The Mani Rimdu Festival is held in Nepal, twice a year, and we were there for the November ceremony, in 1995, which is always tied into the Tibetan Lunar Calendar. We were supposed to go to Gokyo Lakes and then come back for the colourful dancing ceremony which is the final coming together involving monks and public, which takes place at Tengboche |Monastery, above Namche Bazaar in the Khumbu area of Nepal, that is the Everest area. Tibetans and Sherpas come from far and wide to participate in this exciting event.
The Lama Dance
Fortunately for us, the moon dictated that the Festival would be delayed three days which did not give us time to go into Gokyo, and we filled in time pleasantly enough, enjoying the superb views around us, until the day arrived, when we enjoyed being part of this event. The Yellow Hats approached the monastery blowing on the Tibetan horns, and there is an air of joy and fun, and celebration.
"Yellow Hats" lead the way
Thereafter we threw rice on the floor of the inner courtyard, and the dancing began, with old and young, Tibets and Sherpas and trekkers, all joining in the fun. There is a clown who drew in one of the spectators to play silly games, fighting one another with sticks, the first man ran away, but the second got into it and pretended to hit the clown.
After all this excitement we retreated to our tents, and in the night the snow started to fall. It snowed in bucketfuls and I watched the walls of my tent sagging inwards, as the truth dawned on me that I would have to do something about it! As leader of a group here I had to take action for my clients, and it was 5 am! I got up, and surveyed the scene, and tried to bang snow off the collapsing tents. The kitchen tent was already flattened, no breakfast there today. Speed was important as there were only two Lodges nearby and I knew they would soon be filled with refugees from the snows. Independent trekkers always display an air of disbelief that this is actually happening..to them.! My group was told what to do!
Thereafter the whole area was transformed by a situation totally out of our control. Unbeknown to us till then, we found that a large avalanche had come down on a lodge on the route into Gokyo and killed 29 Japanese inside, and there were trekkers marooned at Chukkung, Lobuche and Gokyo, unable to walk out, as the snow was waist deep, some crawled, and others waited for a helicopter to come. Some people even fought for a place on a chopper we were told. Panic reigned. Eventually the sky was full of the sound of rotor blades, as the choppers came in to rescue people. Had the Festival not been delayed we might well have been near that avalanche. Who knows.
The yaks were very vulnerable and news emerged that 1000 had suffocated in the snows.
Nonetheless it seemed I had a trek to run, and clients to placate "I saved up for this trip for three years, why can't I go to Gokyo?" "You don't like snow M.A." so I had to do my best. I arranged for three of them to walk a little bit towards Lobuche, but knew they would not get far, but they could not take it in. Something happens to some clients in a group where they feel being in a group, is like being in a bubble, and they are isolated from the reality around them, and all will still be possible.
Waist deep powder hides the path
I took the remaining clients out for a couple of hours through the snow, as it was pretty exciting. But the ever present helicopters overhead did remind us we were in a very serious situation and lucky to have escaped.
When I returned to the UK, I saw a headline in the paper "Avalanche of Death" and the news that 63 people had died and 549 airlifted to safety. Some of the dead were porters, shod in baseball boots, going over high passes with groups aiming to climb a peak. They just died where they were, in the snow with their baskets on their backs.