Bhutan trip - the trek

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When I organised a trek in the Himalayan region, I arranged the smallest group I possibly could. This contained three trekkers, a guide, a driver, and a yak man plus his two horses and three yaks. This for a seven day trek including getting to the area, and back to my Chinese base.

Jangothng (7314m) Base Camp (4050m) © 2019 Jamyang Dorji

The scale and organistion of the trek in Bhutan dwarfed my efforts. There was a guide (extreme left), plus an assistant (left) learning to do trekking guide-work; three trekkers (middle); a cook (right); a sherpa (extreme right); two horsemen with their 12 horses (not in picture); and the mound of equipment needed for the next 24 days; and supplies intended for a major portion of the trek.

Later in the trek the it was revealed that the equipment included the material for a hot shower (canvas screen, flat stones on grass, large bucket of hot water, and a dipper). This was pure luxury. The first appearance of this wonder occurred here at Jangothang Base Camp. I understand that it made two further appearances during the full duration of the trek.

Before the trek, we arrived in Paro, and had a brief tour of the town. The following day we walked up to The Tiger's Nest (about 7km and 1000m of ascent). We took three days to get up to the Base Camp. The first full day's trekking was tough, and got us up to 3700m. The next day saw us at the Base Camp. The following day was a rest day, so we only walked for about 4 1/2 hours, or 12 km, and ascended 380m. The lake was magnificent, and provided views, on the opposite mountain side, of about four flocks of blue sheep - a Bhutanese specific species. The flocks did eventually merge, and we estimated that there were between 120 and 150 animals in total. Unfortunately, no pictures, as I had learned by this time to leave all my camera gear in my pack - too heavy, too bulky, and too awkward when attempting to trek with poles.

En-route to the lake, on the first rest day. © 2019 Jamyang Dorji

After the little excursion to the lake, was the point at which I separated from the others, to come off the mountain, while they went on to complete the trek over the following three weeks.
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Diary of a Madcap Idea part VI

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I have finally reached the point of departure; all training done; all luggage packed; taxi booked; are ready to go. Now all I've got to do is walk up a few mountains. Will be out of contact until October.

Diary of a Madcap Idea part V - I have a cunning plan

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A week ago I had my monthly session with the personal trainer who has been advising me on my training. Apart from some fine tuning, to deal with minor problems with specific workout routines, he recommended a little increase in work, but nothing significant. This made sense. The routines he gave me previously were intended to challenge me, and have succeeded in doing so. It was only at the end of last week that I managed to complete the final plan (and even then with some small reductions in speed on the steepest inclines).

This was the last point at which any significant changes to my training could be realistically made. I am away at the end of the month. My trainer is involved in his sport (iron man triathlons!) event, and after these, no changes are likely to have any meaningful effect. It was nice therefore to feel that I have just about reached the level I need to be at to have a fair crack at the trek. I will be continuing my current training routines until towards the end of July. Then I will have to put up with the appalling inconvenience of walking over the top of Holy Island each day for 10 or 11 days. (An inconvenience I am really looking forward to.) The first weeks of August will I expect be comparatively easy, being mainly maintenance rather than development.

All good stuff. An unexpected side effect is of my training is that I have more muscle definition than I have ever had before in my life. This is not to say there is much such definition, merely that compared to a starting level of zero, it is noticeable. I am not sure whether this counts as a beneficial, or detrimental side-effect.

The other things I have been doing in preparation are all trivial, but useful. The last thing I did was to refit my rucsac. It ended up little different to where it started, but those small changes were very evident when back on the treadmill.
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Diary of a Madcap Idea Part II

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Late March 2019
Lots has happened since my last progress report.

Some of it is the normal events for a trip.

I paid a deposit. I had a pleasant surprise when I came to take out travel insurance. Last time I trekked in Himalaya, my travel insurance was nearly £700. This time, some years older, but booked through a specialist rather than a generalist, it was £230. This was in line with what the trip organisers had said, but I didn't fully believe until it was confirmed. I booked flights, supplied passport photos and copies for visas,  All normal stuff.

I have also been sorting out my kit. I have most of what is necessary, but had got rid of some items when I moved house, and so needed to replace them. Fortunately not a lot.

The biggest issue I had to deal with was the request from the Walking and Climbing Company to bring forward the date of the trip by four and a half weeks. This was to accommodate the requirements of the other people wishing to go on the trip. I was the one with the most flexibility in dates and times, so ended up accepting this. It does mean that the amount of training I can do is more limited,. While I am making good progress with my training, my one continued fear has been that I am not making sufficient progress to be appropriately fit by the start date. This change of date has only added to this.

My training workouts have now been revised twice by the trainer who is helping me (though tonight I am still waiting for the second reworking). I am doing a lot more work than when I started and can feel the difference all this is making.
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Dairy of a Madcap Idea or Preparations for my next trip

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Early November 2018On arriving back from India, one of the jobs I had to do was catch up on my emails. These days, as a gentleman of leisure, this in not as onerous as when working, but they can still accumulate over a month. One of the emails was an advert from The Walking and Climbing Company, which is a company I have dealt with before. I looked at it and thought it interesting and worth further investigation.

A bit later in November
I looked at the companies web site and their information on the trek they had advertised. It still looked interesting, as it was a trek in Himalaya, in Bhutan. Bhutan is the one country of the Himalayas that I have not visited, which does not have major problems, from a traveler's perspective. (The other countries I have not visited are Pakistan and Afghanistan). The trek looked tough enough that I needed to check that I thought I would be able to do it with some training. So I went up to my local gym (five minutes walk away) and enrolled there. After induction, and receiving a training plan, off I went, making a notable figure in the gym (rucsac and (by special arrangement) clean boots).

Late November
Training going well enough that I thought that it was likely I could do this trip if I got in a reasonable amount of training before late September. Then one of the trainers at the gym asked me about what I was intending to do. I told him and immediately he referred to the trip as an endurance event. This completely changed my perspective about the trip, and the preparation needed for it. The trainer has himself done endurance events - tri-athalon, and iron man. His perspective was correct though: the trip is 24 days of trekking, spread over 31 days; and goes over 12 passes all of which are in excess of 4,400m. Training continued, with a greater sense of urgency and a revised training plan.

Early January 2019
I was in Samye Ling for Xmas and New Year as usual. Whilst there I was not able to do my training, but managed a couple of hour long walks, with backpack up to Garwald. I also realised that my route home from Eskdalemuir to Milton Keynes went very close to Pontefract, which is where the company is based. I arranged to call in there on my way home, and ended up having a very useful and enjoyable chat with Susie and Kalsang, the two founders and directors of the company. It turned out that not only had I had contact with Susie before (a trek that I had to pull out of with foot and fitness problems), but Kalsang had been in charge of arranging all the medical logistics for the Xtreme Everest medical experiment I was a guinea pig for some years ago. As such they were immensely reassuring, and assessed my plans for training and fitness. They indicated that they thought I could do this trek.

Late January
I arranged a trainer session with the trainer with the endurance event experience. He put together three training plans to be done in rotation. Two of these were very different to what I had been doing, and one was an extension of what I had previously been doing. Started these plans, and found them very hard work. It has taken me until now to build up to doing the full set of workouts consistently. I am just about to start increasing the workouts. Meanwhile the dates of the trip had been brought forward by four and a half weeks, which reduces my training time. My training plans are:
Build muscular endurance whilst training for aerobic and anaerobic adaptations.
Further strengthen my body and core.
Build walking endurance. This one is possibly the most needed, but also the most boring - just about two hours on the treadmill, carrying around about 15kg, on varying gradients. Hard work. Even harder is the barriers put up by the lump on my shoulders - it is amazing how many reasons for procrastination, one person can come up with. So far I have not succumbed to them sufficiently to impact my target for training (3 sessions a week), but it is not easy.

Still, much of my motivation for this has been to prove to myself whether or not I am a quitter. Some of my recent attempts have terminated early, for a variety of reasons. Equally, some of my recent activities have been successful. So it all hangs in the balance.

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