 TibetTour: (16 Days) |
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| As we arrive Lhasa , we stay there for three days. Our three-day stay in Lhasa comprises |
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Devotion of single person from around the world can lead a dark past & present of many children & women of Nepal to a very bright future............... |
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| Sightseeing |
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Kathmandu Durbar Square one of the best More...
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| Global Link around the World. |
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| News on the way of Trekking |
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The following members of first group successfully summited Mt. Everest today at 8:30 am
- Ms Susmita Maskey
- Ms. Pujan Acharya
- Ms. Pemba Diki Sherpa
- Ms. Maya Gurung
- Ms. Nawang Phuti Sherpa
IInd group is in the process of summiting |
Ist Group:
- Ms Susminta Maskey
- Ms. Pujan Acharya
- Ms. Nima Doma Sherpa
- Ms. Maya Sherpa
- Ms. Nawang Phuti Sherpa
- Ms. Sialee Basnet
IInd Group:
- Ms. Usha Bista
- Ms. Chunu Shrestha
- Ms. Pema Diki Sherpa
- Ms. Asha Kumar Singh
Ist group moved towards Camp 4 this morning and they will be at camp 4 this evening. They are supposed to summit tomorrow if weather supports them
IInd group is at camp 2
All the members are fine.
Time - 10:43PM Monday 21 May 2008
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The expedition team split in two groups.
Ist Group:
- Ms Susminta Maskey
- Ms. Pujan Acharya
- Ms. Nima Doma Sherpa
- Ms. Maya Sherpa
- Ms. Nawang Phuti Sherpa
IInd Group:
- Ms. Usha Bista
- Ms. Chunu Shrestha
- Ms. Sialee Basnet
- Ms. Pema Diki Sherpa
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Ms. Asha Kumar Singh
Ist team moved up to camp 2 on 17 May and they are supposed to summit on 21 may.
IInd team will move up to camp 2 today or tomorrow and they are supposed to summit on 23 or 24 May.
All the members are fine.
Time - 1:11PM Sunday 18 May 200
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All the members are taking rest at EBC, they will agin move upto Camp II on 18 May 2008 only, Sailee Basnet and Nimadoma Sherpa are fine.
Time - 2:37PM Thursday 15 May 2008
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Eight members of the FIWSE are at Camp II, Nigma, Doma and Saile are at BC & they are feeling little bit unwell.
Time - 3:53PM Monday 12 May 2008
Pemba Dorjee along with five members arrives at Ist Camp on May 12 2008 , Da Gombu & remaining members will move up to Ist camp tomorrow, all the members are doing well.
Time - 11:51PM Monday 12 May 2008
FIWSE team has set up camps at I & II. They are at BC, all the members r fine, they may move towards camp I tomorrow |
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On August 26, 2007, FIWSE 2008 committee organized a press conference in Nepal Tourism Board. An exciting interaction between journalists of print and television media held and the FIWSE coordinator Ms.Sushmita Maskey along with Mr.Dagambu Sherpa and other members effectively satisfied the queries. |
Five FIWSE members complete Basic Mountaineering Course
Five members of FIWSE team have successfully completed the Basic Mountaineering Course conducted by Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA). Asha Kumari Singh, Nawang Phuti Sherpa, Pema Diki Sherpa, Shailee Basnet and Nim Doma Sherpa joined the course that began on 15th August, 2007. NMA waived fifty percent of the registration charge for the FIWSE members. NMA instructors also helped them in arranging technical equipments required for the training.
The training began with theory classes in Kathmandu including three days of rock climbing at Balaju. On 27th August, the team left for Langtang Valley. Along with 32 other trainees, FIWSE girls practiced rock climbing, rappelling, jummering, river crossing and map reading in Kyangin Gompa. After a week's training, the team headed for High Camp, which is above 5000 meters. Trainees learnt classic walk, diagonal walk, traversing along with other walking techniques, glacier walking, crevasse rescue, jummering and rappelling in snow, ice climbing and others during their stay at the High Camp. Theory classes on first aid, high altitude sickness, dangers in mountain, weather, camping and bivouacking etc were also part of the training.
The training has boosted the morale of these members who initially did not have any mountaineering background. They joined the team with sheer interest and are now confident that given regular training, Sagarmatha should not be a faraway dream. Asha Kumari says, "We learnt a lot of things and now we know what exactly mountaineering demands. And we are ready to give our best." Youngest member of the FIWSE team Nim Doma Sherpa feels more confident about pursuing mountaineering as a profession after the training. She says, "After the training I have started to think about taking up mountaineering even after the FIWSE mission is completed."
FIWSE ladies seek blessing from Taleju Bhawani-October
FIWSE members visited Taleju Bhawani temple, situated at Hanuman Dhoka. The temple is open for public visit only on the day of Navami during Bada Dashain. Clad on the FIWSE tee-shirts, the ladies came across James A. Giambrone, Art Consultant and Director, Indigo Gallery. He was excited to know about FIWSE and has shown interest to help the team. The ladies departed after visiting the Living Goddess Kumari at Kumari House.
FIWSE on a hike- November 3rd, 2007
3rd Nov, 2007 – FIWSE members, volunteer and Nodanees from NODAN Club completed a one-day hike on Shivapuri hill. The group started from Sundarijal, trailed via Gurung Tol and adjourned after a visit to the Budhanilkantha temple. The seven hour hike was organized as a part of physical fitness training for the FIWSE members.
Oath to be on the top of the world-
FIWSE team today had an oath taking ceremony at the secretariat. The members promised to devote their energy individually and together as a team to prepare for summiting Sagarmatha in order to spread the message of 'Unity in Diversity'.
A few guests, Nodanees and famous cyclist Pushkar Shah were witness to the event. After the ceremony, FIWSE team and the guests exchanged Dashain greetings. Everyone present also took the chance to click snaps with Pushkar Shah and a few tried their legs on his cycle (which Edmund Hillary had bought for him, after he lost his cycle in New Zealand). The team also enjoyed Shah's account of travel memoirs over lunch.
On the run-October 6th, 2007
FIWSE girls participate in NRN marathon
Four of the FIWSE team members participated in the Non-Resident Nepali Kathmandu International Marathon (NRN KIM) 2007 held on 6th October. Asha Kumari Singh, Nim Doma Sherpa, Shailee Basnet and Pema Diki Sherpa successfully completed 5km event that started and ended at the Dasarth Stadium. The organizers had waived off the entry fee for the FIWSE members. The girls had also taken part in a 5km marathon at Lagankhel on 29th September.
FIWSE at NRN Conference
FIWSE team made their presence at youth seminar and women seminar organized at Soaltee Crownee Plaza as a part of the Third Global NRN Conference.
At youth seminar, Nilendra Raj Shrestha informed the audience about FIWSE whereas Bhawani Rana did the same at the women seminar. The team spread more information about the purpose of FIWSE and also forwarded proposals to some notable figures.
Discussion at Martin Chautari-November 4th, 2007
4th Nov, 2007 - Discussion on FIWSE was organized at Martin Chautari today. Sushmita Maskey, coordinator of the team was the key speaker. She talked about how FIWSE was envisioned, how the team got together, the progress made so far and the challenges ahead. She emphasized that summit to the Sagarmatha is not the only target of the team and that activities to encourage women participation in mountaineering would be continued after the summit program. Shailee Basnet, member of the FIWSE team also spoke during the discussion.
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A Grand Sherpa Wedding at Namche
Kalden and Ang Kenji Sherpa, who live and work in Vancouver, were married November 22 in a traditional Sherpa wedding at Namche Bazar in the Khumbu. This astrologically auspicious day, chosen specifically by the lama of Tengboche, brought together the family of Kalden Sherpa from Sallung (5 days walk from Namche) and the family of Ang Kenji Sherpa of Namche. A Buddhist wedding does not feature the bride and groom as in our culture. Instead, it is the coming together of two families, much exchanging of katas (ceremonial scarves) and a  sequence of traditional ceremonies over a five hour period. The host family ensures that guests' glasses are constantly topped up with tea, chhang (beer), or scotch (served from 3 litre bottles) throughout the day. Juniper branches are burned in the courtyard as a ritual cleansing, and prayer flags decorate the walls and houses.
To open the ceremonies, a welcome speech by the Lama praised the qualities of those in the room with great wit, to judge by the gales of laughter and rejoinders that came from the audience. The activities then include a Tibetan blessing of the house, the food and the families. the reading of the bride's dowry (land, carpets, jewelry, etc.) and a short service joining the bride and groom. The wedding represents the 'transfer' of the bride from her family to her husband's family. It is a highly emotional moment for everyone, and distressing for the bride. She presents gifts to each member of her family as her parting gesture.
The service is followed by dinner and dancing. Sherpa dancing is performed in a line. Three or more men link arms and with one person singing and chanting, a complicated series of steps follow. Alternately, everyone dances in the standard traditional way to music from a large stringed instrument while the host circles the room filling up glasses with an encouraging "che, che, che"...(drink up).
 Sherpa wedding clothes and jewellery are outstanding. Men wear long black cloaks, high leather boots and rumpled fedoras. The groom, resplendent in yellow brocade, crowned with a red boater style hat, looked like an Oriental potentate. The women were dressed in colourful brocade decorated with lavish necklaces of zei stones and gold and silver boxes encrusted with turquoise, coral and pearls. Many of the brocade pill-box style hats were trimmed with panels of fox fur.
And if this was not enough, one had only to look up at the snowcapped peaks of the surrounding mountains, towering 13,000 feet over the village, to feel that the scene was complete. In sparkling sunshine, it was indeed an auspicious day for the wedded couple, as well as a privilege for two wide-eyed Canadians!
Gord Konantz / Ross Macdonald |
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Seven Days in Tibet
 Golden temples, reincarnate lamas and colourful pilgrims - this is the Shangri La that bring to our minds memories of the magical world of childhood fairy tales.
It is now possible to fly from Kathmandu to Lhasa in an hour, surely one of the most spectacular flights in the world. Our plane floats along the Himalayan Range taking a left turn around Mount Everest. At this point the white mountains stretch to the horizon separating the lush greenery of Nepal from the dry moonscape of Tibet. We land at 12,000 feet and are met by our guide Phubu, to be whisked away in a minibus along sparkling rivers through high rocky folds for the 1 1/2 hour drive into Lhasa. We expected poor food from all we had heard, but are delighted to find that every meal is a seven course feast in all our Chinese hotels.
Travelling by bus from Lhasa to Gyantse and Shigatse over several days, we were witness to many wonders - chanting red robed monks, prayer flags on high passes, a yak skin boat on a turquoise lake, glorious fifteenth century paintings in a mandala shaped temple, small horses threshing grain, or pulling entire families to market hitched to two wheeled carts, and always the smiling faces of the Tibetan people. The contrast between the Tibetans and the Chinese was palpable, and it was difficult not to make comparisons - hospitable and warm versus stern and cold, colourful and spiritual versus drab and practical.
Tibetan women are beautiful. They circle the Jokhang temple spinning prayer wheels, with turquoise and silver twined into their shiny black braids. The men wear multicoloured hand-woven cloaks lined in lambskin. Is this the 20th century or have we somehow been transported back on a magic carpet to the 10th century pilgrimages that we read about in our history books?
Temple roofs are sheathed in gold with dharma wheels and snow lion gargoyles glimmering in the sun. Inside, colours of ochre, red, maroon, vermilion and gold surround us and the statues of Buddhas and Lamas glow in the soft light of hundreds of butter lamps. Brightly painted wrathful gods recall the Last Judgments of 10th century France. The devoted pilgrims prostrate themselves before the deities on paving stones worn into deep furrows by the thousands who have preceeded them. They brush by us making their offerings of butter, silk scarves and money, touching their foreheads to the base of the gods in respect.
The Chinese are busy rebuilding some temples and repairing others, for this is what the tourists come to see. Surveillance cameras line rooftops, the monasteries are empty, the prisons full and Tibetans are restricted in their activities. For now, the borders are open to tourists travelling in groups.
We felt privileged to see Tibet. It affected us all and changed us in a profound way that is difficult to put into words.
Gail Konantz |
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Adventure in Annapurna
...in search of the sacred Kare Tal
 Our group of eight hardy trekkers left Kathmandu bound for the west shoulder of Annapurna South. There, nestled at the foot of Annapurna lies Kare Tal, one of the three sacred lakes in Nepal. Each year thousands of devout Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims climb through the wilderness at full moon in August to perform puja (prayers) by the tiny lakeside shrine at 15,000'. We planned to follow these footsteps in the usually perfect fall weather. We had done this many times before and looked forward to our return with eager anticipation. It was not to be.
The Copra Ridge trek is rated strenuous. Over the first 6 days the route climbs 9,000' to reach an exposed ridge looking down into the Kali Gandaki gorge which is three times the depth of the Grand Canyon, and across and up at Dhaulagiri the world's sixth highest mountain. Above the campsite tower Nilgiri, Annapurna l and Annapurna South. The panorama is truly awesome.
On day four we noticed high cirrus clouds forming. By the next day our worst fears were confirmed - a low pressure system was moving in. During the night, on our magic ridge we heard rain on the tent. Our plan to move to the high campsite at 14,000' was postponed 24 hours while we waited for the system to pass. Enveloped in rain and cloud we spent the day playing cards in the dining tent. A lottery was held  as to when the storm would pass. We watched the snow line above us move ominously closer. A second stormy night in the tent dashed our hopes. By morning, with the temperature at +2c and our campsite enveloped in cloud, we aborted the climb. Sadly, we broke camp and escaped to warmer and safer elevations acknowledging another lesson from the mountains on expectations. In 5 hours we descended 5,000' to bamboo forests, water falls, orchids and abundant bird life.
The following day in bright sunshine, we joined other trekkers and donkey trains on the busy trading trail to Tibet. The stormy nights at high elevations were replaced by warm campsites, local dancing and lush surroundings. Our final night was spent at Birethanti, a Magar village next to the rushing Modi Khola, where we celebrated our adventure with San Miguel beer. While we did not achieve one objective we did enjoy a high adventure in the Annapurnas. Maybe next time?
Gord and Gail Konantz
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