Surviving a snowstorm in Nepal on a bike

[cat-i]

Wow - brilliant write-up. thx for sharing this! 

[Pipsqueak]

Lots of people ask why we didn't ditch the bikes... Truth be told we just took for granted that we'd need them to ride out again. We also (incorrectly) believed that we'd walk out of the snow during the first day.

 

Those bikes now have a certain sentimental value that can't be measured.

[Pappa Bear]

Wow.......what an adventure!

[tombeej]

A heck of a story, thanks for sharing.

[Dusty]

Great piece of journalism. 

[kosmonooit]

After some reflection, I was just wondering ...

 

Did you have any decent contour maps and compass, or did you take it for granted the desired path could followed without a problem, no need for maps?

 

In retrospect and with hindsight, did you think you made the right decision to leave the safety of tea house to make your flights back?

[BarHugger]

Heavy stuff. Glad you made it out and shared your story. Comrades for life after such an experience.

[theRussian]

Amazing story. Scary on all levels. Do you guys see the Miracle?

[Pipsqueak]

After some reflection, I was just wondering ...

 

Did you have any decent contour maps and compass, or did you take it for granted the desired path could followed without a problem, no need for maps?

 

In retrospect and with hindsight, did you think you made the right decision to leave the safety of tea house to make your flights back?

We had 2 maps. But in Nepal nothing is cast in stone. The information on these printed, topographical maps varied greatly. Kanshar, the village we were aiming for after the bridge was supposed to be right next to the river, but it wasn't. The altitudes and trail routes differed too.

 

We should have stayed in the tea-house. That would have been the sensible thing to do. But we would have had to leave the bikes behind. The chopper doesn't take bikes.

 

If there's one thing I'm going to be buying in the next few months its a good map enabled GPS with long battery life.

[Raydek]

We had 2 maps. But in Nepal nothing is cast in stone. The information on these printed, topographical maps varied greatly. Kanshar, the village we were aiming for after the bridge was supposed to be right next to the river, but it wasn't. The altitudes and trail routes differed too.

 

We should have stayed in the tea-house. That would have been the sensible thing to do. But we would have had to leave the bikes behind. The chopper doesn't take bikes.

 

If there's one thing I'm going to be buying in the next few months its a good map enabled GPS with long battery life.

 

Would a sat phone have helped at all??  Always thought that if I ever end up exploring out in the real sticks that I would invest in a sat phone..

[kosmonooit]

Thanks for the reply, one would think that a topographical map could be taken for granted, certainly  the contours. Map-enable GPS would use such maps as a source right? Personally if I was in such a situation I would be more comfortable looking at a hard copy map in conjunction with a GPS, which surely you should have had on your bikes?

 

Have you seen "Where the trail ends" with The Claw and mates, they got their bikes hauled by a chopper with a simple sling.

 

Talking maps and GPS, I did a cross-country 4x4 trip through the back roads of Moz just after it opened up after the civil war (about '95) no road signs, bit before consumer moving map GPS's, but I did have one of the first Garmin Aviation GPS's and maps, which I constantly had to use, it get co-ords from GPS, ref to map, oh there we are! all the bomb-out/landmined cars/trucks/buses on side of the road was way spooky.

[paul_ct]

What an adventure! Many thanks for sharing it.

[Surv0MTB]

Epic read!!! Riveting! Well done for making it out alive.

[Pipsqueak]

Thanks for the reply, one would think that a topographical map could be taken for granted, certainly  the contours. Map-enable GPS would use such maps as a source right? Personally if I was in such a situation I would be more comfortable looking at a hard copy map in conjunction with a GPS, which surely you should have had on your bikes?

 

Have you seen "Where the trail ends" with The Claw and mates, they got their bikes hauled by a chopper with a simple sling.

 

Talking maps and GPS, I did a cross-country 4x4 trip through the back roads of Moz just after it opened up after the civil war (about '95) no road signs, bit before consumer moving map GPS's, but I did have one of the first Garmin Aviation GPS's and maps, which I constantly had to use, it get co-ords from GPS, ref to map, oh there we are! all the bomb-out/landmined cars/trucks/buses on side of the road was way spooky.

Ya, its an interesting discussion. The most valuable asset within the GPS is existing tracks, and waypoints. I think the baseman is just a reference, but I would certainly punch in all the trails, and key waypoints - Basecamp, Kanshar, Manang etc etc. That would have given us a much clearer picture of what we were up against.

 

Remember that we're not talking vast distances here. We probably only covered about 16 kms over the 2 days of hiking out to Manang, so the detail that you need is high. I'm not sure if base maps of the Himalayas can offer this?

 

There's no doubt that a chopper can take a bike, but in the context of the army rescue choppers, they wouldn't. Before we left we knew this, because the emergency evacuation procedure told us so. There were many people waiting to be lifted, so getting 3 bikes strapped to the skids was not an option.

[Warren_G]

My favorite part:

 

"it suddenly occurred to us that we’d never considered leaving our bikes behind. We just hauled them forward as part of our being."

[dewet777]

Inspired!!