Bhutan Snowman Trek

Sunday 30 Sept 218 We made an acclimatisation trek to Hermit's Cave which, to our amazement also had its own power lines to provide electricity to the one or two monks at the monastery. The trail slowly rose through old juniper trees and meadows in which yaks graze. We passed a small Royal Bhutan Army outpost and then in about 1.5 hrs we reached a large meadow with a lone white chorten. From the chorten in the meadow we started a steep climb up a small hill but In about a half hour we reached a meadow decorated with small birch trees and rhododendrons. A further 2hrs hiking took us to the upper part of this scenic meadow, where we had lunch. After lunch, we continued past a few meditation  centres or 'drup khang' eventually teaching the Hermit's Cave at about 4200m. The complete solitude of this region has in the past drawn several important historical figures to this area to meditate, such as the great saint Guru Rinpoche who travelled here in the 8th century ...

Saturday 29 Sept 218 Today we gained height slowly as we continued along the river through a magnificent forest of pine and spruce, mixed with oak, birch and maple. The autumn colours of the leaves contrasts with the Pale Spanish moss (old man's beard) which festoons many of the trees. The weather remained dry and sunny. There were several small ups and downs as we followed the river north and after crossing a bridge at 3560m, we made a short steep climb to reach a junction of two valleys, marked by a large chorten. There is a bridge here from where we caught our first sight of Jomolhari at the head of the valley. Our trail stayed on the west bank of the Paro Chu all the way to our camp at Soi Thangka (3650m) A one year old electricity line followed us up this valley. Bhutan gets all of it’s power from hydro plants built and largely funded by India, only a fraction is used by Bhutan, so the rest provides them with about 20% of their government revenue each year. This energy...

Friday 28 Sept 218 We checked out of our hotel in Paro and were taken by bus to Shana (2860m) to begin our trek. We had a cooked lunch, were presented with a Kata (white scarf) and set off following a path beside the Paro Chu river. A short climb brought us to our first night's camp at Thongbu Samba (3104m). All houses in Bhutan have to have some element of Buddhist design. Built from bottom to top, no add-on floors like in other Asian countries so to protect against earthquakes. There is also an under-roof space for drying crops and, in the lower valleys, Chillis are spread across the corrugated rooftops to dry. The 3 lobed Windows are a feature of all Bhutanese houses, it is designed to be like a lotus so when you look out, you will be be blessed with a view! The advent of the chainsaw has had a positive environmental impact as a house used to require 80 trees to build with the use of an axe but only 18 trees are needed with a chainsaw! D istance 6km 3hrs

27 Sept 2018 The flight to Paro from Kathmandu gave us great views of the greater Himalayas from Everest to Kanchenjunga. Then after a small gap, Jhomalhari appeared above the cloud and is one of Bhutan’s 7000m mountains that form it’s northern border with Tibet. Along Jhomalhari was Jitchu Drake which proved to be more illusive in the early part of our trek. Paro airport  was like a monastery, calm, organised and proudly displaying the words “Happiness is a Place”. We checked in to the most enormous hotel room we have ever experienced with splendid views across the Paro Chu valley to the Dzong. Dzongs were originally protective forts but now serve as administrative and spiritual centres for each of Bhutan’s twenty districts. The Bhutanese language “Dzongkha” literally means language of the Dzong. The headline 50% completion rate of the Snowman Trek has lead to some alterations in recent years by our trekking company as many people got sick due to rapid altitude gain...