EVEREST FROM DUE WEST NEPAL HIMALAYA BY H. W. TILMAN WITH 61 PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN BY THE AUTHOR CAMBRIDGE AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS PUBLISHED BY THE SYNDICS OF THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS London Office: Bentley House, N.W.I American Branch: New York Agents for Canada, India, and Pakistan: Macmillan Printed in Great Britain at the IJniversity Press, , (Brooke Crutchley, University Printer] PREFACE A writer of travels, by the title he gives his book, should not promise more than he performs. But titles must be brief and, if possible, striking. The brief and rather too all-embracing title of this book may conjure up visions of the author stepping from lightly one Nepal peak to the next, or surveying the whole from the top of one stupendous giant. In the course of three journeys herein described, only one mountain, a modest r one, w as successfully climbed, a fact which may account for any wordy pomposity, not unlike the style of a White Paper to put out cover up some appalling blunder on the part of Authority. Moreover, two of the three journeys had a serious T purpose, w hich may account for the comparatively few occa r sions on w hich cheerfulness manages to break in. I am glad that the learned will benefit from the report on the Natural History of the Langtang valley specially contributed by Mr O. Polunin in an appendix. Again I have to thank Dr R. J. Perring for criticism and help; and R. T. Sneyd, Esq., for attending to the reading of proofs in my absence. H. W. TILMAN BARMOUTH September 1951 CONTENTS PART I THE LANGTANG HIMAL (1949) Chapter I To Nepal page 1 II Katmandu 14 III To the Langtang 24 IV The Langtang 35 V Rasua Garhi 51 VI The Ganesh Himal 63 VII The Langtang again 76 89 VIII The Jugal Himal PART II ANNAPURNA HIMAL (1950) IX The Start 103 X The Marsyandi 118 XI Manangbhot 129 XII To the Mountain 139 XIII On the Mountain 152 XIV A Change of Scene 165 XV Mustangbhot 175 XVI Muktinath 188 XVII Bimtakhoti and Himal Chuli 197 XVIII A Fresh Start 209 XIX Approach to Mt Everest 224 vii CONTENTS APPENDIX BY O. POLUNIN The Natural History of the Langtang Valley page 242 A List of Plants collected during the 1949 * Expedition to Central Nepal 261 List of Birds collected in the Langtang Khola and the Adjacent District of Central Nepal 264 INDEX 266 LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS Everest from due west frontispiece 1 Bodhnath temple, Nepal facing page xii 2# A four-armed Kala Bhaibar In Katmandu 1 b A temple door in Patan 1 3 Entrance to the temple of the Five Stages at Bhatgaon 16 4 a Temure village in the upper Trisuli 17 b Outside the Langtang gompa 17 6 a The Kyangin gompa 32 b Fresco on verandah wall of the Kyangin gompa 32 6 a View eastwards across the Langtang glacier 33 b View from Langsisa up the East glacier 33 7 a Camp on the roof of the fort at Rasua Garhi 48 * b Seen off by a stout, affable official' 48 8 a A flailing fatigue at Langtang village 49 b In Chilime village 49 9 a View of the range in Tibet from the head of the Langtang glacier 64 b View of the Ganesh Himal 64 10 Looking across the East Langtang glacier on the way to the pass leading to the Jugal Himal 65 1 1 The Jugal side of the pass 80 12 a Three of the five desolate tarns at Panch Pokhara 81 b A distant view of the Jugal Himal 81 13 a A quiet corner in Patan 96 b Baleji water garden 96 14 a Coolies resting at a chautara 97 b A village on the route to the Marsyandi valley 97 15 A glimpse of Manaslu through forest of black fir 112 16 North ridge of Manaslu 113 ix LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS 17 Braga village facing page 116 18 View of Annapurna IV 117 19 a Looking north across the Marsyandi valley from Camp II 124 b A similar view from below Camp III 124 20 'Fishtail* (Macha Puchare) seen from the main ridge above Camp IV 125 2 1 a Lieut. S. B. Malla skins a bird, watched by a small audience 1 28 b Three generations at Tange 128 2# Phugaon 129 b Tange 129 23 Looking north up the Kali river towards Tibet 144 b 'Organ-pipe' erosion 144 24 fl The Naur Khola bridge 145 b Muktinath temple 145 25 Some of the 108 spouts from which the pilgrims to Muk tinath successively drink 160 26# Off-loading bags of salt from zos at Birntakhoti 161 b Camp by the sacred lake on the Bahara Pokhara Lekh 161 27 a Bimtakhoti against a background of rock spires 176 b Looking across the big moraine at Bimtakhoti to the Ladakh range 17S 28 Saussurea growing at about 16,000 ft. 177 29 a Rice fields in the lower Marsyandi valley 192 b View of Baudha and Himal Chuli 192 30 a Dhankhuta 193 b A family group in Bung 193 31 a Oil press in a village in the Arun valley 208 b Village cobbler of Panga 08 32 Prayer flags and an inscribed boulder at the entrance to a village in the Dudh Kosi valley 209 33 Namche Bazar 224 LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS 34 a Snow on the march to Thyangboche facing page 225 b Valley of the Dudh Kosi 225 35 Everest rising above the Lhotse-Nuptse ridge 228 north the Chola Khola from the above 36 Looking up slopes * PhalongKarpa 229 37 View of Everest from due west 236 38 a Party outside the Thyangboche monastery 237 b Sherpa trio 237 39 The abbot seated in state 240 MAPS 3 1 General map of Nepal page 2 Map to illustrate 1949 journey 38 41 3 Langtang glaciers 111 4 Journey to Manangbhot 178 5 Journey to Mustangbhot 21 1 6 Journey to Nepal side of Everest 233 7 Sketch-map of Everest region PLATE 1 the oldest in In the Bodnath temple, the largest and one of Nepal. low wall surrounding the dome hundreds of prayer wheels wait to be turned by anyone who treads the lustral path. The object on legs is a stack of maize in the cob. See page 21. PLATE 1 PLATE 2 PART I THE LANGTANG HIMAL (1949) CHAPTER I TO NEPAL THERE can be no other country so rich in mountains as Nepal. This narrow strip of territory, lying between Sikkim and Garhwal, occupies 500 miles of India's northern border; and since this border coincides roughly with the 1,500-mile-long Himalayan chain, it follows that approximately a third of this vast range lies within or upon the confines of Nepal. More over, besides being numerous, the peaks ofthe Nepal Himalaya are outstandingly high. Apart from Everest and Kangchen- junga and their two 7,000 ft. satellites, there are six peaks over 26,000 ft., fourteen over 5,000 ft., and a host of what might be called slightly stunted giants of 0,OOO ft. and up wards, which cannot be enumerated because they are not all shown on existing maps. In trying to grasp the general lay-out of this mountain region it is convenient to divide it into three parts, repre sented from west to east by the basins of the Karnali, the Gandak, and the Kosi. These three important rivers, some of whose tributaries rise in Tibet north of the Himalaya, all flow into the Ganges. The Karnali drains the mountains of western near the Garhwal and Nepal between Api (3,339 ft.) ? border, PLATE 2 a. Thisfierce apparition ofthefour-armedKola Bhaibar^ painted Uoxk^yelloW) and vermilion., stands in Katmandu near the Kot. Seepage 14 PLATE 2b. A temple door in Patan and one of a pair of colossal stone dragons guarding it. See page 20. NEPAL HIMALAYA Dhaulagiri (26,795ft.); the basin of the Gandak occupies central Nepal between the Annapurna Himal and the Lang- tang Himal; and the Kosi drains the mountains of eastern to It Nepal from Gosainthan (26,291 ft.) Kangchenjunga. should be understood that, except for Everest and those peaks on the Nepal-Sikkim border, most of which (except Kang field has re chenjunga) have been climbed, this enormous mained untouched, unapproached, almost unseen, until this year (1949) when the first slight scratch was made. Nepal is an independent kingdom. Like Tibet it has always sought isolation and has secured it by excluding foreigners, of whom the most undesirable were white men. A man fortunate enough to have been admitted into Nepal is expected to be able to explain on general grounds the motives behind this invidious policy and, on personal grounds, the reason for such an unaccountable exception. But now that the advantages of the Western way of life are becoming every day less obvious no explanation should be needed. Wise men traditionally come from the East, and it is probable that to them the West and its ways were suspect long before we ourselves began to have doubts. Anyhow, for the rulers of countries like Nepal and Tibet, whose polity until very recent days was medieval feudalism, the wise and natural course was to exclude foreigners and their advanced ideas. And the poverty and remoteness of those countries made such a policy practicable. A hundred years ago the rulers of China and Japan regarded foreign devils with as much distrust and aversion, but un fortunately for them their countries had sea-coasts and ports; and, unlike Tibet and Nepal, promised to become markets which no nation that lived by trade could afford to ignore.