Tsum Valley Statistics

Porters on the move. Deana Zabal­do photo

TSUM VAL­LEY TREK STATISTICS

6 clients, 1 Nepali guide, 2 sher­pas, 1 head cook, 5 kitchen staff, 23 porters, 2 Bud­dhist monks, and one Moun­tain Mad­ness guide.

13 tents includ­ing client tents, monk tents, a din­ing tent, toi­let tent, kitchen tent, porter tent, and sher­pa tent.

24 day trip, 18 days hik­ing, all the way to Tibet. 15,000 ver­ti­cal feet UP…and back down. 9+ sus­pen­sion bridges. 100+ miles walked. 14 bus hours round trip to the trail­head. One heli­copter evac­u­a­tion (knee blowout) plus some clean­ing and patch­ing of wounds (Nepalis). High­est ele­va­tion: 16,700 feet. Low­est tem­per­a­ture: 7 degrees Fareinheit.

Rhe­sus mon­keys, Black faced mon­keys, Himalayan blue sheep. Wrath­ful deities, peace­ful deities, yeti sto­ries (but no yetis). High-alti­tude pheas­ants, eagles, bats. Mil­let, wheat, rice, and ama­ranth in the fields. Her­mit caves and res­i­dences, 6‑foot-tall prayer wheels in every vil­lage, and lit­er­al­ly dozens of small monasteries.

Ear­ly morn­ing bless­ing cer­e­mo­ny with 26 Bud­dhist nuns. Vis­its to the dark kitchens of people’s homes, served salty but­ter tea or Nepali sake (or both) at every one of them. Bud­dhist teach­ings every day with after­noon tea. Dai­ly med­i­ta­tion prac­tice. Wake-up tea served at your tent each day after dawn. In bed around 8pm each night.

Return­ing both rest­ed and tired, strong in body and heart, healthy and hap­py and per­haps a lit­tle bit wis­er, in har­mo­ny with the rhythm of the earth.

What more could you want from 3 weeks in Nepal?

Join us in 2013!

~ MM Guide Deana Zabaldo

1 guide, 2 sher­pas, 1 head cook, 1 monk. Deana Zabal­do photo

Camp kitchen at lunch time. Deana Zabal­do photo

One lane moun­tain road means one of these bus­es has to back up sev­er­al hun­dred feet until there’s a space wide enough for them to pass with­in about 2 inch­es of each oth­er. No joke. Deana Zabal­do photo

Sus­pen­sion bridge. Deana Zabal­do photo

Wood­en bridge. Deana Zabal­do photo

Porters tak­ing a rest. Yes, he’s smok­ing. All the way up and back. Deana Zabal­do photo

Black faced mon­key. Deana Zabal­do photo

Dai­ly med­i­ta­tion in the after­noon. Deana Zabal­do photo

Served up but­ter tea in a vil­lage home. Deana Zabal­do photo

The woman mak­ing us tea at her stove. Deana Zabal­do photo

(excerpt from para​ham​sa​.com)