Friday, May 20, 2011

Four days of trekking in the Himalayas

early-April
"I'm really out of shape."
"That's ok, I am too."
"No, I mean it. It's really bad. So let's plan to work out for six weeks and get in shape before our trek."
"Ok, definitely."


late-April
"It's too hot to work out."
"I know. It's over 100 degrees here now."
"Ok, well I'm still going to try to get in shape. We still have three weeks left."
"Ok, me too."


mid-May
"So, I barely worked out at all these last six weeks."
"Yeah, me neither."
"I'm still really out of shape."
"Ditto."


Day one: After about four hours, I was beginning to have difficulty putting one leg in front of the other. Maybe it was because I knew we were almost done for the day. But come lunchtime, the last 200 meters to our lunch spot were torture. The rest of the time was muuuuuch easier. By day three, I had shed a pound or two and was able to ascend to over 3,500 meters. As we fumbled our way through the snow and to the top of a peak, I was feeling good about my accomplishment. That day was hard, but it was a good hard. And we were rewarded many times over with the beautiful views.


Dalai Lama's temple in McLeod Ganj










Our guides and cooks










You can see the blue tents...that's where we camped for two nights.






These little temples dot the mountain-sides everywhere























3 comments:

  1. Fantastic! Looks like everybody enjoyed the trip, which is always a good outcome. What was your route?

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  2. Wow - so beautiful. I am jealous of your adventure!

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  3. Amazing pictures! I really like the one with the outline of the animals (goats?) against the setting sun. And the pic of you standing victorious is great! Looks like you could step out of your tent and fall cliffside too. Oh, and one more thought, is that t-shirt from rick's picks? If so, you could seek endorsements!

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