The title is meant to be facetious, that’s how all the books and trekking companies advertise the Trek Stephen and I are about to embark on. The Snowman Trek, a 360km Trek following the northern border of Bhutan and Tibet. Don’t get me wrong, I’m under no illusion, this is going to be a harder Trek than I’ve ever attempted. The Makalu Advance Base Camp Trek was long and hard, but on this one I think we’ll be turning the volume up to 11!

I’m wondering whether or not to give you any more background info on my trekking partner, Stephen, I think his character and idiosyncrasies will become apparent as the days and blogs filter their way onto the internet.

Firstly I”m going to go back in time to leaving Kathmandu International Airport and to the whistlegate affair. Airport security is very important and I am in no way suggesting that airport security can be overzealous, can you feel a but coming on? But, to suggest that a whistle is in any way a risk to security on a plane does seem a little absurd. I appreciate that someone could use it to create a loud noise as a distraction, but this is a whistle that is designed in an emergency to call for help (blow six times wait one minute then repeat). This is a fairly standard item that must go through Kathmandu Airport every day and most modern rucksacks have them built in, so to be told that mine had to be put in the bin before proceeding, when I have carried this whistle attached to my rucksack through many large international airports without so much as a buy or leave, took me back a little. Stephen implied that he thought that my reaction was slightly over the top, but I did manage to keep my whistle, as the actress said to the bishop!

After spending two days in Paro, finding the best coffee and cake shop, learning from our guide, Dorje, about the beginnings of Buddhism, a fascinating religion, looking around the markets and picking up some last minute supplies, you won’t be surprised to learn that they were sugar based, we are now at the beginning campsite of the trek. The campsite is not unexpectedly, in the back garden of someone’s house, of which we have use of the two front rooms. One is our dining room and the other the kitchen. Much to our surprise, we have been given a tent each, so it looks like there will be no spooning in the middle of the night to keep warm. It is nice to have that bit of privacy, the down side is loss of social contact just before lights out, which, in the hotel, I have to say I enjoyed. We are at 2,850 metres at present, just high enough to be slightly noticeable when exhershion it required. The first days trek is from Sharna Zampa to Thangthangka is a longish day of 22km uphill to 3,610 metres a testing day for the pair of us. Anyway, it begins!

One thing that I have forgotten to mention is that the monsoon, which should have finished two or three weeks ago, hasn’t!!!

I’ve travelled to all seven continents, seen and experienced cultures that have given me rise to question my beliefs, I’ve seen scenery that has left me speechless and have met people that have inspired a sense of self belief I didn’t realise I was capable of, but today on arriving in Bhutan I felt an inner peace that I’ve never come across before. Different from the peace I feel when I’m with Carolynn and my close family. I would almost say spiritual, but those of you that know me would know I don’t mean that in a religious context as that would be very hypocritical of me. I’m not sure whether I can describe it:-

The plane came to a standstill and the engine turbines slowly came to a halt, silence prevailed, not that total silence there was on the Antarctic, a silence punctuated by birds, insects and the odd human engineered noise. We walked onto the apron tarmac, there were no officials herding us along, we were left to appraise our surroundings and then make for what was obviously the arrivals lounge. No rush, no sense of urgency, that compulsion to be the first at Passport control and the baggage carousel had gone. The airport was not surrounded by cranes and the associated building work, but it sat in tune with its surroundings. We passed effortlessly through the airport and our guide, Tshering Dorje, drove us to our hotel. Happiness is an integral part of their Constitution and my first impression is that the Constitution is followed to the letter.

I’m not sure that describes my feelings on entering Bhutan, but hopefully it puts into words a little of what I felt.

Doha airport, one of the worlds international hubs. At 04:00, though it’s a futuristic self contained city devoid of people. It’s clean, slick with sharp lines. It reminds me of The Capitol in The Hunger Games, opulent and false.

As time moves on people appear fleetingly wheeling their trolleys, with their smart phones held out in front of them as if they are but an extension of the phone itself, something the phone has built to carry it from one place to another!

The people are getting more numerous by the minute and the high end shops which seem to dominate, are used as a distraction to waste time, whilst watching the departure board. There are people of all ages, sizes and shapes, but there is one group that is obviously missing, children, there are no children or very few. There are no shouting and irate parents or crying babies, no children running playing games and no children’s laughter. Why?

To observe, is to learn and what have I learned…that people at 5:30am in the middle of a lifeless, sterile airport in a land of heat and desert are pretty miserable!

As you might have gathered I’m not a lover of these large lifeless airports, they don’t have the personality of, say, Barra’s airport in the Outer Hebrides. They are, however a necessity to travel anywhere with any speed. So onward and upwards as I wait to board the flight to Kathmandu and ultimately Paro in Bhutan.

My exceptionally patient wife has just dropped me off at Terminal 5, Heathrow to wait for my flight to Kathmandu and then on to Paro, in Bhutan. I’m here because a good friend asked me to accompany him on The Snowman Trek. A trek he’s dedicating to Brita, his sister who died tragically last year in a Kayaking accident in Kerry.

He’s in the air already and we’ll meet up in Kathmandu late tomorrow afternoon. It’s a long distance Trek, not a good omen for me and it’s said to be one of the hardest Treks in the world with less than a 50% success rate. In fact more people have summited Everest than completed this Trek. 360km over 23 days with 11 passes over 4,000m and 3 passes over 5,000m. It should prove a little challenging, for both Stephen and me, in more ways than one!

Brita, I know, will be there with us, cheering us on, laughing at how inadequate we both are, smiling at our highs and willing us on during our lows. Stephen has set up an iDonate page for Make A Wish Foundation, which Brita was, I believe part of. https://www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/11382222_stephen-mcloughlin-s-page.html

The fun starts in two days time. I will, of course, try to post updates and photographs as we progress. Now for my favourite bit, the battle that is always the world’s airports!