Trekking Tibet by Gary McCue

Author:Gary McCue
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Mountaineers Books
Published: 2010-09-01T16:00:00+00:00

TO MENLUNGTSE BASE CAMP

The trek to the Menlungtse base camp begins at the shang compound, where the road dead-ends. Although it’s only 1½ hours away, Chubar gompa (Isthmus monastery; pronounced “Chuwar”; 10,650 ft, 3250 m) is a logical place to stop for the night. If you have yaks or porters, they may decide this for you! So enjoy a leisurely descent beside the churning Rongshar Tsangpo. This jungly canyon is a wild departure from the moonscapes near Dingri. Thick stands of flowering wild roses, rhododendron, barberry, Caragana, cotoneaster, and Spiraea tower beside the trails. The damp undergrowth supports asters, forget-me-nots, anemone, wild thyme, Senecio, Ligularia, iris, ephedra, dock, and even jack-in-the-pulpits.

Tsamboche (11,050 ft, 3370 m), 10 minutes below Rongshar, is situated beneath striated cliffs. As in towns in Kongpo or Nepal, the thirty-five homes here have peaked, wood-shake roofs typical of regions experiencing high rainfall. The trail winds between the houses and rock-walled alleys, then past terraced barley and potato fields. Again the river narrows, at one point disappearing under a tremendous rockslide. About 1 hour below Tsamboche, the path crosses a stream meandering out of a slot in the cliffs. Not far inside is a 50-foot (15 m) waterfall.

Continue descending to Chörten Karchung, a small shrine in the center of the trail featuring a painted stone tablet of Milarepa. He is typically portrayed in the meditational pose of holding his right hand up to his ear and wearing white cotton robes. His name means “Mila the Cotton-clad,” a title given only to masters of tummo, a meditation technique whereby unusually high levels of body heat are generated. The red sash across his shoulder is a strap used to support one’s back and knees during extended periods of deep meditation. Legends claim that when Milarepa died at Chubar, his disciple Rechungpa, who was far away in Southern Tibet, rushed to be at his master’s side and rode the first sunbeam of the morning to land on Pozer La (Sunbeam on the Summit), the pass between Dingri and Chubar. As Rechungpa was nearing Chubar, the deceased Milarepa performed his final miracle by manifesting himself at this spot, allowing the two ascetics to have their last conversation before the cremation.

Soon the valley yields the first views of Chubar gompa’s red-walled, two-story ruins. Cross a wooden cantilever bridge to the south (L) bank of the Rongshar Tsangpo. Just before the monastery, the trail forks. The right (west) half leads down the canyon to the villages of Drobde and Drin and beyond to Nepal. The left fork continues up the hill to several large apricot trees and a mani wall above the monastery. The Menlung Valley enters from the left (south).

Chubar gompa is situated on an isthmus of land suspended above the confluence of the Tashi Oma Chu (Auspicious Milk River), which flows from Menlungtse, and the Rongshar Tsangpo. Perched above on the nearby cliffs is Driche phuk (Dri [Female Yak] Tongue cave; also known as Dreche phuk, Demon’s Tongue cave), where Milarepa died.

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