It is being billed as the ultimate trek, a thigh-busting 157-day walk over the spine of Nepal's mighty Himalayan range that will take its participants to some of the most remote spots on the planet. From next year, adventurers seeking to push themselves to their limits will be able to take part in the first guided walk along the Nepal section of the Great Himalayan Trail （GHT）. The 1,700-km trek, which kicks off in February 2011, is being run by World Expeditions, a global adventure travel company that has been taking trekkers to Nepal for more than three decades.
這已被標榜為終極登山健行路線：花157天縱走尼泊爾巍峨壯闊的喜馬拉雅山脊，帶領健行者到地球上最偏遠的地區，直到大腿累斃。從明年開始，挑戰極限的冒險家，將可參加史上頭一次跋涉尼泊爾段的大喜馬拉雅山徑。全長1700公里的長途跋涉，將於2011年2月正式展開，現正由全球性的「世界探險」旅行社主辦籌備，該公司30多年來一直帶山友到尼泊爾登山健行。
But the trailblazer is British trekker Robin Boustead, who has spent much of the last decade trying to put together a viable walking route across the top of the world. Last year Boustead finally completed the arduous walk along the length of Nepal's Himalayas, fulfilling a long-held ambition to forge a viable route through the mountains. “Asia is the only continent that does not have a long-distance walking trail and so it seemed an obvious choice -- everyone on the planet has heard of the Himalayas,” said Boustead.
但開路先鋒是英國登山健行家博斯泰德。過去10年，他投入很多時間，試圖拼湊出可以橫跨世界屋脊的登山健行路線。去年，博斯泰德終於沿喜馬拉雅山脈尼泊爾段完成漫長艱鉅的跋涉，實現長期以來建立一條穿山越嶺可行路線的強烈企圖心。「亞洲是唯一一片沒有一條長途健行步道的大陸，因此這似乎是個再明顯不過的選擇，地球上沒有人沒聽過喜馬拉雅山。」博斯泰德說。
“I first came across the idea in 1993. But it was not until Nepal demilitarized its border with China in 2002 that it became viable.” Boustead explained that in 2002, the Nepali government resolved all its border disputes with its northern neighbor China. This demilitarized seven border areas and for the first time in over fifty years, tourists were allowed to safely explore these areas.
「我早在1993年就有這個構想，但直到尼泊爾和中國邊境於2002年非軍事化後才變得切實可行。」博斯泰德解釋，2002年尼泊爾和中國解決所有邊界爭端，撤除邊境7個地區的武裝，50年來遊客首次可以安全地在這些山區探險。
Boustead lost 20 percent of his body weight over the course of his marathon walk, which took him from Kanchenjunga on Nepal's eastern border with Tibet to the impoverished western region of Humla. En route, he encountered the huge variety of cultures to which Nepal is home, from the mainly Buddhist Tamang people of the ce ntral Langtang region to the far west, where ancient animist practices mix with Hinduism.
在馬拉松式的長途健行過程中，博斯泰德體重掉了20%，他當時從尼泊爾東部邊境毗鄰西藏的干城章嘉峰，走到西部貧困的胡姆拉地區。途中他遇到極為不同的各種本土文化，從以信奉佛教的大蒙族居多的藍塘地區中部，到遙遠的西部，那裡古老的萬物有靈論和印度教合而為一。
Boustead walked only on trails that were already in use, from ancient trade routes to paths used for centuries by farmers transporting livestock, relying on local guides to show him the way. Over the next couple of years, he will be trekking through the Eastern and Western Himalaya to complete a trans-Himalayan trail over 4,500km that will take between 12-14 months to trek continuously.
博斯泰德只走前人走過的步道，靠當地嚮導帶路，從古代商旅路線，到農民數百年來用來運送牲畜的路徑，不一而足。未來數年，他將再徒步走過喜馬拉雅山脈東西兩段，以完成跨喜馬拉雅健行路線，全程將超過4500公里，必須花12到14個月連續不斷跋涉才能完成。
Boustead says, “I hope that the Great Himalaya Trail（GHT） will inspire other trekkers to embark upon their own GHT trails, helping develop micro-tourism projects in communities too remote for major infrastructure development. Creating value in regions that previously had little to offer could also precede the establishment of a trans-boundary corridor for animal migration, helping to save many endangered species. The snow-covered crown of Asia may then become one of its greatest assets.”
博斯泰德說：「我希望大喜馬拉雅山徑將激勵其他健行登山客，走出自己的路，在太偏遠無法進行重大基礎建設的社區，幫助開發出小型旅遊路線。在建立一個供動物遷徙的跨邊界走廊，以幫助拯救無數瀕危物種之前，可以先在過去幾乎百物匱乏的地區創造價值。峰頂皚皚白雪覆蓋的亞洲，這時可能變成它最重要的資產之一。」
Boustead will lead part of the World Expeditions trail, which costs 31,000 dollars and will take 157 days to complete, although it can also be broken down into seven smaller stages. “So far one person has signed up to do the whole thing and a handful of others for individual sections,” said Brad Atwal, manager in Britain for World Expeditions. “Our clients tend to be professionals aged 40 and over who have the money and time to do this kind of thing. And they will have to be fairly experienced, it's definitely not a first-time trek.” Some of the sections will require mountaineering ability because of altitudes of more than 6 km and the need for ice axes and crampons. Top mountaineers including Stephen Venables, the first Briton to climb Mount Everest without supplementary oxygen, have been recruited to lead the more difficult sections of the trail.
博斯泰德將親自帶領世界探險之旅部分路段，這項計畫費用3.1萬美元，要157天才能完成，但也可以分解成7個較小的路段。「到目前為止只有一個人登記要走完全程，其他少數人走幾個各別路段。」世界探險在英國的經理艾瓦爾說。「我們的客戶大半是年過40的專業人士，他們有錢有閒冒險，但也要有相當的登山經驗，第一次就想進行這類長途跋涉，絕對不行。」其中某些路段需要有登山能力，因為海拔超過6000公尺，還要用冰鎬和冰爪。首屈一指的登山客，像維納布爾斯這位第一個在沒有補充氧氣下登上珠穆朗瑪峰的英國人，也被延攬來當較高難度路段嚮導。
Launching the trail commercially is a major logistical undertaking -- many of the areas it passes through are untouched by tourism. But Boustead believes that trekkers who head straight for the well-publicized Everest and Annapurna regions are missing out and he hopes the trail will spread the benefits of tourism across a much broader area of Nepal. “People come to Nepal because of the mountains. The hope is that they will come back because of the people,” he said. “But if you only go to the very touristy areas like Everest and Annapurna, you don't get the close personal contact that you would outside of those places.”
展開商業健行是項沉重的後勤作業，因為它經過的很多路段未受觀光汙染。但博斯泰德認為，那些選擇已經廣泛宣傳的珠峰和安納普納路線的登山客，無疑錯過了黃金路線，他希望這條路線會把旅遊利益散布到尼泊爾更廣泛的地區。「山友因為樂山而到尼泊爾，希望他們會因為人親土親再回流。」他說：「但如果你只是去觀光聖地，像珠峰和安娜普納環山線，就無法和那些地區以外的人進行密切的個人接觸。」
Ultimately, Boustead hopes it will be possible to walk the entire length of the Himalayas, from China in the east to Afghanistan in the west. He is researching routes through Bhutan and the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, and next year hopes to travel to Pakistan and Afghanistan. In this handout picture released by Boustead on April 15, 2010, a foreign trekker walks across a dilapidated rope bridge in western Nepal.
最後，博斯泰德希望，如果可能，將走完整個喜馬拉雅山脈，東起中國，西至阿富汗。他正在研究路線，穿過不丹和印度阿魯納恰爾省，希望明年可以前往巴基斯坦和阿富汗。在這張博斯泰德今年4月15日發布的照片中，一名外國登山客正走在尼泊爾西部搖搖欲墜的繩橋上。（法新社）