Over Spring Break, 20 Hamilton students trekked to the base camp of Annapurna, nestled in the Himalayan mountains of Nepal. The trip is an optional component of Publius Virgilius Rogers Professor of American History Maurice Isserman’s History of Himalayan Mountaineering. For the first time, every student in the class chose to take the trip. The trip gave students the opportunity to learn about the development of the tools they would use themselves on the real mountains. The trip has been running since 2017, though it was put on hold during the pandemic. Even this semester, COVID-19-related concerns threatened to cancel the trip last minute, but these were resolved just two days before departure.
On Saturday, March 15, students traveled from New York to Kathmandu. Students were immediately greeted by four Himalayan Icefall Trekking Company guides, Chandra, Ajit, Narendra, and Dawa, who would lead them for the rest of the trip. The next morning, they flew to Pokhara and after a two-hour Jeep ride, they began their trek from Kimche. Each day, the trekkers would walk for about six or seven hours, often climbing and descending foothill mountains by stairs, towards a new village. Their first stop was Ghandruk, followed by Dovan and Chhomrong. At the Excellent View Top Lodge in Chhomrong, the trekkers were greeted with a stunning view of both the Annapurna South and Fishtail peaks.
Tommy Keith ’22, a participant of the trip, described the daily workload: “We hiked about 8–12 miles each day, but none of the signs were measured in distance. Everything was measured either in time or in elevation change.” “It was hell,” Joseph Han ’22 remarked, “but the views made every step worth it.” Typically, days would begin at 6:00 a.m. and the group would start hiking, stopping every two hours for tea, Snickers bars or lunch. Meals were usually Dal Bhat, a lentil soup and rice, served with potatoes and bread. Afterwards, the group would arrive at a new village, settle in, and play bananagrams, journal, and relax before bed.
The group would trek on this schedule, climbing bit by bit, until they reached the Annapurna Base Camp. “It was spectacular to see the mountain we’ve been looking at in our textbook towering above us,” Catherine McFarland ’22 said. “We were able to appreciate not only the beauty of the mountains, but all the stories behind them as well.” Professor Isserman also appreciated how his course was applied in the real world: “The great thing about combining the trek with the course is that, as students tell me every year we are able to go, suddenly all those narratives we read, and photos and films we look at, become real, not just abstractions. As in, ‘oh my goodness, Annapurna really is big!’ And, maybe less welcome, but still enlightening, [as in] ‘so this is what altitude sickness feels like!’ Experiential education is one of Hamilton’s strengths, and this is as experiential as it gets.”
The final elevation the group reached was 4,130 meters above sea level. From the base camp, the group would begin their descent, stopping in new towns along the way. When they returned to Pokhara, they spent a night exploring the city, then two in the capital city, Kathmandu. Finally, they boarded the plane, and began their 25 hour journey home.
At the end of our conversation, Keith said of his journey: “It didn’t change my life, but it reminded me of what’s important. I felt like I grew a lot as a person, and about what I’m capable of.”
