The muddy trail to the conquest of Fansipan

Day 125. Friday the 04/11-05

Three days ago I was woken up at 06:00 as the train would shortly after arrive to Lao Cai. On the train station chaos ruled since this train was full of tourists who had to get into busses, taxies and other means of transportations and from there on to Sapa.
A man was standing with a half-crumpled piece of paper that had alot of names on it and one of them was Jesper. It was the only one with out a surname but I guessed it was me.

Sapa village

Arrived in Sapa one could get the sense of masstourism as we arrived in several busses to the same hotel where everybody ran in and had a dull standardized breakfast.
After having eaten one meal and bought one more just to get a bit full I was found by my guide who was lot younger than I had imagined. The tour operator had spoken about a guy who lived in the area and had 12 years of experience as a mountain guide. It later turned out he was 25 year old, didn't live in the area and had only had four trips to Fansipan. Luckely it also turned out he was an ok guy.

It was a relatively easy path like this we followed the first day...

After this, the next destination was the start of the trek, which was located well outside of town. I had been promised a jeep but instead I got a minibus with three english guys, their guide and porter. As with my previous categorization of travellers (see day 122) I immediately thought to myself morons! They were heading the same way as me though and as time passed they turned out to be good blokes. Alas, I apparently never learn.

The surrounding peaks

It was a nice weather when we wandered of towards the destination of the day; basecamp at the foot of Mt. Fansipan, the highest mountain on 3143 meters.
During the way we met some danes going down who told us about the duration of the trip. Since I only had two days for the trek I made some mental arithmetic that told me we had to advance further than basecamp this day.
My guide, who was pretty unroutined, hadn't made this calculation at home and hence hadn't brought any tent either as this would be supplied at basecamp. Instead we agreed to have an early start the following day at 05:00.
This day we only walked for five hours.

Just a little nature

The night was freezing cold and even though I was fully dressed in the borrowed sleeping bag I still didn't have many hours of sleep due to the cold.
At 02:00 it began to rain!

...and some more

When I was woken up an hour too late, at 06:00, it was still raining but naturally we headed for the top anyways, even though the guide suggested to stay. As he said I would still have been on Fansipan. YUCK!!! He was not get off that easy.
The trip up was highly exhausting and not least wet and when we finally reached the summit I couldn't see anything because of heavy rain and fog... but, nevertheless I had reached it!
The trip down should turn out to be even harder and when we finally reached basecamp I was physically finished. Unfortunately I had only reached halfways on the this insane mission so once again I put my heavy load of luggage on the back after which the we headed for Sapa.

The summit of Fansipan almost hidden behind clouds

The guide believed another village was closer than Sapa so we headed for that one instead.
The next five hours were to be one of the hardest physical and mental tests I had yet been on. The fierce tropical rain, the mud, the terrain, my heavy backpack and once again the mud tired me out in a matter of moments. This meant that the last three to four hours I walked on mental power alone, which finally came to an end too. It wasn't because of the exhaustion but more that I litterally wasn't able to walk ten steps without falling on the steep muddy slopes.
At some point I lost it, which was good for me but bad for the young guide who didn't know what to do with the situation. I told him that it wasn't his fault and that I just had a little temperament.

The english guys descending the trail

At 18:30 we finally reached the village where our minibus that should have been waiting for us naturally wasn't there... and since I had to reach a bus from Sapa at 19:15 I didn't have the time to wait for it so instead we hired a local to drive us there on a motorcycle. That trip, with three on the motorcycle and my enormous pack, was simply just terribly frightening!

Basecamp at the foot of Mt. Fansipan

We did make back to the hotel though where I said goodbye to my guide, Dong, and got a quickly shower before I, at 19:13, ran out from the hotel just barely to reach the last bus leaving for Lao Cai.

I only took a couple of picture the second day as a tropical rainfall poured down on me. Here we are on the summit though!

A little later as I was sitting in the train with all my luggage soaking wet and smeared in mud, with ruined soaking shoes and a body that ached I thought about my doing.
I had climbed Mt. Fansipan in two days without a porter! As The Lonely Planet described it "...the round trip usually takes three to four days; some very fit and experienced hikers have made it in two days, but this is rare. ...finding porters who will carry your luggage is also strongly recommended.".
Why did I absolutely have to choose the hardest way? Because it was possible... and because I was stupid!

...and here I'm on the summit, yeah!

At 05:00 I was woken up this day as the train was close to Hanoi. My muscles were very sore and I stepped down in still soaking wet shoes. My backpack was likewise wet and smeared in mud. It wasn't a good morning.

My shoes before I washed them...

Back at Thuy Lam Hotel they didn't have any available room untill 07:00 so in the meantime I got some more sleep on a couple of chairs. Afterwards I fought a brave battle up to the fourth floor where I once again went to sleep.
During the late afternoon I woke up again and since I was hungry I got up to get something to eat. Unfortunately my shoes were still soaking wet when I stepped into them so before any brunch I went shoehunting, which turned out to be quite difficult in Hanoi if one were equipped with a size 46. It ended with me bying a pair of... sandals! Alas, it was official, I couldn't sink any lower.

...and my shoes after I washed them. Ok, it's a pair of new sandals. Yuck!

The rest of the day I relaxed and tried not to move to much.