Dolpo Expedition: Prep

A month to go until my Dolpo Expedition with Val Pitkethly, and Steffi, Sam, Charles, Christine and the as-yet-unmet-Ernst.

I’ve paid our deposit (I hope!! *), done DIY Passport Photos and decided I don’t need any more jabs – partly because the travel clinic at my GP now only operates on Wednesday afternoons, which is useless given it takes 20 mins to get there/back from work and they never keep to the appointment schedule. My premium LV= annual travel insurance covers me trekking to 6000m, does mountain rescue and runs until September, so that’s all the “admin” done and I’m now at the more pleasurable “collecting kit on the spare bed” stage (and pondering my “Kit To Take” spreadsheet) and keeping an eye on the weather:

Here are the Yr.No Nepal weather map and their forecasts for ….

… and the Google map, centred on Dolpā:

Val’s got three alternate routes mapped out, and has warned that this winter Nepal saw the heaviest snowfall in 20 years, but that last summer’s wild fires made Phoksundo (फोकसुण्डो) inaccessible. Hence the options, and the plan to purchase microspikes / spikys in KTM…. At least the suggestion of taking walking ice axes seems to have receded into the distance. Well, at least until Val gets to Nepal in a few weeks time.

It will be lovely to see Chhiring, Gori and hopefully Krishna again, and – all being well – to do some solar light distribution for Val’s charity, Light Education Development (LED) in this remote part of Nepal. I’ve got a whole bag of warm clothing donated by friends (and friends of friends) to take out with me too.

Now, back to working out that packing….

* 11 March 2017: Got an email from Val today confirming the money’s arrived. Phew. And thank you to FairFX for handling the International Money Transfer for me. Recommended! I used them to get travel cash delivered to the door too.