Day 8: Fansipan, part 2 + Bắc Hà
Index
| Day 1 | Departure Oslo |
| Day 2 | To Hanoi |
| Day 3 | Hanoi sightseeing and night train to Lào Cai |
| Day 4 | Sa Pa, Mường Hoa Valley – Sín Chải A |
| Day 5 | Sín Chải A to Nậm Cang |
| Day 6 | Nậm Cang to Sa Pa |
| Day 7 | To Fansipan campsite at 2800m |
| Day 8 | Mt. Fansipan – Bắc Hà |
| Day 9 | Bắc Hà |
| Day 10 | Bắc Hà to Hoàng Su Phì |
| Day 11 | Hà Giang |
| Day 12 | Back to Hanoi |
| Day 13 | Departure Hanoi |
Fansipan ascent
Saturday: We were at the resting camp at 2800m and the goal for the day was to go up Mt. Fansipan and go all the way down to the Tram Ton Ranger Station.
To me, the resting camp didn’t offer much rest. The headache was bad, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to get up at 3 AM and be a part of the group that would be going to Mt. Fansipan one hour later.
Forcing myself to give it a try would add an element of risk that the group didn’t need. And even if I had been that selfish, I would have struggled in just trying to get out of bed. The headache was bordering to incapacitating.
I called on Anne and told her that I wouldn’t be coming along. It wasn’t a long conversation. She understood perfectly well what condition I was in. I told her to get the summit for both of us. Anne-Kristin and Kong stopped by and wished me a speedy recovery, then they all gathered for a noodle soup breakfast in the kitchen. I was told there was a quiet focus in the group.
When I heard the group left at 4am, I felt peace. Not only because the campsite was now quiet and I could get some sleep, but also because I had come to terms with the situation. After all this effort, I would not be standing on top today. There was no point in sobbing. With my history from 3-4000m mountains, this came as no big surprise. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
The group had a ~4,3km, ~500m vertical meter ascent ahead of them. The started out with headlamps and I could hear their voices disappear into the night. I expected them to be back around 10 AM. There was light rain in the air and thick fog when they left.
As I was told later, the mood in the group lifted as soon as they got going. Their headlamps illuminated little more than the ground beneath their feet, but daylight was gradually creeping in. Naturally, there was no time to stop and admire insects or plants. There was hardly any wind, and the light drizzle soon faded away. The rain had left the ground slippery, but with the group moving at a slow and steady pace, this wasn’t much of a concern..
They hiked up to the watershed ridge (approx. 2940m) before descending some 80 vertical meters into a col. From here, they followed what they described as “rolling terrain” for a while, before the route climbed steeply for the final 250 vertical meters to the summit..
At least one person felt a slight headache and several felt the thinner air, but the progress was overall good.
Far down in the valley, they could see the lights from Sa Pa.
Just before 5:30 AM, the group saw the yellow-orange horizon and realized it wouldn’t be long until sunrise. Beautiful and atmospheric! A little bit later, they could put their headlamps into their pockets and just before 6 AM, the sun rose.
15-20 minutes later, they had the summit buildings in clear view.
The day was dawning…
The upper cable car station (approx. 3000m) is the main arrival point for visitors travelling from Sa Pa. The area includes a large station building, restaurants, viewing terraces and walkways. Hikers from the Tram Tron trail (the route our group followed) also enters around this level, although not exactly at the same place.
Everything had gone according to plan…
The number of buildings, statues, platforms and stairways probably took the group by surprise, although most of them had seen pictures on beforehand.
From the cable car, stairways lead up to the Buddist temple Bích Vân Thiền Tự (approx. 3037m).
Here is also the Hong Chung Bell Tower (Đại Hồng Chung) and a small railway that can take passengers further up towards the summit.
One of the most recognizable landmarks on Fansipan is the enormous bronze statue of Amitabha Buddha, approx. 21.5 metres tall. The Buddha statue is part of the larger religious complex and stands below the actual summit.
Higher up is Kim Sơn Bảo Thắng Tự – a sacred Buddhist temple complex at approx. 3091m. There is also an eleven-storey stone pagoda here, the Arhat path – with 18 bronze statues representing Buddhist arhats, The 12-meter-tall bronze status of Avalokiteshvara (Quan Âm), in addition to temple buildings, terraces and stone stairways.
From the upper cable car station, visitors have to climb approximately 600 stone steps through the temple complex to reach the summit, unless they take the small mountain railway.
The final stairways lead to the actual summit area where there are two viewing levels. The upper platform contains the summit markers, while a lower platform features a Vietnamese flagpole.
Fansipan must be one of the most extensively developed national summits in the world. The extraordinary complex of Buddhist temples, pagodas and monumental statues have turned Vietnam’s highest mountain into both a pilgrimage destination and a major tourist attraction.
The entire summit complex is commonly referred to as Sun World Fansipan Legend.
Anne told me about a slightly confusing summit area. While there is only one actual summit, several identical summit markers have been installed around the upper viewing platform, most likely because of the large number of visitors and the subsequent challenges in taking photographs.
She trusted that the true high point was the one situated on a rock within a restricted area. She was able to touch the top of it and could thereby claim the ascent!
I am not sure when the group reached the top, but a photo taken of Anne at the summit point shows the timestamp 06:37 AM. Which means that the ascent from the resting camp took approx. 2,5 hours.
The traditional elevation of Fansipan is 3143 metres, although newer surveys have produced a figure of approximately 3147.3 metres.
The summit area is much more than a collection of temples, statues and stairways. There are beautiful gardens and the various structures were connected by flower-lined paths. One of the more remarkable features was the Arhat Path, an 800-metre walkway lined with bronze Buddhist statues and old rhododendron trees.
Fansipan has two peak visitor seasons – March to May and September to November. If the cable car had been running, there would probably have been many tourists on top. But now that it was closed, the group felt it was a bit surreal to be the only ones up here, in addition to a guard, a janitor and a couple of persons doing cable car repair. Everything from the cafeterias to the upper railway was closed.
To watch the sunrise isn’t the only reason for getting to the top early in the morning. Clouds tend to build up around the mountain as the day progresses, sometimes obscuring the summit completely. Given the conditions at 4am, the group was fortunate to get both the sunrise and gorgeous weather during their stay on top. The view was extensive and they could see deep into China.
Anne later told me that she felt quite sad that she couldn’t be sharing this moment with me. I knew very well what she meant. I also felt sad when I was standing on top of Jebel Toubkal and Anne was in Essaouira with a broken back (due to an accident some weeks prior to the trip)
Next followed a ceremony where medals and certificates were handed out. While this may seem a bit unusual thing to a Norwegian, it is treated as something more significant here. Reaching the summit on foot is apparently considered quite an achievement in Vietnam. Since 2014, there has been a tradition of honouring Fansipan climbers.
Apparently, there was a medal or diploma also for me. Anne brought it, as she felt that I had contributed to the team’s success. Which was a kind gesture, but I was of course not interested in any sort of recognition as I never made it to the top.
Eventually, it was time to return to the rest camp.
The group gathered and begun the descent.
The “rolling terrain” that I mentioned earlier was more visible in daylight. Establishing a trail in this terrain must have been a challenge. In several places, there were staircases with handrails.
As the group approached the rest camp, Anne was curious if I was still there. I told her when they left that if I didn’t get any better within reasonable time, I might want to descend from the camp to a lower elevation. Understandably, I was not permitted to do this, without the company of one in the crew. The guides had tried to call the camp from the top, to check if I still were there, but they weren’t able to connect.
I fell asleep immediately after they left. I woke up two hours later, feeling better although not totally fine. I ate a banana and an apple, then went back to bed.
I woke up again around 9:15 AM, only 10 minutes before the group returned. By then, the headache was gone and I felt just fine.
This aligned well with my acclimatization pattern. I would typically need 14-15 hours from arriving at an elevation between 2800 and 4000 meters, before I can continue. Unfortunately, the hike to Fansipan didn’t offer this window. So, it didn’t come as a surprise, but I just hoped that luck could be on my side for once.
Naturally, the group was energized after the hike, and I was very happy for them. They had all done a fantastic job!
I was especially happy for the those who feared that the 18km hike (one way) would be too hard and that they would not go for the top. Fortunately, we found out in time that the actual distance wasn’t quite that long…
The group then gathered in the kitchen building for a small lunch. My body was still in a state of “uproar”, and I barely tasted the rice roll with pork and vegetables.
Our porters had now a much lighter load to carry.
While our group could be discussing hiking boots versus trekking shoes, our porters stuck to what they knew worked…
Fansipan descent
At 10:05 AM, we left the rest camp.
I looked back on the mountain and truly wondered – would I be back? It wasn’t so that I had to prove anything. I was just 4-5 hours away from making it to the top. But after all this effort – the planning, the money invested, the dreading for the long travel, the week of hiking – it sure would have been nice to be up there…
The descent was easier in every possible way. First of all, it was all downhill. And we knew the route well by now. It was just a matter of taking it easy and avoid accidents.
The ladder section was swiftly passed…
The porters had an amazing pace…
We had a another short break at the place where we stopped for lunch on our way up.
The hike to Fansipan felt like the culmination of the entire trip. But we still had 3 days with trekking left. After 3 days in the Mường Hoa Valley rice fields and 2 days on Mt. Fansipan, what could be next – and still feel like the trip is incomplete without it?
Fansipan was now getting shrouded in mist. For me, it was either a chapter being closed or a new one in the making.
At approx. 2200m, we passed the lower Fansipan camp. Today, cows were present.
They seemed friendly enough and especially after we gave them banana peel (skin)
But I had to check first. Cows can safely eat banana peels, which contain fibre and some useful nutrients. Sometimes used as supplementary cattle feed in tropical countries.
After a short break, we moved on…
A bit later, we were back at the upper creek…
The cooks clearly had surplus energy, because they disappeared into the forest and came back with a bag of mushrooms, for Kong’s family.
Next, we returned to the wooden walkway and the creek where we had stopped the day before.
It was nice to soak our feet into the water…
Now that we had daylight, we could continue to admire the fruits and plants…
Kong told us that black cardamom (thảo quả) is an important source of income for people living in the mountains of northern Vietnam. The plants thrive in the cool forests, and the fruits are used both as a spice in Vietnamese cooking and in traditional medicine. Apparently, the crop is valuable enough that some farmers fence off their plants to protect the harvest. As in this particular case…
The slab rock stone steps reminded us that the ranger station wasn’t too far away…
And with the final creek crossing and the sign about the protected area, we were just minutes away…
When the group arrived at the Ranger station, I was already there to welcome them…
The hike to Mt. Fansipan had come to an end. We were now back at the starting point of the hike.
Refreshments were highly welcome…
Before leaving, we gathered to thank the porters for their tremendous efforts, and Anne-Kristin presented them with an envelope as a token of our appreciation. I do hope they were satisfied. They had truly earned it. My admiration for them could not be higher.
Bắc Hà
The bus would now take us to the village Bắc Hà – approx. 100km to the northeast. Of course, there was already a traffic jam, but it got sorted out before we got the bus on the road…
First, we were to return to Sa Pa, where we swapped buses. We then took CT105 towards Hanoi before taking DT153 northeast towards Bắc Hà. Everyone was tired and hungry, but Kong bought us sandwiches. That was very much appreciated!
More than 4 hours after leaving the Ranger station, we arrived at the Sao Mai Bac Ha Hotel in the middle of Bắc Hà.
Now that we were in a hotel again, Anne and I got a room to ourselves. The room didn’t have a window, but the air condition was adequate.
After checking in, we went out for dinner.
Kong had found us a nice restaurant and the food was good. The vibe in the group was still good, but I guess everyone was tired and just were looking forward to call it a day.
I had absolutely no idea what the next 3 days would bring. Reading the official program didn’t really tell us if we would be experiencing something new or if it would just be a carbon copy of our first 3 days…
All pictures taken by Anne Rudsengen and Arnt Flatmo, unless otherwise credited…
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