Reporting on a telecoms mast in the village of Chhomrong. Lying at an altitude of 2170m this is the highest permanently inhabited village in Annapurna region of Nepal. Fair to say that the tourbus will never get here – it’s a two day walk from the nearest road to this village. From Chhomrong it’s at least another 2 day walk to reach Annapurna base camp – Annapurna being the worlds 10th highest mountain at 8091m.
HISTORY
Err not much, it’s a telecoms mast that’s all, probably about 40-45m tall. Despite being a live mast with UHF and VHF antennae, seems to be used by all the kids in the village as a playground. Not built to European standards and seemed very flimsy all the time I was on the mast.
REPORT
Well I had a lazy day in Nepal and spent that afternoon volunteering and teaching English at the local school. I had the last lesson of the day so when the bell rang I asked the kids what they did after school. I was hoping for an answer along the lines of “we do homework” or “we read”, instead they told me that they climb the mast. Sure enough, I was dragged along. All the kids in the village were climbing this mast. In the hour I was at the mast must had seen about 50 children climb it, some just 5 or 6 years old.
Firstly I had to assemble the team together
Kids were already climbing before I got there
My turn
There was one rest platform halfway up, but a kid was on it and I had to climb through
At the top and if I not looking too happy here it’s because…. 1) I was well aware that my nuts were being fried all the time that I was up here being radiated 2) There were lots of kids around doing James Kingston stunts which was spooking me 3) as the only adult present I was worried that in the event of an accident I would be doing a lot of awkward explaining to the Nepalese police and finally 4) this flimsy mast wasn’t quite built to British standards and at the top it felt as if a gnat’s fart would had blown it over.
Looking down at the village
This valley leads to some of the world’s highest mountains, unfortunately being late afternoon it was clouded over and the views poor. I was to trek up that valley in the coming days.
Many other kids climbed up to join me. They were fearless and told me that they went up most days. It was weird as if the James Kingston gene was present throughout the local population - did he come here a few years back and impregnate all the women?
Back on terra firma I gathered together the official 28 Days Later Nepal Branch. I told them that if they find any cold war era bunkers in the area to be sure to put a report up on 28 Days Later - but I don’t think they understood what I was talking about.
I was told that I was the first tourist ever to climb that mast which either makes me a hero or an idiot.
Finally, the next morning the clouds briefly lifted and I was able to photograph that valley I referred to earlier. Here we see the impressive peak of Machapuchare (6993m). It’s a peak that has never been summited and with it’s steep pointed profile resembling the Swiss Matterhorn I’m not surprised, although a British team in the 1950s did get to within 150m of the summit. Further up that valley, but still in the clouds in the photo, are 8000m mountains.
Thanks for reading
HISTORY
Err not much, it’s a telecoms mast that’s all, probably about 40-45m tall. Despite being a live mast with UHF and VHF antennae, seems to be used by all the kids in the village as a playground. Not built to European standards and seemed very flimsy all the time I was on the mast.
REPORT
Well I had a lazy day in Nepal and spent that afternoon volunteering and teaching English at the local school. I had the last lesson of the day so when the bell rang I asked the kids what they did after school. I was hoping for an answer along the lines of “we do homework” or “we read”, instead they told me that they climb the mast. Sure enough, I was dragged along. All the kids in the village were climbing this mast. In the hour I was at the mast must had seen about 50 children climb it, some just 5 or 6 years old.
Firstly I had to assemble the team together
Kids were already climbing before I got there
My turn
There was one rest platform halfway up, but a kid was on it and I had to climb through
At the top and if I not looking too happy here it’s because…. 1) I was well aware that my nuts were being fried all the time that I was up here being radiated 2) There were lots of kids around doing James Kingston stunts which was spooking me 3) as the only adult present I was worried that in the event of an accident I would be doing a lot of awkward explaining to the Nepalese police and finally 4) this flimsy mast wasn’t quite built to British standards and at the top it felt as if a gnat’s fart would had blown it over.
Looking down at the village
This valley leads to some of the world’s highest mountains, unfortunately being late afternoon it was clouded over and the views poor. I was to trek up that valley in the coming days.
Many other kids climbed up to join me. They were fearless and told me that they went up most days. It was weird as if the James Kingston gene was present throughout the local population - did he come here a few years back and impregnate all the women?
Back on terra firma I gathered together the official 28 Days Later Nepal Branch. I told them that if they find any cold war era bunkers in the area to be sure to put a report up on 28 Days Later - but I don’t think they understood what I was talking about.
I was told that I was the first tourist ever to climb that mast which either makes me a hero or an idiot.
Finally, the next morning the clouds briefly lifted and I was able to photograph that valley I referred to earlier. Here we see the impressive peak of Machapuchare (6993m). It’s a peak that has never been summited and with it’s steep pointed profile resembling the Swiss Matterhorn I’m not surprised, although a British team in the 1950s did get to within 150m of the summit. Further up that valley, but still in the clouds in the photo, are 8000m mountains.
Thanks for reading
