The Maniac Trekker

[Lars]

A couple of weeks ago, between Ghorepani and Tadapani, we met a single
female trekker just as she came off a bridge at around 1130. She was
carrying two backpacks. I asked her where she had come from that
day. "Chomrong", she told me, and added "but I go like a maniac". When
she heard that it had taken us 3,5 hours from Ghorepani she said she
expected to do it in abt 2 hrs.

As we walked in to Tadapani, abt 2 hrs later, a Nepali man approached us and
asked if we had seen an American woman looking exactly like her. He then told
me that he was her guide, and that they also had two porters. She had become
fed up with the slowness of the porters and had taken to carry all her own gear,
and now obviously outwalked her crew altogether.

So now this poor guide was out trekking with only the two porters, and he
said there was no way they would be able to make it to Ghorepani that day.
He also did not know where she intended to continue on to after Ghorepani.
He did not know wether to go up or down.

I could not wondering if this "Maniac Trekker" is part of this forum?

Lars
Benares

[thesilvertops]

There is always someone like this on the trails. A chap we met last year had 8 days in Nepal which included Kathmandu and EBC trek - he came up to Gorak Shep in 3 days. He was then off to Thailand for like 4 days!!! One has to ask "what do they see?" "What do they experience?" We trek quite slowly because we want to look around, I want to take photos and we both stop and talk to people. We stop and drink tea and so on. When we get to viewpoints, i.e. Kala Pattar, we spend at least an hour or more there soaking up the view (weather permitting). At the end of the trek we have had a good experience, we've seen a lot and we've spoken to a lot of people. Isn't that what it's all about?

[Suginami]

That's checklist travelling.

The Japanese are totally into this. They want a packed schedule for their miniscule holidays and none of this whimpishness about extra days at Namche. Common sense is not part of it. So guides and porters with J's have to be careful as their clients end up dead.

by Alexander Boukreev walked back from EBC to Lukla in one day, flew to KTH to get his tooth fixed flew back and walked back in one day. (something like that, read his book).

In fact the J's when they trek spend much more time talking than looking around. Two minutes to take a picture of Mum and Dad in front of Ama Dablam and then race off.

When I go birding I often turn round and go back to the same town as I run out of time to get to the next one or make to the next place an hour away if the birds are up and frisky. I think my guide gets bored.

[Lars]

We trek quite slowly because we want to look around, I want to take photos and we both stop and talk to people. We stop and drink tea and so on. When we get to viewpoints, i.e. Kala Pattar, we spend at least an hour or more there soaking up the view (weather permitting). At the end of the trek we have had a good experience, we've seen a lot and we've spoken to a lot of people. Isn't that what it's all about?
Agreed, I have never come back down from a trek and wished that I had
done it faster. I always wish I had stayed longer, taken more breakes, cut
days shorter.

We also met another woman, past 60, who had a 60 day permit and intended
to use all of those days for the AC. She had a guide/porter and they only
walked to the next village each day. Some days were less than an hour for
her. She seemd happy, and the porter had no complaints. Both of them had
the kind of silly smiles that people tend to wear when they have just smoked
a spliff after breakfast.

Maybe it was her first trek, or maybe the last. Whichever she was not in a
hurry to be back there in Pokhara and wonder "Why am I here already when
it was so much nicer in the mountains?"

Did you hear of the Japanese tour group who bribed the guide at the Louvre
to do the Grand Tour in half the allotted time?

Lars
Bodghaya

[thesilvertops]

We are off on the Annapurna circuit Jan 23rd starting from Begnas Tal and going in to ABC afterwards and then out to Phedi. We have allowed 40 to 42 maybe 45 days. This is so we can take our time, do any side-trips we fancy, and hunker down for a few days if the weather closes in. We don't want to feel rushed and we want to have a trip with lots of memories. That's what I feel it's all about.

[Per]

I could not wondering if this "Maniac Trekker" is part of this forum?


Doubt that she would be the type that hangs out on internet forums. If she did she would probably already have told us all about how fast she did it. People who hike like that tend to miss most of what is worth seeing on the trail.

[RRainey]

I get what you guys are saying and I don't like the 21 cities in 20 days type trip either. BUT I do like to have the feeling of pushing it and as I am in good shape, I can't enjoy just creeping along. Obviously its not a race and you need to be rational. I don't mind stopping and taking photos. Socializing etc.

I havn't been to Nepal yet but I have been to Kilmanjaro and Mt Kenya.To me the irrational ones on Kilmanjaro were not folks who went fast when there body said it worked for them ( I was able to summit from 15K camp and do the whole 2 day exit in one day) but the ones who insisted on going for the summit despite having obvious signs of AMS. If your guide has to hold you up and you appear drunk and about to fall down, maybe turn around?

The other folks who blew me away were the hikers who did not carry their own warm clothes.Shorts and a t shirt in a snowstorm? Several ended up ended up turning around and ending their hike.