Death By Ladoog VII

ON THE TREK

We are now packed and ready to go on the trek.

Before undertaking the trek, there are two important things that need to be ascertained:

1.  Medical history of the persons going on the trek

2.  Have they been to altitudes above 8,000 ft., before in their lives.

I organize high-end treks and I follow the following rules:

AAA.  I employ experienced guides at close to 3 times the going rates for trekking guides. The guide needs to have good trekking experience – but above all he has to be a person with uncommon common sense. He has to be capable of thinking fast – and logically - in emergency situations.

BBB.  I am not convinced by trekkers from outside when they tell me that they have done many treks in their lives. That may be so but conditions are different all the time – altitudinal variations are different. Don’t forget the highest altitude in Switzerland is only 4,600 Mtrs. So when a Swiss trekker tells you that he has been to the highest altitude in Switzerland – you can tell him that is child’s play.

CCC.  I always make sure that trekkers arriving Bhutan get 3 days of lolling around at Thimphu or Paro – for acclimatization. If I am able to, I try and convince them to complete their tours to other cultural sites before embarking on the trek – so that their bodies have more number of days to get used to the changed atmospheric pressure of Bhutan. A human body can adapt - but it needs time.

DDD.  Before starting for the trek, I unfailingly take them for a test run. They have a choice – Taktsang or Chele-La. I make them trek either of these two sites before beginning the actual trek. If someone is affected at these altitudes, he/she will NOT BE GOING on the trek.

PEP TALK

Just before the trek starts, I give a little pep talk that set out the rules to follow on the trek:

AAA.  The Guide is the ultimate authority on the trek. He has the final say – the support team including the trekkers, has to listen to him and heed his decision.

BBB.  The Guide sets the pace of the trek. It has to be understood that you are not on a competition – you are here to have an enjoyable experience – not to outpace someone. You must take easy and even paced short steps – NO RUSH. The rule is that you should not tire yourself out. DO NOT get into a situation that causes you to do hard breathing.

CCC.  Stay with the group – do not stray - do not lag too far behind or go ahead too far. In the wilderness, you can get lost within a blink of an eye.

DDD.  Protect or shield the important points from where heat escape: head, mouth, nose, ears, fingers and legs.

EEE.  Start your trek early – on my own treks, I have always insisted that we leave the camp by 7.00 AM latest - breakfast should have been done and camp collapsed and we are on the road by then.

The reasons I insist on early trek are:

AAA.  There is no sun boring down you neck – so the trek is easier and there is not much sweating. A good bit of the trek would have been covered under favorable conditions.

BBB.  Starting early means YOU DO NOT HAVE TO RUSH. It also means, most importantly, arriving at your next campsite early. Arriving early means you have ample time to do what needs to be done – locate a good camping ground, set up camp, gather wood for the evening campfire, search out water source – all without scampering. If you start late, you arrive late – leaving you with precious little time to do what needs to be done, with care.

CCC.  Towards the end of the day’s trek, let the support team and the pack ponies go ahead of you. This way when you arrive the camp, everything would have been set up and hot steaming tea and snacks would be waiting for you. One of the most irritating things is to have to wait around for the camp to be set up.

WHAT TO DO AT THE CAMP SITE

TENTS

The guide has to inspect every tent that has been pitched. He has to make sure that the tents are pitched in the right way – a slack tent is trouble – the tent’s outer shell has to be drawn tight so that rain water or snow has no chance of gathering atop it.

Cabela's Extreme Weather Tent - the tent of my choice - I take this on my treks. From the tent spikes you will realize that this tent is designed for serious stuff.

The guide has to make occasional inspections in the night - to ensure that the ponies have not stumbled over the tent's stay wires and slackened the tents. My above tents have no stay wires - so there is no danger of ponies tripping over them.

GROUND SHEETS

The ground sheets on which the tents sit must be of good, thick quality so that there is no seepage of moisture into the tent from the soggy ground underneath. The ground sheets I use are imported from Malaysia and they weigh over 5 KGs. each - heavy certainly, but your tent floor will remain bone dry through out the trek. A wet tent floor means BrrrrrrrrrrrR!

Make sure that the edges of the ground sheets are folded up slightly – so that in the event of surface water running around the tent – it does not run over the ground sheet and wet the tent’s floor. This will be trouble.

DRINKING WATER

If you are the type who needs intake of water in the middle of the night or early in the morning, make sure that there is free-flowing water available to you. Remember that at high altitudes, the water freezes, turning into lumps of ice – not good for drinking. What I have done is that I take my drinking water to bed with me – inside my sleeping bag. That way the water will remain liquid. The trick is to use hot water bags – that will keep you warm, while at the same time keeping the water liquid and drinkable.

TREKKING BOOTS

My experience has been that you cannot leave your boots outside – they freeze turning into hard lumps. So make sure that you protect your boots, so that they are supple and pliable when you want to wear them on, the next morning.

WATER FOR COOKING

I have been to some seriously high altitude locations where every morning you find that the water has frozen inside the Jerri can – meaning no water for brewing the morning tea or cooking your breakfast. Thus I have always required my trekking support team to heat pots of water before going to bed and keeping the heated water inside their tent. This way when they wake up in the morning, they have liquid water to brew morning tea and cook breakfast. They do not have to wait for the water to defrost. You have to plan in a way that there is no delay in starting a new day.

BATTERIES

The efficiency of the batteries inside your camera and lamps drops to about 40% at high altitudes – due to cold. Thus make sure that your batteries are protected and kept warn. I generally wear them around my body – in the night I take them to bed – inside my sleeping bag.

Calculate your battery power requirement – then multiply by 2. Carry more batteries then you need – remember you may have to extend your trek for unforeseen reasons – and remember that battery efficiency drops dramatically at high altitudes.

HYDERATION

Trekking means you loose lots of body moisture. Make sure that you replenish loss of body moisture - by drinking water at regular intervals. Hydration also helps your organs to function well and it helps you to get your required quota of sound and restful sleep.

ALCOHOL

Absolutely a NO NO NO NO NO. You must stop the intake of alcohol on the day you start your trek. You must also make it absolutely clear to your support team that CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL ON THE TREK WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!