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History of Trekking |
In 1965 Colonel Jimmy Roberts introduced the world to
trekking. As a former Gurkha Officer and Military
Attaché at the British Embassy in Kathmandu he had spent
years of his life walking the hills of Nepal. His idea,
revolutionary for the time, was to provide tents
together with Sherpas, to guide and cook. This made
Nepal and the Himalaya available to a wide community and
was an immediate success. Nowadays the formula is well
established; groups travel through the hills, walking
for five to six hours each day with all their equipment
carried by porters or yaks; good quality meals are
provided along with warm sleeping bags and comfortable
tents; the trekker carries a personal pack with camera,
day clothing and snacks. Walking for days on end might
sound daunting, but actually it is not too difficult,
anyone who has tramped the New Zealand hills with their
own pack will find Nepalese trekking much easier, and
more stylish! I have taken seven to seventy year olds on
many excursions into the Nepalese hills. Age is no
barrier, the most important attribute for enjoying the
trek and Nepal generally, is right attitude.
The first trekker in Nepal was Bill tilman, who somehow
wrangled permission from the maharaja in 1949 to make
several treks, including the Kali Gandaki, Helambu and
Everest. His Exploits are described in Nepal Himalaya, a
mountaineering classic that has been reprinted by the
Seattle Mountaineers as part of a Tilman collection, the
Seven Mountain-travel Books. Anothere early visitor was
maurice Herzog, who led a French expedition to Annapurna
in 1950.
During kin Tribhuvan's visits to India, the king met
Boris Lissnnivich, a Russian ballet dancer who was
running a club in Calcutta. Boris Convinced the king
that people would like to visit Nepal and would actually
pay for the experience. Soon a few well- heeled landies
flew from patan to kathmandu's Gaucher ('cowfield')
airport in an Indian Airlines Dakota. Boris accommodeted
them in his new establishment, the Roal Hotel. The women
were charmed by Boris and the exotic kingdom of Nepal.
Thus Nepali toursm was born. The Royal Hotel and its yak
& Yeti bar became the meeting place fro climbers from
the 1950s until 1971, when the Royal Hotel was closed.
Colonel James OM Roberts was the first person to realise
that trekking would appeal to tourists.
Jimmy Roberts had spent years in Nepal attached to the
British residency and accompanied Tilman on his first
trek. In 1965 he took a group of ladies up the kali
Gandaki and founded Mountain Travel, the first of
Nepal's trekking companies and the inspiration for the
adventure travel industry.
History of Nepalese Himalayas:
Forty million years ago, a collision between two plates
of the earth’s crust resulted in the creation of the
earth’s highest mountain Himalayas. The magnificent
range of the Himalayas harbors breathtakingly beautiful
scenery and dramatic environment. The high Himalayas
constituting a spectacular mountain scope are being able
to attract the heart of any new comer who is in search
of challenge and grandeur.
The beauty, mystery and majesty of these mountains are
due to the thick layers of ice and snow that perpetually
cover them up. Since time immemorial, the Himalayas has
captured the dream, desires and Imagination of human
beings. Even the early Aryans looked upon these
mountains as the abode of gods and goddess and the extra
ordinary objects of beauty, scenic grandeur, peace and
tranquility. These towering mountains have aptly been
called the “Top of the World” and “ The Third Pole” on
the basis of the fact that they constitute the
latitudinal extremity.
Nepal, renowned all over the world for its scenic and
panoramic peaks, is the land of supernatural virgin
beauty and a real paradise for nature lovers.
In 1852 the highest mountain in the world was determined
by and later named after Sir George Everest. After
determination of Mt. Everest, no climber had been a
scaled mountain of Nepal till 1949. But, it is fact that
the history of trekking in Nepal is started after
climbing and expedition of many majestic peaks.
In 1949 the Swiss who had been earlier refused
permission to attempt Dhaulagiri, entered-east Nepal by
way of Darjeeling. The team who led by Sutter – Lohner
and they explored Ramtang Glacier, Kang Bachen peak
(7902m) and the triangle of Drohmo (7008m) Jongsang peak
(7473m) and Nupchu (7028) on the Nepal – Tibet – Sikkim
border. They also climb Tang Kangma (6249m) on outlays
of Drohmo as well as Dzange peak (6709m) before they
returned to Darjeeling on the nineteenth day of their
expedition.
In 1949 Nepal opened its frontiers to the outside world
and within eight years ten of the fourteen 8000m peaks
had been climbed, Annapurna (8091m) was the first to be
climbed in 1950, this was followed in 1953 by Everest
(8848m) and Nanga Parbat (8125m). From then on the
number of expeditions coming from many different
countries of the world multiplied and by 1964 all these
Himalayan giants had been climbed, one being Shisa
Pangma (8046m) scaled by the Chinese in 1964.
The highest Peak Mt. Everest of the world and other
numerous peaks have been climbed many times now. Tenzing
Norge Sherpa and Edmund Hillary reached at top of the
world Mt. Everest in 1953. Sir. Edmond Hillary stated
“Nepal is the only country in the world which is also
one of the world’s great trekking paradises and one of
the nicest countries in the world for trekking.” |
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Picture of Trek |
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