Like I said, I was in Pokhara for a reason....TREKKING. Not just any trek, but Annapurna Base Camp!
What is Annapurna you ask? It's only the 10th tallest mountain in the WORLD! And the DEADLIEST....but don't worry mah and pah, no plans to climb this beast anytime soon.
World's Deadliest Mountains
#1. ANNAPURNA, Central Nepal (26,545 ft.)
What is Annapurna you ask? It's only the 10th tallest mountain in the WORLD! And the DEADLIEST....but don't worry mah and pah, no plans to climb this beast anytime soon.
World's Deadliest Mountains
#1. ANNAPURNA, Central Nepal (26,545 ft.)
"On this mountain, the 10th highest in the world, about 130 climbers have summited the avalanche-prone peak, but 53 have died trying — making Annapurna’s fatality rate of 41% the highest in the world."
The Journey
We started out early Sunday morning and quickly realized that Jeeps weren't going to our starting point. Instead we took a local bus and tacked on an extra hour and a few hundred meters of elevation gain to our already long planned day.
The weather in Pokhara had been great, clear skies and perfect views, but we quickly learned about the cyclone in India and rain was expected....apparently it rained every single day. We were alright once we bought our "plastic" and got out the umbrellas, made for some cool weather, beautifully clouded valleys, and precious moments when the skies cleared.
Our first two days were rushed since we tried to cover as much ground as possible, personally I wanted to get to higher elevations and start acclimatizing. However, boy was I wrong....I thought we were climbing up the mountain, not up and down and up and down and up and down. Every time we gained a few thousand meters of elevation, we'd just find ourselves going down into another valley to cross another river...at the bottom! Nepal is STEEP!
We passed by village after village with lodges and restaurants for trekkers and porters, some beautiful waterfalls, over questionable log and stone bridges but at least sturdier suspension bridges, and even a quick dip in the hot springs. Tea breaks are part of the culture, and were very welcome. Black tea, milk tea, and after a tough climb a lemon tea worked wonders. Our stops were JhinuDanda, and next in Himalaya, pretty far for most trekkers, but we were only two people, and wanted more time to acclimatize.
The next two days were only an hour and a half of trekking to Machhapuchere Base Camp (MBC)....with NOTHING to do and nothing to see because it rained and was foggy the rest of the day, and an hour up to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC). Very easy and chill days. Nothing to do except wait for the weather to clear, read, wait for other trekkers to catch up and chat with, take a nap, keep warm, eat much more expensive food, take more naps...
Yes, it was cold at the top...but not as cold as I expected. I mean I carried a full backpack with thermal pants, thermal shirts, flannel shirts, a heavy sweatshirt, a down jacket, another jacket, gloves, hat, scarf, and layers of wool socks, I was expecting the Alpine Zone full of snow. Next time I'm just spending it in my sleeping bag and wont carry all that crap up the mountain. I'll carry extra food instead. Food gets much more expensive at the top. Tea in Pokhara, 30 US cents...tea at ABC $1. Or, a hard boiled egg at ABC $2.75, crazy!
Whatever, it was all worth it. After sitting around and waiting...acclimatizing, the next morning we woke up extra early and DAMN! BEAUTIFUL! This is what we came trekking for, this made all the ups and downs and through the rain worth while! (*tear*)
I don't think any description or any of my pictures can give justice to the sunrise we saw there. It was incredibly amazing and one of the more spectacular moments of my life.
As it turned out, Altitude Sickness was a real concern. Just as we started heading down we saw a helicopter come and pick someone up. Glad I moved away from the cliff ledge because the helicopter was pretty close and there was quite a strong downwash. Along with that, the night before in MBC there was commotion early in the morning. Apparently a porter had to carry a trekker down from ABC because they had altitude sickness. They drank some water and off they went, porter carrying them down the mountain on his back at 1:30am. Hope they were alright, and glad we took time to acclimatize.
Now, we still had to get down the mountain. We took another two long days of trekking (8 hrs each) and again many ups and downs. I thought we were going down the mountain, especially since my Nepali friend kept telling me, "Oh, it'll be easy from here on...no more uphill."...and yet we still climbed from 1600m back up to over 3200m. I'm pretty sure that "easy" section was actually the hardest part of the whole trip. The weather seemed to be getting better, but still...it rained. But gorgeous views and even some monkeys! We ended up at Ghorepani and made the famous Poon Hill trek. It's another early morning trek for a sunrise with a beautiful skyline view of the Himalayan Mountains, including Dhalagiri (tallest in the region) and Annapurna, as well as the worlds deepest valley. I mean when you're surrounded by 8000 meter peaks, it's hard not to be. Unfortunately with the weather we didn't have those skyline views, but we were content. It was a great trip!
The Journey
We started out early Sunday morning and quickly realized that Jeeps weren't going to our starting point. Instead we took a local bus and tacked on an extra hour and a few hundred meters of elevation gain to our already long planned day.
The weather in Pokhara had been great, clear skies and perfect views, but we quickly learned about the cyclone in India and rain was expected....apparently it rained every single day. We were alright once we bought our "plastic" and got out the umbrellas, made for some cool weather, beautifully clouded valleys, and precious moments when the skies cleared.
Our first two days were rushed since we tried to cover as much ground as possible, personally I wanted to get to higher elevations and start acclimatizing. However, boy was I wrong....I thought we were climbing up the mountain, not up and down and up and down and up and down. Every time we gained a few thousand meters of elevation, we'd just find ourselves going down into another valley to cross another river...at the bottom! Nepal is STEEP!
We passed by village after village with lodges and restaurants for trekkers and porters, some beautiful waterfalls, over questionable log and stone bridges but at least sturdier suspension bridges, and even a quick dip in the hot springs. Tea breaks are part of the culture, and were very welcome. Black tea, milk tea, and after a tough climb a lemon tea worked wonders. Our stops were JhinuDanda, and next in Himalaya, pretty far for most trekkers, but we were only two people, and wanted more time to acclimatize.
The next two days were only an hour and a half of trekking to Machhapuchere Base Camp (MBC)....with NOTHING to do and nothing to see because it rained and was foggy the rest of the day, and an hour up to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC). Very easy and chill days. Nothing to do except wait for the weather to clear, read, wait for other trekkers to catch up and chat with, take a nap, keep warm, eat much more expensive food, take more naps...
Yes, it was cold at the top...but not as cold as I expected. I mean I carried a full backpack with thermal pants, thermal shirts, flannel shirts, a heavy sweatshirt, a down jacket, another jacket, gloves, hat, scarf, and layers of wool socks, I was expecting the Alpine Zone full of snow. Next time I'm just spending it in my sleeping bag and wont carry all that crap up the mountain. I'll carry extra food instead. Food gets much more expensive at the top. Tea in Pokhara, 30 US cents...tea at ABC $1. Or, a hard boiled egg at ABC $2.75, crazy!
Whatever, it was all worth it. After sitting around and waiting...acclimatizing, the next morning we woke up extra early and DAMN! BEAUTIFUL! This is what we came trekking for, this made all the ups and downs and through the rain worth while! (*tear*)
I don't think any description or any of my pictures can give justice to the sunrise we saw there. It was incredibly amazing and one of the more spectacular moments of my life.
As it turned out, Altitude Sickness was a real concern. Just as we started heading down we saw a helicopter come and pick someone up. Glad I moved away from the cliff ledge because the helicopter was pretty close and there was quite a strong downwash. Along with that, the night before in MBC there was commotion early in the morning. Apparently a porter had to carry a trekker down from ABC because they had altitude sickness. They drank some water and off they went, porter carrying them down the mountain on his back at 1:30am. Hope they were alright, and glad we took time to acclimatize.
Now, we still had to get down the mountain. We took another two long days of trekking (8 hrs each) and again many ups and downs. I thought we were going down the mountain, especially since my Nepali friend kept telling me, "Oh, it'll be easy from here on...no more uphill."...and yet we still climbed from 1600m back up to over 3200m. I'm pretty sure that "easy" section was actually the hardest part of the whole trip. The weather seemed to be getting better, but still...it rained. But gorgeous views and even some monkeys! We ended up at Ghorepani and made the famous Poon Hill trek. It's another early morning trek for a sunrise with a beautiful skyline view of the Himalayan Mountains, including Dhalagiri (tallest in the region) and Annapurna, as well as the worlds deepest valley. I mean when you're surrounded by 8000 meter peaks, it's hard not to be. Unfortunately with the weather we didn't have those skyline views, but we were content. It was a great trip!
