> Mera Peak 6,476m

 
This travelogue tells the story of my ascent to Mera Peak on May 2001 with Stephen Wingham. At 6,476 meters (21,247 ft) Mera is Nepal’s highest official “trekking peak”, meaning it’s the highest summit that can be climbed without special mountaineering permits.

Our journey began a few days after returning from the Annapurna trek. My buddy Stephen and I flew to Lukla to meet our crew.

Immediately on the first day we realized that it’s going to be an entirely different experience compared to the Annapurna trek. Back in the Annapurna we were trekking alone, carrying our own backpacks, defining the pace and the direction, and sleeping in a lodge every night. Whereas Mera trek was more of a traditional mountaineering expedition: Mera Mt. is located in a remote and isolated area (between Hinku valley and Hongu Valley, just south of Everst Mt.), with no villages or travelers around it. Therefore we were camping out – sleeping in tents, cooking on camping stoves etc. but we were far from being on our own: we had a Nepali Sherpa mountaineer, called Pemba, to guide us to the summit (and back alive), an amazing cook and about 7 (!) porters. The porters were in charge of carrying the food for two weeks, tents, stoves, climbing gear and all the other heavy equipment. The first days were simple and easy. We’ve ascended gradually, walking through valleys and forests.

                    Good morning! tea? coffee

As we crossed some high passes between the mountains, the terrain got more rugged and arid, with snow sometimes covering the rocks. 

Unlike the popular trekking routes, this time we hardly ever met anyone! We were alone, making our own trail and enjoying the serenity of the mountains.

       irresistible rock climbing temptation..

Our cook Angkami was undoubtedly a genius. Cooking on a camping stove he managed make miracles for us and for the hungry Nepali porters. 

Pemba stopped to pray for our safe journey at a Buddhist gomba along the way.

a week later we reached the foot of Mera Mt. and set our Base camp at 5300m. The place was a shit hole with stinking dirty water, and in addition we started feeling the height, making every effort more difficult.

But all that didn’t matter since we could finally see our destination: Mera Peak was seen far above the camp, snowy and vicious, almost teasing us: “come and get me!”

        Another close up at Mera peak from Base camp.

The next day we left the crew down at Base camp, and started climbing up with our Sherpa. Above 5500m the landscape has changed dramatically! We crossed the ’snow line’, and entered a strange white world. 

Everything around us was white, and the white mist covered us from above as well. We felt like swimming in an endless ’sea of milk’. On our way we came across some crevasses and vertical ice-walls, and learn some essential mountaineering techniques. Pemba showed us how to walk stably in the snow using crampons and taught us how to climb using the ice axe and ice-hammer, securing ourselves with different rope knots while climbing. Damn, it was wild!

         The only way is up

A deep crevasse. Some of these icy pits were covered with fresh snow, making them extremely hard to spot.

We pitched our High camp on a tiny rocky ledge in the middle of the snow desert, at 5800m.

Stephen and I hadn’t been so high before, and the altitude had its bad effect on us that night: headaches, a bit of nausea, and difficulties to fall asleep. Anyway, we woke at 02:30 in the middle of the night, and started the final assault at 04:00 in the morning. 

The sun rose at about 05:00, over some big mountains.

The “final assault” day started really fun. The slushy snow had frozen in the night and the crampons now had excellent grip on it, making walking easier. However, a few hours later the situation was different. As we ascended into the thin air above 6000 meter, I’ve felt my lungs struggling for oxygen, and my heart beating in a frantic speed. Every other step took me out of breath, and soon all my muscles were lifeless. What could I do? Apparently oxygen was quite essential to my body, and without enough of it every minute seemed like hour, and every step became an extraordinary effort, and I had to rest every half a minute. I was in hell, fighting for every step, sometimes even dropping my weary legs backwards instead of upwards… Pessimistic thoughts started crawling out of their dark lairs, and filled my mind with despair. It was a war, and I was losing it, close to willing to give up and retreat back.

Suddenly a funny thought came out of nowhere: the endless walking reminded me a Ninjitsu exercise called “1000-exercise”, in which the trainee repeats the same movement exactly a thousand times. (I don’t want the next thing to sound heroic or something – it wasn’t -) anyway, suddenly it all made perfect sense to me. I tried to visualize myself doing that specific exercise, and found myself recruiting hidden energies, catching my breath, increasing the speed, and getting myself into a fixed rhythm of motion, not stopping ever since all the way to the summit.

Standing up there at 6,476 meters I felt euphoric, realizing I’ve won this battle, being at the highest point of my life.

The weather was on our side that morning, and the scenery was sublime, with an incredible vista over the himalayas panorama around (no wonder, Mera peak is higher than every other point in North America, Europe, Africa, Australia and Antarctica…)

Five of the world’s highest mountains - Everest, Kangchanjunga, Makalu, Lhotse, and Cho-Oyu were staring back at me serenely, as I was gazing excited at their 8000m summits.
 

Not long after summiting we were happily exhausted back in Lukla. Before parting the crew we celebrated with loads of Chang, the local rice wine.

…Meantime in Kathmandu the kingdom faces a tragedy that shattered the nation – King Birendra the Queen and the royal family were assassinated by crown prince. but that’s a completely different story.

© all rights reserved to Amit Rosner 2007