Mera info

Here's some information about Mera, the mountain i climbed in May 2014!

Mainly quoted from many websites. For a first hand account of my experience, scroll down to my earlier post!

From the summit of Mera one can see 5 of the 6 highest mountains in the world: Everest, Kangchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu, and Cho Oyo. The standard route from the north involves little more than high altitude glacier walking. The ease of reaching this elevation may be its biggest danger but good weather and snow conditions are, of course, necessary for safety and success. The west and south faces of the peak offer difficult technical routes.(i did it from the south face tho)

The first ascent was on May 20, 1953 by Col. Jimmy Roberts and Sen Tenzing. The region was first explored extensively by British expeditions in the early 50's before and after the ascent of Everest. Members of those teams included Edmund Hillary, Eric Shipton and Geroge Lowe. 


Heres mera from everest!

Here's the route we took!

Somewhat similar cept we ascended through Thuli Kharka instead of slowly acclimatizing by the southern route of narjing dingma so we could avoid the incoming monsoon.

post note: we flew down to kathmandu on 16 May, started our trek on 18 May and summited on 25 May, returning to Lukla on 29 May, flying back to Kathmandu the day after. 

that bear grylls moment

I expected the trek down from Khare (5000m) to Kothe (3600m) to be much easier, but i was proven wayyyy wrong. The monsoon had started to hit. We set off through the never ending snow and as we decended, the nice littly fluffy snow which could be easily swept off my windbreaker became pesky rain droplets.

As my climbing partner was weakened by the unforeseen circumstances during the summit push, I went on ahead of the pack down to the lunch place.

wet weather + extreme sun burn = terrible selfies
oh yah. that morning(after the epic summit and return journy), i felt the consequence of the severe sunburn. my lips had dried green pus, it was swollen like a sausage and the skin around my mouth hurt so much when i attempted to open it.

As much as i wished the route back down to kothe from tangnak or tangnang (gosh they have so many names for the same place) was as straight forward as the route from khare to tangnang, I went ahead towards Kothe while the other two went on a detour to find some temple. Was so sick of walking that walking extra uphill would be too painful that i couldn't be bothered.

I walked and walked, continued walking. The terrain changed from hilly and mountainous to become flat gradually. The rain continued falling with a severe sunburnt half face, a reminder why i should put sunblock next time, it became more and more apparent that I desperately wanted to get to Kothe as quickly possible. The girl at the teahouse lied that it would take about 2-3 hours to get to Kothe if you're fast, 4 hours at normal pace. anndddddd, confident naive me thought i was fast cos i got to tangnak rather fast. Butttttt their pace was another level from me haha.

one of the wooden bridges across the fast moving swelled up streams

So after walking for 4 hours ahead of the pack, I started panicking because the route started to looking increasing unfamiliar. The sun warned to dip behind the mountains and light was growing limited in the valley.

boulder path before it disappeared, covered by the boulders

The terrain grew harsher and harsher as the minutes passed. The track started to disappear slowly until there was no visible path left. What laid infront of me were giant boulders similar to the picture (less the path) with the visibility decreasing rapidly with the incoming mist. With the never ending rain and snow up in the range, the river was swelling up at a rapid pace. I started panicking. I waited for other two to show up behind me, after waiting for 10 mins, i finally saw shadowy figures in the distance behind a settlement i passed. Thought i was on the right track and proceeded onwards into the unknown where the tracks disappeared. Thinking that the tracks would appear after a while, i pushed on, climbing the boulders, skirting the water streams, jumping from place to place, but the path remained obscured from view. Thirty minutes in the scramble, I stopped, and waited to catch a glimpse of the 2 behind me. But after awhile, they did not appear and that was when i started panicking. Thoughts of a survival situation went through my mind. I thought i had gone through the wrong path and had gotten lost! I analyzed the situation, aware of the rising river on my left and falling rocks on my right, ensured i had enough supplies to survive the night with my headlamp, some food and clothes to keep warm. It was like one of those 'bear grylls' moments, where it was me against all the odds. With no way to make a fire in this rain, i weighed the consequences and decided to give one last push with whatever daylight i had left to see if i could find better terrain to deal with (in case i had to spend the night there) and get as far as possible.

I decided to continue heading down the general direction of the river as i knew it would eventually lead to a settlement over walking up to high ground because the landslides made it hard to scale up the steep edges. I quickened my pace to a slow jog. The rocks were slippery and some were unclimbable. It soon felt like a big obstacle course, climbing over boulders, stooping low to pass certain passages and 10mins into it, i started thinking if heading on low land was the better choice because the distance between the river and the side of the cliffs started decreasing and i was afraid that i would be eaten by the river at some point with no way out! I really felt like bear grylls! face in such dire situation. I didnt want to die. I wanted to fight on to live another day. haha. cliche i know. But in truth, it was what my inner voice was saying haha.

But atlas! some hope emerged! I saw 2 teenagers walking in the distance! I ran towards them, tried to communicate in horrible nepali, simple english and some hand signs. Not knowing what i was talking, they carried on their way with me trailing behind. what i relieve! even if they weren't going to Kothe, they were eventually going to reach civilization anyway. their pace was incredibly fast! they were jumping from rock to rock, crossing the waterways with such ease while i was struggling to keep up with their pace and not fall or twist an ankle at the same time.

Finally a path emerged and i was sooooooooooooo freaking relieved! Best of all, I saw my porter happy strolling along that path towards me with his multi colored umbrella and a tumbler of hot black tea!

so relieved to see my porter that I had to take a selfie with him

WOOOOO. "I was saved!" I said to myself. started fist bumping and high fiving him. sadly he couldnt really converse in english so he prolly couldnt understand why i was so happy. But yea this was pretty much the end of my epic bear gryll's moment. The other 2 eventually caught up with me and we reached Kothe a good 1+ hour later just before it went completely dark.

Finally linked up with the whole group. Best of all there is a visible path!

a preview of how narrow some of the paths were. read more on the video's description.

The feeling of being lost in unfamiliar territory, the sound of gushing water at your side, the sight of rocks rolling off the ridges, the sound nothing but nature and your inner voice saying that you might be lost all out there by yourself was exceptionally overwhelming. It was an immense feeling that crept up to you that is very hard to descrive in words. I guess the will to fight on really helped me overcome my mental and physical state to try and overcome the odds in that situation and not give up forsake myself. If not for that i would have broken down, having been lost in unknown territory. The whole experience is very hard to express in words but do let me know if you want to know more!

Post note: apparently that valley is the remote and wild hinku valley

The hospitality of the Nepalis

The trip showed me the true nature of the Nepali spirit, true hospitality. What i encountered in the mountains was so much different from Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal where everybody was trying to undercut one another or scam you.

The first encounter was when our Sherpa guide activated the entire village to come find us and bring us down. They did not have to do that. They could have left us to arrive hours later under the snow storm conditions. Throughout our decent, our Sherpa also made sure that we got down safely and efficiently, sometimes even holding you to provide that extra push and so you won't fall backwards. At some parts he and raj, one of the porters attached to us went ahead to make a  safe path for us to follow so we won't waste strength climbing out of a crevasse we fell waist deep into.  Most of all, he ensured that we got down safely.

Our guide holding TS steady while our sherpa and porters help set the route infront

made it back to Khare alive! (except with the severe sunburn)

Team Khare Guest House! (feat. our sherpa and his brother, another sherpa who ran me down)

The hospital acts were that old couple of khote, the humble owners of the nice quaint tea house down the hill of the national park will also be remembered. It was also the place where we left Keng yang for his namaste experience for close to a week while we made our way to the summit. Arriving back in that tea house after our expedition, monsoons finally caught up with us, raining the entire day while we took a break. Taking refuge in the main dining house, the kind old lady lid up whatever firewood they had remaining to keep her guest warm while she hid in the cold kitchen preparing our food. Hour by hour, the old couple threw all their firewood into the furnace till they had to borrow fire wood from other houses. What a cute couple they were haha! They told ky to call them saudaro and saudara which he later found out to be father and mother in law in nepali haha! I think they really enjoyed his company during his 6 day namaste experience with them where they took care of him while he nursed himself back to health. I think they were in their mid 60s but the guy was still walking up and down the mountains and chopping firewood like it was nothing! The lady said that we were the last trekkers of the season and after we leave they would pack up and head towards another town before going to Lukla to hide out from the incoming monsoon. Imagine how we were struggling to go from town to town while they did it like it was a walk in the park! They have 3 kids studying in the UK, with one of them studying medicine and i think were well enough to do to retire but didnt. It reflected how they wanted to live their lives plainly in the mountains where everything is much simpler.

It was the best and most comfortable tea house we had! The hosts were so hospitable that they constantly topped up our plates with the leftovers even though we couldn’t finish, saying bistari bistari khana sakyo which meant slowly slowly eat until finish. We never experienced this in any other tea house! The next day, as we started our journey towards the shit hole, the old owner ran after us, giving us a beige scarf bidding us good luck on our journey back to Lukla.

Us and the cute Tea house owners of Khote

KY and his good luck scarf on his shoulder

Finding Zeus in Nepal.

Pushing up from The small little village of Khare, I really started to feel the effects of the 5000m altitude. Here, we had only a third of the oxygen available at sea level. Simple tasks like walking up a small slope would have me panting and gasping as if I just completed a 100m sprint. Fortunately the acclimatization at Khare paid off. The altitude mountain sickness (AMS) began to wear off as I got used to the altitude.

 Practicing our mountaineering skills

View before setting from Khare

As the route to high camp began to transition to snow, I had a good taste of what to expect for the push to summit. Snow, though it looks good on the surface can be your worst nightmare. Hidden crevasses and loosely pack snow can leave traps throughout the entire route threatening to engulf your body if you don't thread carefully. Many a time, I found myself waist deep in snow,  struggling to recover myself, with each move leaving me deeper till I have to start digging myself out with my trekking poles. This was what was expected from here on, crossing the ridges of snow and ice. Any false step could have you tumbling down 50-100 meters into unknown territory, splashing into an ice lake or even down a cliff.

Msian climbers roped together, coming down from a failed summit attempt.

Slowly climbing to high camp we did as I slowly got used to the trekking poles, using it efficiently to climb the never ending snow paths. But as we got higher, the zombie mode kicked in, slowing down even more. The weather started to turn bad, as it usually did in the afternoons and heavy snow started falling. Fortunately we reached high camp (5800m) before it transformed into a snow storm. High camp was pretty cool because it was the rock formation in that area which wasn't white with snow. The tents were pitched at the side of it (also by some cliff) and it provided somewhat some wind cover.

Arrived at high camp around 3-4pm, some what abit too slow for our guide's liking. It was rest time here till about 0030hrs. The tents were quite spacious and we hid inside while the snow storm started to get worst. Our Sherpa, being the most awesome host made us hot black tea and my personal mountain favorite - veg noodle soup, serving us in the comfort of our tent. It was cold out there and once in the tent, I refused to go out unless I really had to. Perhaps then I missed out on some pretty sights, but at that moment I didn't care. I kept questioning myself why I put myself through such stuff.

High Camp

The funniest thing happened was that I woke up at 2230 thinking it was 0030 and fumbled around with my head lamp, cursing and swearing as I tried to put my lenses on, only to realize that I woke up too early and in that process waking Wayne up too! Oops!

The weather remained bad, with a snow storm raging outside. At this moment, it would be a sign that the summit would not be possible. To some miracle, the storm stopped 2 hours later, and our Sherpa decided to push out, risking the possibility that the weather might turn bad again. But it was a good call! We had perfect weather! It was the only small gap that an ascent was possible this season. A day before, there was a snowstorm and a group of 9 Malaysians were unable to summit. A day later and the full force of the monsoon will kick in, making us the last hikers of the season.

The ascent up seemed forever. It was like walking up a slope that lasted forever. First, you aim to make up the ridge line, the line that you see when you look up. The line that separated the starry sky and the ground, the horizon.  However, when you reach that ridge line, you suddenly feel that the horizon just extended further. Step after step we went in the dark, relying solely on our head lamps, with my fingers and toes freezing under the -20 deg Celsius wind. Roped to each other, if we were lucky, we got to walk on solid ice where the crampons made it easy to walk, or else we had to thread through snow, often falling waist deep into snow, having to use an extreme amount of effort to either lift yourself out or dig yourself out with your trekking poles. Oh and the altitude, boy it does make everything harder. With a third of the oxygen of sea level, every single movement took an extreme amount of effort. This never ending cycle of dragging myself up the never ending snow and ice, at times so tired of lifting the heavy la sportiva snow boots from the snow that I trip offer myself and falling. Haha the purchase of the north face snow pants was definitely a good idea. It was the first time I was actually equipped so well for a trek, crampons, snow shoes, gaiters, waterproof snow pants, down jacket, merino socks, and mountain hardware gloves with hardcore -30 deg gloves.

As the sun started to rise behind, I began to see and appreciate the Himalayan mountain range behind. I began to realize, that was I was amongst the tallest mountains in the world. Everest, Lhotse, Cho Oyu, Nuptse and many many more. But looking forward, it was a long way more to the top. Having roped up to one another definitely had its advantage. As we pushed higher, my stamina began to suffer having the need to rest a little after 5-6 steps and with the steepness of the mountain face, I had to take a short break. Being the last person, sometimes meant that I couldn't use the steps the others took as with the rising sun, the snow started to melt increasing the chance of me falling in, leaving me to create my own route at times. With that it also caused me to lose my balance, falling backwards. But thankfully, I was roped up so, it pulls be back to balance at the expense of the guy before me. Oops :x. Also, because we were so exhausted and severely affected by the altitude, there were many times that the Sherpa and our climbing guide had to use the rope to pull us forward like yaks.

taking our rest while walking up

 Sun rising behind everest

As the began to rose above the backdrop of mountains, the beauty of the Himalayan mountain range began to manifest itself before me. As I laid down on the steep incline, i witnessed the for the first time, the splendor of Everest and the other 8000m mountains before me. Above the clouds, the Himalayan mountain range started to reveal itself to me. But before I was allowed to fully appreciate this spectacle, it also revealed the path before us. More and more uphill climbs. And thus the climb to the summit started again. Now, with more determination, with the summit in sight, I climbed and climbed, garnering the remaining strength I had in me. At least with the sun out, warmth began to fill my body. No need for the extra gloves and the freezing feeling in the toes slowly disappeared. I was really afraid that I would get frost bite in the toes haha. The mountain hardware gloves were actually quite useful! Even though it was as thin as running gloves.

Aiming at the little tiny red flags that marked the route to the summit, flag after flag I aimed. FINALLY! At 10am, we reached the south summit. And I was so in man mode that I didn't even know that we have reached! Next up, a 200m 60 deg incline push to the base of the central summit, the peak of the mountain I sought to climb. It was a horrible push, I was so exhausted that our Sherpa had to keep pulling us forward because we kept losing our balance. Next up a 15m ice climb. Hahn this was actually the most exciting part of the climb, primary because we get to make use of the ice axe. One hand on the Juma, the other on the ice axe, up I went, ice axe up, anchored in the ice, crampons up and kicked into the ice, and Juma pulled up. Though it may seem like an easy feat on sea level, 6500m above sea level, it took quite a bit of effort to do it but reaching the top, it dawned upon me....I HAVE FINALLY MADE THE SUMMIT OF MERA! Woooooooooooooooooooooooo! 1030, 25 June 2014, on the peak of Mt Mera (6647m), stood a Sherpa, a Nepali guide and two young Singaporeans amongst the vast Himalayan range. Cues visuals *camera zooming out from where we are standing to the entire empty Himalayan range with the peaks sticking through the clouds. The feeling of standing amongst the tallest mountains was overwhelming and indescribable. It was a hard and shitty journey to make it where I was standing.  The timing was perfect, the weather was holding up for us, the last climbers of the season.

View from south summit with my la sportiva snow shoes and crampons

Clipping into the safety line on Central Summit

View from the summit (with everest behind)

The weather, however would not remain kind for the rest of day. With an imminent snow storm expected at night, we had to return to Khare before that happened. By now, the snow was starting to melt and we had to make our way down as quickly as possible. With the thick and melting snow, descending was not as easy as I thought, though requiring less effort than climbing up, I couldn't run or slide down the ice slopes, I had to go down step by step hoping to avoid the ice crevasses   again. It took another 4 hours to reach high camp and being roped up, the Sherpa was herding us like yaks again. It was quite a useful "motivation" tool so we couldn't take too long a break. The return was also a case of so near yet so far fetched. From far we could see the colorful rock of high camp, but it took forever to reach it. By the time I reached it, I was feeling weak, suspecting that I had mild dehydration, Wayne on the other hand was down with what I thought to be dehydration prolly cos of his massive shitting sprees along the way. He could no longer walk by himself and the porters had to carry him back to the tent. There we rested for about an hour where I desperately tried to rehydrate myself before picking up and heading back to Khare. The return was painfully slow as Wayne was severely weaken by the summit ascent and dehydration, not forgetting the waist deep crevasses that slowed us down tremendously. With the sun setting fast, time was of the essence. Past the snow, the kofla shoes was a chore to walk with on the rocks, nearly sprained my ankle numerous times. The journey became terribly hard as last light passed. As we walked, we started to see lights in the distance. As we ventured further down, we were greeted by the porters from the village holding hot black tea. It was a morale booster. I thought we had arrived at Khare. But the joy was short lived when the Sherpa said lets continue down. It was another hour down to Khare if we ran. Apparently the Sherpa activated the whole village to bring us back because of the imminent snow storm. Wayne was carried back by 3 porters and I was man handled by the Sherpa guide's younger brother, another Sherpa. With a firm grip of my right waist and left arm, he ran me down to the village. I'm quite marveled by their high altitude fitness and could not help but respect them in their field. Smaller than me, he ran me down at striding speed. I was finding trouble keeping up as my shoes were really not suited for the terrain. Snow began to fall as I saw Khare in the distance and as soon as I entered the tea house, the snow storm unleashed itself. It was such good timing.

 Our Shag faces after returning back to High Camp

Relieved that we've finally reached back to Khare before the snow storm unleashed itself