By Renée Thakali

Life has plenty of dips and ascents but when living and working at altitudes over 9,000 feet above sea level the ups and downs can have a significant impact on your body. For the past 50 years I’ve had the pleasures and pains of living and working at high altitudes in Nepal and Colorado and at more ordinary altitudes (300 to 600 feet) in the midwestern USA and even at sea level on a tropical island in the Pacific Ocean. It’s no surprise to me that it was much easier to acclimate, live, climb and work in the higher altitudes when I was in my 20’s and and 30’s, than at later ages in my 60’s and early 70’s. 

I have never been and never will be a mountain climber. Yet my work in conservation and forestry and my recreational pursuits in Nepal and Colorado have led me to some precariously high mountainous spots. By the time I reached my post in Marpha village in the lower part of Mustang District in Nepal, I had already completed two years of Peace Corps service in the lower hills of central Nepal (3,000 to 8,000 feet in elevation). Every day of travel in Nepal meant trekking (hiking) on hand built stair steps made of rock, some which felt like the endless stairway up to heaven. In Nepal the hills and mountains are endless and it seems like you never reach the top. And what goes down usually has to go back up if not even higher! A daily 8 hour trek can rise up more than 4,000 to 6,000 feet and then go back down all in the same day. Fortunately, where I worked and lived there were plenty of small rustic tea shops, which served hot sweet milky tea and biscuits or a fried rice flour donut for snacks, and morning rice and beans or dal bhaat to fuel travelers. From the nearest city with motorable roads, it generally took me 5 days of trekking up and down the hills (in the USA these “hills” would be considered mountains by most people) to reach Marpha, a tight cluster of flat roofed, white houses below a towering cliff along the Kali Gandaki River at about 8,000 feet in elevation.  

I occasionally climbed on steep narrow trails to reach the nearest forests that were at least 2,000 feet above Marpha, closer to the high Himalayan mountains of Tukuche Peak and Dhauligire towering nearby.  I marvelled at my local Nepali companions who hiked up these high trails almost daily to gather firewood or graze their sheep and yaks and yet they seemed to never get out of breath or have any difficulty carrying heavy loads of firewood with a simple tumpline or (naamlo) strapped across their forehead, while I stopped to rest frequently and to catch my breath once I got to about 10,000 feet. (All elevations mentioned here are approximate as I did not have an altimeter.  I recently checked on Google Maps for elevations of most places mentioned in this article.) 

Several times I trekked up to Muktinath, which took a whole day to reach by foot and lies at about 13,000 feet.  Even then in my early 20’s once I reached over 10,000 feet in altitude, my hiking pace slowed down considerably and it was definitely harder to breathe and to continue taking steps up and up. The local girls I was with held onto the tails of their horses to get assistance up the trail. At Muktinath I had a slight headache and even walking up one flight of stairs was difficult. I stayed for a few days and had no other symptoms that I can recall. 

A few years later I moved to Gunnison, Colorado and worked daily in the high country of the Gunnison National Forest as a forester. Gunnison lies at about 8,000 feet and almost every day I drove to reach the forested lands from 10,000 to 12,000 feet in elevation. I was usually at the higher elevations for about 6 hours a day, walking in the wild forest lands and even traveling by cross country skis and snowshoes in the winter to complete my forestry work. I usually experienced mild headaches in the higher country and it was always a relief to drive my jeep back down the forest roads to the lower country in the late afternoons. 

Wouldn’t you know that my next forestry assignment was on the tiny tropical island of Saipan at sea level in the middle of the Pacific Ocean!  No problem with elevation there, but I did have to acclimate to a tropical humid climate 24/7 and 365 days a year. 

We took a vacation to Nepal to visit family after we had spent almost two years on Saipan. It was the warm wet monsoon season and no airplanes were able to fly up to Jomsom. There were no roads to Jomsom back then. Our only option was to hike or trek the 5 days to Marpha and then another 2 hours beyond to the village of Thini which lies at about 9,000 feet. We arrived wet and tired. After a week of resting we next trekked up to Tilicho Lake, one of the world’s highest lakes at about 16,000 feet. It isn’t that far by distance from the village of Thini to Tilicho Lake, but we first had to climb over the high Meso Kanto La (pass) at about 18,000 feet, (the highest elevation that I have reached). 

On Day 1, we camped a few thousand feet below the pass at approximately 14,000 feet. My head was pounding hard and I don’t think I was able to sleep much that night. The trail ended at the camp site and the next morning we forged up and onward over the steep rocky mountainside. To make it a bit easier I made frequent switchbacks or turns, zig zagging back and forth, up and up to the 18,000 foot pass. It was very difficult for me and maybe took a few hours to climb up 4,000 feet in elevation. My head ached, it was hard to breathe, and I took short frequent breaks until I finally reached the pass, where the rest of my family were waiting for me. My 9 year old daughter had no problem easily following her 50 year old Nepali uncle and 21 year old cousin who seemed to trek straight up from the camp to the pass. She was even smiling as she greeted me. I could barely talk and I am pretty sure I was not smiling then. It was much easier to go down the steep slopes to Tilicho Lake where we camped one night at about 16,000 feet. I had a pounding headache the whole time and looked forward to day 3 when we retraced our steps back up to the Meso Kanto La pass and then followed the trail all the way back to Thini village. I was exhausted and my legs felt like jelly, but it felt wonderful to be back at a lower elevation of 9,000 feet and in a warm house with hot soup for dinner and a comfortable dry bed to sleep in. 

Fast forward a few decades, I’ve retired and we are back in Nepal, this time trekking into some high country in Kanchenjunga National Park in eastern Nepal, not to climb the peaks but to view the mountains and the blooming rhododendron trees in the high forests. No longer in my 20’s or 30’s, I am 60 years old. I now trek at a much slower pace and find it harder to climb higher than about 10,000 feet, feeling breathless and often experience an aching sharp pain from muscle spasms in the middle of my back as I try to climb the endless rock lined steps up the trails. There were two times during the 6 day trek that I had to turn back and go down after reaching at least 10,000 feet. The trails were wet, snowy, slippery, among thick forests of pine, fir, rhododendron and oak. One day I reached a rustic yak herder shelter and could go no further.  It snowed that night, and melted snow dripped through the wooden shakes of the roof of the shelter onto my sleeping bag. The morning was bright and clear and the yak herder convinced me to climb up another 1,000 feet to view Kanchenjunga mountain peak. He carefully took my hand and pulled me up the steep, slippery rocky slope to a viewing site and then carefully held my hand as I slipped back down to the shelter. I am no agile mountain goat!

A month later we rode on mountain bikes up from Jomsom at 8,000 feet to Kagbeni at about 10,000 feet on Day 1 of a mountain bike tour. On Day 2 we continued to pedal up the gravel road to Muktinath at about 13,000 feet in elevation.  There were a few steeper road sections above 11,000 feet near Jarkot where I had to dismount and push my bike up the road. I had no energy or breath left to pedal uphill and I was using the easiest gear possible. I took an Ibuprofen before bed to lessen my headache and I certainly enjoyed the fast downhill ride back to Jomsom. 

Fast forward another 9 years. I am now 70 years old, live at 300 feet in elevation in central Arkansas and we are visiting Nepal again. This time we reached Jomsom and Thini village at 9,000 feet by bus from Pokhara, a day-long journey over treacherous roads alongside steep cliffs and numerous landslides. At this age I know to pace myself and to take plenty of time to acclimate. I did not get headaches but I did have a scratchy sore throat for three weeks, which promptly disappeared after I returned to the low and warm valley in Pokhara. While in Thini I  was able to take longer walks and hikes to higher locations each week. By the third week I was hiking for 4 to 6 hours and made it to sites up to about 10,000 feet before turning back and going down to Thini village. On only one occasion did I experience exhaustion and those painful back spasms during the last few hours of a long day trek where we reached almost 11,000 feet. The next time I did a long day trek I took one capsule of Ibuprofen early in the day to prevent the back pain and that seemed to work. 

At this age, I no longer want to climb up to the forests above Thini and Marpha like I used to 30 or 40 years ago. I am content to look at them from far below. These days travelers can zip to upper Mustang villages at elevations from 12,000 to 14,000 feet and higher in only one day from Jomsom via 4 -Wheel Drive jeep or even by motorcycle, which is no problem for the local people who have lived at these extremely high elevations for centuries, but it can be an issue for lowlanders from India or other foreign countries which lie at much lower altitudes. Prior to the road construction it used to take trekkers and locals on foot or horseback at least 4 to 5 days to reach Upper Mustang villages from Jomsom giving them time to slow acclimate to the higher altitude. I’ll stay safe at home and look at the pictures of the wild places in upper Mustang in the colorful coffee table books in my living room. 

Renée Thakali has lived, worked and recreated at high elevations for many years. She first went to Nepal as a Peace Corps Volunteer in 1977 where she began a lifelong adventure of travel and working in community conservation projects. While in Nepal she met her future husband Aita Thakali and his family in Thini village, Mustang District, located in the high Himalayan mountains near Annapurna and Dhaulagiri peaks. Renée worked for more than 35 years as a forester for the United States Forest Service in four states including Colorado in the high Rocky Mountains in and around Gunnison. Her other international forestry assignments took her to Afghanistan; the Philippines; and to the tropical Pacific island of Saipan to restore forests and train the local forestry workers. She fills her spare time with photography, cycling, trout fishing, swimming, traveling, and visiting family. She has a B.Sc. in Natural Resources and a M.S. in Forest Management from Michigan State University. Renée is a member of the Pit River tribe, an indigenous tribe in northeastern California. Renée has two grown daughters and lives in Conway, Arkansas with her husband and two cats.