Thorung La - "Follow Your Dreams"

Upon retirement many dads become rather staid, set in their ways, and become, well not wanting to squander words, dull. Not my Pa. It is quite amazing to see someone finally becoming the person they were destined to be all along. I often wonder what life would have been like for him without the pressures of family and a job that, although he was amazing at, was never in his heart. He sacrificed so much of himself to make sure we always got the best.

My Pa is a Boy Scout who had to grow up. Regression has most definitely occurred.

After dabbling toes with trips with Ma to the Dolomites and snow shoeing without much snow retirement meant that further afield beckoned. With trusty sidekick Derrick not only was Kilimanjaro scaled, but Mount Meru thrown in for good measure on the same expedition. They basked in the glory round the pool of being the old buggers who'd kicked much younger butts into touch. I think they rather enjoyed the adoration.

I was really ill at the time of this trip and had sent Pa a letter asking him to wave from the top and I'd be waving back. I love that photo. I could never have imagined then that I would be well enough to be contemplating expeditions of my own. It was so far fetched and out of the question that I never even considered it. A photo wave was good enough for me. Pa really struggled with altitude sickness and yet he didn't give up. I remember him saying that it was the hardest thing he'd ever done, just putting one foot in front of the other, add to that nausea and dizziness and it actually sounded quite familiar. He said he finally understood what day to day living must be like for me. It was hard to listen to that, realising that someone's out of the ordinary horrific experience was your run of the mill existence.

A trek round China and a spell in the Atlas Mountains later, the Big One beckoned. I was so happy to see Pa go (trusty sidekick in place again) and this time it was so different. Ma had just had a knee op, but for once he didn't have to worry or postpone because I could be there for her. The 3 weeks plus he was away was the first time in 8 years that I've been able to be reliably relied upon. It felt rather good.

I sent Pa with a letter explaining this diary.

This is his story;


'The letter was opened on the plane from Heathrow to Abu Dhabi; the piece of material was vaguely familiar, my tears were very real when I learned of its association with dark days.

The Annapurna Circuit in Nepal is dubbed “the classic trek, one of the great walks of the world…” and the high point is Thorung La at 5416 metres above sea level – “the world’s biggest pass”. So the location for the bit of dressing gown was decided.

Inspired by the prayer flags that abound in the Himalayas (Himal means snow mountain) I made a slight modification to the task in hand. The material was cut in two – one piece to be buried at an appropriate spot, the other was cut into lots of smaller pieces to disperse in the wind.

The trek lived up to its billing – with a wide diversity of scenery and cultures. The climb up to Thorung La on 11th November 2008 was not over strenuous and the slight altitude sickness was quickly forgotten amidst the splendour of the surroundings. There is a famous cairn at the head of the pass adorned with prayer flags (lots and lots of them) around which people gather for the photographic proof of their achievements. That was to be the burial site for the larger piece of dressing gown, but it didn’t feel right. So look up – and above the main cairn to the south there is a small hill on top of which is another forgotten cairn covered in older prayer flags, visited only by a few, but somehow grander. The walk up was splendid and therapeutic – the location was peaceful, looking down on the triumphant melee below. The piece of material, along with those bad memories, was laid to rest overlooked by the splendid glaciated peak of Khatung Kang (6484m, 21273 ft) – or was it Thorung Peak that was visible? Looking down to the east was a frozen tarn. Pictures were taken of a glorious panorama and part of a tearful task completed I descended to the main cairn to have my picture taken!

Before leaving the pass a few more private moments were taken to scatter the remnants of my piece of dressing gown into the wind to join the mantras from the prayer flags – thank you Derrick for videoing the event; and understanding.



Later after re-joining the rest of the group I looked down to see a piece of dressing gown by somebody’s foot – they wouldn’t know the significance, but I did. '