans-boundary corridor for animal migration, which would reduce illegal hunt-
ing and help save many endangered species. The snow-covered crown of Asia
may then become one of its greatest assets.

 

The Great Himalaya Trail

The Great Himalaya Trail runs through regions and countries that have cultures
dating back thousands of years, and for much of the time they have been trading
with each other across the mountains. Salt, wood, grains, wool and livestock,
gold and gems are just a few of the products that helped to establish a network
of trails from Indochina to Afghanistan, including sections of the famous Silk
Route.

It is easy to imagine local traders plying trails with their yak or donkey
trains throughout the region. Over centuries, they explored remote valleys try-
ing to find the easiest trails over the never ending ‘Abode of Snow’, the
Himalaya. In the larger valleys small communities sprang up and developed
their own unique languages and traditions. For over a thousand years the people
of the Himalaya were cut off from the rest of the world as Ladakh, Nepal,
Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet all kept their borders closed from prying, colonial
eyes.

Jesuit missionaries were the first Europeans to penetrate deep into the
Himalaya in the early seventeenth century. The first was Father Antonio
Andrade, in 1626, who crossed from India to western Tibet and then enjoyed
the local Tibetans’ open-minded hospitality which still exists today. However, it
is William Moorcroft who is considered the father of modern Himalayan explo-
ration. His first trip, in 1812, was in search of Tibetan goats; another followed
this in 1819-25, when he disappeared without a trace. In his wake came a long
succession of missionaries, botanists, geographers and traders who criss-
crossed the mountain ranges from east to west and began mapping the himals.
Exploration activity increased from the 1850s with the Great Game, a period
when the British Raj, Russian Tsar and Chinese Qing empires all vied for
ascendancy in the region.

The then new sport of mountain climbing arrived in the Himalaya in the
1880s with WW Graham, Sir Martin Conway and Freshfield who pushed deep
into the unexplored valleys of Sikkim and the Karakorum. However, most of the
Himalayan Kingdoms still discouraged visitors, leaving many areas ‘blanks on
the map’. After the First World War, a number of expeditions were organised to
reconnoitre and climb significant peaks. However, it was the mysterious disap-
pearance of Mallory and Irvine on Mt Everest in 1924 that really ignited the
world’s imagination for Himalayan exploration, and was a precursor to the suc-
cessful expedition led by Lord Hunt that placed Sir Edmund Hillary and
Tenzing Norgay on the summit on the 29th May 1953.

It was the research expeditions to identify new peaks and climbing routes
that began what we now call ‘trekking’. In 1949, Bill Tilman visited the
Helambu, Langtang, Kali Gandaki valley and Everest regions intent on walking
rather than climbing any specific peak, and so became the first Himalayan
trekker. In 1965, Colonel Jimmy Roberts introduced the world to organised
trekking holidays and began a revolution in adventure holidays that made
regions of the Himalaya accessible to anyone.

All of the activity to date was largely north to south across the Himalayan
ranges, so when an east to west route along the entire range was suggested in
the 1970s it was considered a radical idea. Yet the challenge had been set: who
could be the first to traverse the entire range?

At the time, the eastern ranges through Bhutan and Tibet were closed so the
first attempts could only start at Sikkim, then an autonomous region of India.
The first expedition was in 1980 with Harish Kohli leading an Indian Army
team; he was quickly followed by Peter Hillary (son of Sir Edmund), Graeme
Dingle and SP Chamoli in 1981. These treks began at Kanchenjunga, on the
border of Nepal and Sikkim and ended at the India-Pakistan border. A nine-
month trek over 1981-82 saw Hugh Swift and Arlene Blum complete a traverse
from Bhutan to Ladakh in India. This was to remain the longest attempt until
1990, when Sorrell Wilby and her husband Chris Ciantar made a traverse from
Pakistan to Arunchal Pradesh (northern Assam in India).

All of these expeditions suffered from restrictions on where they could trek,
which meant they frequently had to detour to the pahar, away from the Great
Himalaya Range. Even Nepal, perhaps the most accessible of the countries, had
strict ‘no-go’ areas along the border with Tibet. However, in 2002 things
changed and Nepal has since opened every one of her himals to permit-based
trekking. Along with new trekking areas in Tibet, Bhutan and India, the Great
Himalaya Range is now open to trekkers for the first time in history.