Breakfast at the hotel was a vegetarian Indian sort of buffet. I had gotten into the habit of lightly browsing off the buffet and ordering a 2-egg cheese omelet. This became a habit that worked when in a hotel sort of situation.
The evening before I had dinner and shared conversation with a 73 year old American, Robert, who is a general practitioner physician from Massachusetts. He and a 52 year old Dutch individual, Jon, are bicycle touring and climbing all these mountain roads. They'd met last years when doing the "Great Divide" bike route in the USA. Jon is nearly 6'4" and looks strong as an ox. Robert is obviously very fit for his age. But the Dutchman is the Alpha. Robert's using him as his pace car. What an adventure!
In one sense I am jealous since this would be a more manageable sort of trip running at a slower pace. The speed of the motorcycles has overwhelmed me at times. But the work involved of hauling loads up these hills! I've bicycle up to 14,000' in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. But to labor repeatedly at these altitudes? I doubt my body would hold up. In a month I'd probably have issues. Robert and I had a nice conversation over dinner. This morning they were leaving and so I took some photos before they departed and wished them luck.
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| Robert's Salsa Bike, 27" Wheels and Lots of Water! |
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Jan's Fully Loaded Touring Bike
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| Robert from Massachusetts |
Our group plan was to take a day off for rest and acclimatization at the hotel on top of the ridge in Kalpa. Altitude there was around 9800 feet.
Charlie was suffering from a very sore throat, deep cough and a sinus headache. He was going to try to sleep as much as possible and hopefully get over what is dragging at him.
Paul, Nigel and I arranged with Baloo to get a ride back down to Reckong Peo to do a bit of shopping. I'm looking for a small connection for my iPhone wired earphones. Also, Paul the medic was going to look for some eardrops at a dispensary. My ears feel like they are full of water. Swimmer's Ear. Too much compression / decompression has messed up both my ears and sinuses. Paul was looking to add some Rum to the supplies. Nigel wanted a shirt. Perhaps we'd find a place to have a lunch. Baloo had a few things to do on his own so we'd have a few hours to knock around town.
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| For Inner Ear Infections. 2x/day. Gradual Relief. Thanks! |
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| At the Upper Reaches of Reckong Peo's Shopping District |
Paul found me a medication for me to take. 2x/day dripped into the ears. Treating for infectioin/inflamation. (Turned out to work well over the next 3 days.) Also he picked up a couple 5ths of Rum. The Brits like and mix drinks in the evenings.
Back at the hotel I did some relaxing as well and admired the hotel.
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| Tibetan Influence. Dalhi Lama is Conspicuous |
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| Lynn, Nigel, Robin and Damon in the Reception Area |
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Ornate Carving of the Hotel's Front Door
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| No Elevators. It's a Heavy Hike Up to One's Room in Thin Air! |
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Much Construction of Hotels
in a Spectacular Alpine Setting!
Most Visitors are Indians. |
Next Morning.
We all suited up and were back on the motorcycles and heading down through Reckong Peo and the scores of switchbacks. Then, on reaching the bottom of the foothills, we headed up the River Sutlej. We stopped at the Jangi Police Post and individually were interviewed and processed and then passed over the Inner-line and into a changing climate and geography. We also stopped at the Chhorgia Gas Station to top off our bike's fuel.
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| Kalpa to Tabo |
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| Higher and Drier |
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| Chhorgia Gas Station |
From there the run continued climbing in elevation with the river for an hour or more as the valley gradually narrowed We crossed the Khab Sangam bridge over the Sutlej and into a dramatic overhanging gorge where the Spiti River meets the Sutlej. Here we all stopped, parked the bikes and dismounted to take in the scene.
Damen came up to me and said that the road ahead was going to be a very challenging and technical route and I might want to ride in the truck. He didn't have to say it twice. If he thought it might be too much a challenge, I was happy to switch seats with Sanjay. My pride wasn't at all bothered.
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Entrance to the Spiti Valley
Khab Sangam Bridge |
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| About to Climb Much Higher |
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| Initial Climbing |
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| Former Roadway and Railings Covered With Landslide Debris |
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| "Shooting" Rock Area |
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| Bridge Over the Spiti |
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| View of Tabo From Our Terrace |
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| View of Tabo From Our Terrace |
It was a very long distance from the bridge to Tabo and the road had deteriorated to primarily gravel and intermittent paving. Much dust! As Damen has suggested to me, a lot of the route was technical and because of the surfaces, some seemed to be practically 'off-road'. In the winter months, the roads are cold and the effects of freeze/thaw makes it hard to maintain the road surfaces. For several stretches the motorcyclists were standing on the pegs rather than sitting. The ride in the pickup was rough as well.
At Tabor, we had a hotel looking across to the south. Charlie was given his own room and I ended up sharing a room with Paul, the medic from London. Both guys are good companions but Charlie was still recovering from his cold and today had been an especially challenging day.
After a shower, I hand-washed my clothes in the sink, rung them out and hung them out on the terrace railing. With the high desert humidity, these dried within a couple hours. Then I laid back and relaxed and reflected on the situation.
High Altitude Considerations:
We had continued to gain in altitude after initially dropping down to the river from Kalpa. Tabor is at 10,760 feet. I anticipated that we were supposed to get to nearly 16,000 feet within the next couple days.
Besides the eardrops that Paul had picked up for me the day before, I had, since Shimla, been taking the generic version DIOMOX for high altitude illness. Also, I had a prescription for ADVAIR which is a long acting steroidal inhaler that suppresses inflammation in the bronchia and lungs. I don't use this much back in Wisconsin but for this challenging environment, I took it twice/day to prevent problems from developing. Finally, I took aspirin for headache. So, while I was still dealing with the challenges by the altitude changes, I felt as well prepared as I could be. Also, I'm fairly fit in terms of heart and lungs. I do a lot of bicycling back home and still have a lot of aerobic capacity.
The challenge of altitude is something we all were dealing with. Mountain Climbers in the Himalaya are careful to slowly acclimate, moving gradually up to higher camps. This gives them time for their bodies to adjust. The problem with motorized transport is that humans can come up too quickly. Because of budgets and time limitations, there may be a tendency is to cram it all in too quickly. I was grateful for the rest day at Kapla.
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| Soft Tissue Is Affected by Pressure Changes |
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| Eustachian Tubes of the Ears Can Fill with Liquid and Mucus |
After returning to Wisconsin, I found on line an article written by Indian researchers who were able to use Indian Troops for a study on the effects of high altitude in this vicinity:
(ENT stands for Ear, Nose, Throat)
"The
present study was conducted in the north Indian
region of Ladakh, situated at high altitude in the state of Jammu and
Kashmir.
Ladakh shares its geographical boundary with Pakistan in the west and
China in the east. The climate is extremely cold and dry, and the
terrain lacks vegetation. Such extreme weather causes severe
crusting of the upper airway mucosa.
This leads to an unusually high incidence of epistaxis and
pharyngitis, tracheostomy problems,.....'
Nosebleeds (expistaxis), Sore
Throat (pharyngitis) and Excess
mucus in the trachea leading to breathing difficulties."
This sounded like the same symptoms experience within our group. Personally, I had a lot of bloody snot from my nose as well as blood in my right ear.
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| Mountaineering Accidents and Medicine |
Back in Wisconsin I also went to the first shelf of my mountain climbing bookcase and looked up Medicine for Mountaineering. More of the same descriptions regarding high altitudes.
Another medical consideration for me is my age. On average I was nearly 20 years greater than my companions. Robin was the closest at age 65. While in the past I've always thought of myself as resilient and being a strong guy, On this trip I faded faster from these challenges than I would have 10 years ago. So as I monitored myself, I took all that I knew into consideration.
We should never 'bullshit' ourselves, even when trying to keep a positive attitude. Pay attention and be honest about your condition. Do what you can, but don't midjudge and make a major error. Don't let vanity or social pressure distort your judgement.
There was a reason I was riding in the truck! I was grateful to have this option.
Besides the medical, I reflected on Tabor, Buddhist Monasteries and the Spiti Valley.....
A Few Thoughts About the Indus River System and Buddhism:
The Spiti and Sutlej Rivers are all fed by the melting snows and glaciers of the Himalayas. They are part of the wider system of tributaries that feed into the Indus River System which generally heads south and west, passing over into Pakistan. The Indus was, like the Nile and the Tigris River Valleys, one of the cradles of human civilization. The other major river system, the Ganges, is fed by the Himalayas and flows to the east.
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| Indus River Basin |
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| Ganges River Basin |
Over the last 3-4 millennia, peoples of the Indus watershed followed the river valleys up into the more austere hills and plateaus. The entered the cold deserts of the high mountains. I assume to some degree they were trying to escape from the governments and military strife of the more developed areas. Looking for land and sanctuary. Also, the religious sects were looking for places of relative isolation. The Buddhists monks and missionaries
came up from the Indus Valley looking for places to pray and live a life of contemplation, away from the mass of humanity.
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| Buddhism Spread Thru the Himalaya |
Many peoples including traders took the lower passes of Afghanistan in order to travel into the central plateau of China (the Silk Road). But some came over the high passes of the Spiti Valley and further into the High Himalaya...
Tabo has a monastery which is a thousand years old. But there are many of other signs of the travelers being here and further up the Spiti Valley long before.... Tomorrow several of us will go visit the monastery before heading on down the road.
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