Annapurna Trek

So having finished the Everest trek we returned to Kathmandu for some relaxation time – 4 minutes 32 seconds later Shona was already planning the next punishment, sorry trek! The plan was to head across to Pokhara then to the start of the Annapurna circuit trek, which is regarded as one of, if not the, best trek in the world. 17ish days and 210 odd kilometers long it meanders its way around the Annapurna mountain range starting at 820m above sea level and at around the halfway point going over the Thorang La pass at 5,416m! Whereas the Everest trek generally was always high altitude terrain this trek starts in the sub-tropical foothills and climbs it’s way through paddy fields and farm land, then through pine and rhododendron forests and up to alpine scrubs before hitting the high pass. You then negotiate your way down over the ice and snow before coming to the barren desert-like valley’s of Mustang, the furthest region north you can go in Nepal without getting in trouble (or shot by the Chinese) for venturing too near Tibet. Making your way down the next valley you enter Apple orchard country (lots of nice cider and apple brandy) and more farm land whilst following the Kali Gandaki river until entering back into the sub-tropics. Just as you get use to and in fact enjoy walking downhill the route suddenly throws you back uphill (around 2000m in one day!!) to Poon Hill and the best sunrise you are likely to see – as it rises from the east the plains and hills of India to the south light up with an orange glow whilst the sky above gets painted red, all the time with stunning views out across the Annapurna mountains. If you happen to find yourself at Poon Hill (one day from the end of the circuit) 2 or 3 days ahead of schedule and think instead of returning back to Pokhara to chill out it sounds a good idea to add on another 7 days walking to your trek – then you can head into what is called the Sanctuary….so having walked round the whole mountain range you can now walk up the valley and get to Annapurna Base Camp, ABC as it’s known, although it is in no way as easy as 123 – more like a quadratic equation! Along with 7 days this also adds yet more ups and downs (1800m to 4100m), the chance of an avalanche wiping you out (thankfully it didn’t!), another glorious sunrise stood in a bowl of mountains as they surround you, trekking through some Gurkha villages (no sign of honorary Gurkha Joanna Lumley though!) and yet more stunning scenery!
As stunning as Everest was this is different, good different, still being surrounded or near huge mountains but a totally different feel – more varied, more natural, authentic villages which range from farming communities to medival mud houses, and a changing landscape each day! It is easy to see why this trek is so highly regarded, even if it is currently being threatened by the building of a road to connect some of these remote villages together, but even with that, it is truely truely stunning, a totally amazing trek through the most beautiful of countries and mountain ranges! We ended up trekking for 19 days and covered somewhere in the region of 340km, so I should be feeling as fit as a butchers dog but instead I just feel knackered!! Was pretty damn cool though.
A few small facts learnt from this trek:
– The beer is better than on Everest (probably because you can get bigger bottles) plus you can get cider in a few places
– The world is a small place: we randomly bumped into Si & Ed our Mongolian travel buddies halfway round the circuit!
– Shona falls over, alot! She commando rolled her way down a forest path in great slow motion style one day, banging the same knee she hurt when falling over on Everest!
– There is nowt as queer as folk as they say! Met some very nice people but also our share of odd ones too (although they probably thought the same of us!)
– A bucket of hot coals placed under your dinner table at night keeps you nice and toasty whilst eating dinner.
– It takes more than 30 minutes to trim your beard with nail scissors
– You haven’t seen a sunrise until you’ve seen the sun rise from Poon Hill
– Just to put all these heights into context – Ben Nevis is just over 1300m tall & Mont Blanc is around 4800m
Day 1:
Bus from Pokhara to Besisahar, walk to Ngadi
Time walking: 3.5 hours
Altitude: 820m to 890m
Having jumped on a 6 o’clock bus (that didn’t leave til 7!) and after a 5 hour bus journey walking was never going to be too much fun, but we managed a few hours. The start was in a busy little town but within 20 minutes it was all farmland and views up the valley.
Day 2:
Ngadi to Jargot
Time walking: 5.45 hours
Altitude: 890m to 1330m
Walking in the sub-tropical heat is hard work, feel like I’ve lost about a stone in sweat alone already! Stunning walk though and so different to Everest, well so far at least! Paddy fields and terraces cut high up the mountain sides.
Day 3:
Jargot to Dharapani
Time walking: 5.5 hours
Altitude: 1330m to 1900m
Climbing higher but the heat hasn’t let up any! Spent the night a cool little teahouse where we were the only guests, had a nice bucket of hot coals at our feet over dinner to keep us warm.
Day 4:
Dharapani to Chame
Time walking: 4.5 hours
Altitude: 1900m to 2710m
The mountains seem to be getting a lot nearer today and we walked past the maddest rock face I’ve ever seen, it was about 500m tall and wide but completely smooth and looked like great fun to slide down! Come up out of the farm land and into some Alpine-esque terrain.
Day 5:
Chame to Ghyaru
Time walking: 5.5 hours
Altitude: 2710m to 3670m
Nice easy walk to the old medival looking town of upper Pisang but for some crazy reason after lunch we thought it wise to push on and climb an extra (and pretty unnecessary!) 400m to a small village to spend the night! The views from the village made it worth while though – plus we stayed in what looked like and old converted barn complete with rats running around all night.
Day 6:
Ghyaru to Manang
Time walking: 3.5 hours
Altitude: 3670m to 3540m
Today was a stunning walk through what almost looked Grand Canyon like scenery with views of Annapurna II and IV the whole way down the valley (I don’t know if it was sheer laziness or a stroke of genius that decided calling all the peaks in the region by numbers instead of different names would be better!). Arrived in Manang and managed to get a room at the teahouse with the best bakery in town.
Day 7:
Manang to Ice lake to Manang
Time walking: 5 hours
Altitude: 3540m to 4620m to 3540m
One of those rest days that I enjoyed so much on Everest! Trekked for 3 long and hard hours up to a some what disappointing ice lake although the views over the range where pretty amazing! Then on our way down after having some lunch in a small village on route we bumped into Si and Ed, the couple we were in Mongolia with, making their way to Manang also! Small world! So caught up over a beer when we all back to town.
Day 8:
Manang to Thorang Phedi
Time walking: 6 hours
Altitude: 3540m to 4540m
Another longish day, covering 2 days walking in 1, but thankfully it got us ahead of a couple of big groups that had left Manang today – we didn’t want to be fighting over beds in teahouses as there are only limited numbers in the few villages leading up to the pass!
Day 9:
Thorang Phedi over Thorang La Pass to Muktinath
Time walking: 6 hours
Altitude: 4540m to 5416m to 3800m
Wow, what a day! Stunning pass and totally different to the ones we did on Everest – once you’d climbed the steep section this was just like ambling up a big hill to the top, but once you were there the views down the valley the other side were cool….and it wasn’t too long before we were making our way down it as well, all 1600m’s of it! Painful knees by the end but we managed not to fall over too much in the snow and ice at the top!
Day 10:
Muktinath to Marpha
Time walking: 5.5 hours
Altitude: 3800m to 2680m
This side of the valley is so different, very desert or Tibetan plain like with little old villages perched on hilltops scattered everywhere. Also visited the village of Kagbeni, which is the furthest village north you can go in this area before going into Inner Mustang, an area that borders Tibet and is meant to be very beautiful and very untouched! But also very expensive as you need special permits to visit! Marpha is a beautiful old village slap bang in apple growing country so this meant the chance to try the local cider and boy it was strong!
Day 10:
Marpha to Kalopani
Time walking: 4 hours
Altitude: 2680m to 2530m
The weather has finally changed on us! It was rainy and cloudy for most of the day today! Plus we have also joined the road section now, which is threatening to ruin the trek but to be honest, by road they mean a dirt track cut into the mountain with more pot holes, rocks and landslides to get round that it is never going to be busy! We saw about 6 vehicles all day – all of which were buses or jeeps taking trekkers who didn’t want to walk the road section or had had enough of walking back down!
Day 11:
Kalopani to Tatopani
Time walking: 5 hours
Altitude: 2530m to 1200m
Yet more rain and a few more buses but we will carry on walking regardless! Arrived in Tatopani slight damp and a little tired but that wasn’t enough to lure us to the hot springs so we just chilled in the teahouse for the afternoon instead! Shame that we can’t see much at the moment though as this part of the valley is meant to be stunning.
Day 12:
Tatopani to Ghorepani
Time walking: 5.45 hours
Altitude: 1200m to 2870m
Ouch, just under 6 hours of solid uphill – step after step going up and up, was a bit relentless but we got there in the end! Realised today that we are probably 2 days ahead of schedule (well the recommended one at least!) therefore have decided to extend our little trek and head into the sanctuary section of the region and up to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC). Had a bizarre night in the teahouse with lots of drunk locals singing, dancing and playing the bongos late into the night…well late for these parts, around 10!! Which was fine but we had to get up at 4:45 to get up the nearby hill for sunrise and when you are now use to being in bed at 8:30 that’s a late night!
Day 13:
Ghorepani up Poon Hill to Tadapani
Time walking: 4.25 hours
Altitude: 2870m to 3200m to 2710m
WOW is all I can say! Woke up and it was cloudy so thought we may not get a good sunrise but never the less we climbed the hill in the dark just in case! Never seen anything like it! Can’t even begin to describe it, check the pictures and hopefully they will tell you more than I can in words. After that fantastic awakening we then headed across the adjoining valley to the small village of Tadapani, with amazing views out across the Indian plains most of the way.
Day 14:
Tadopani to Sinuwa
Time walking: 4.5 hours
Altitude: 2710m to 2340m
Feeling a little tired today and the legs were complaining a little! Although it doesn’t look like we hit many hills on the way we actually managed to climb down around 2200 steps (so we were told by some mentalist who counted them!) and then back up around 500m the other side of the valley! Which on tired legs was hard work.
Day 15:
Sinuwa to Machhapucchare Base Camp
Time walking: 6 hours
Altitude: 2340m to 3700m
The bad weather is back! Walked up the valley through forests towards the base camp of Machhapucchare (fishtail as its also known!) in cloud, snow, sleat, hail, rain and wind! Although there is a base camp here the mountain is actually off limits to climbers as its regarded as holy, plus it looks bloody difficult! Sat in our cold and dark teahouse room huddled in sleeping bags and lots of clothes while the rainy sleat/snow continued to fall for most of the night.
Day 16:
Machhapucchare Base Camp to Annapurna Base Camp to Sinuwa
Time walking: 6.5 hours
Altitude: 3700m to 4130m to 2340m
Awoke at 5 o’clock to get up to Annapurna base camp (ABC) for sunrise expecting lots of clouds and for it still to be rainy but to our surprise there was a clear sky. Climbed for an hour and half up to ABC to be greeted by the sun slowly coming up and lighting up the face of the Annapurna’s. From base camp you get 180 degree view of the mountains as you stand there in the cold! Its a great sight as the mountains rise almost from your toes up another 4000m into the sky! After a quick warming drink it was back down the valley to make our way to the sunshine.
Day 17:
Sinuwa to Kyumi
Time walking: 4.25 hours
Altitude: 2340m to 1230
Retracing your steps is a little difficult, especially when you know those 2200 steps you came down are waiting for you to go back up!! Got to the small village of Kyumi (or Beehive) around lunch time and found it too difficult to leave our nice little teahouse in the sun, especially when a beer was ordered!
Day 17:
Kyumi to Nayapul and bus to Pokhara
Time walking: 3 hours
Altitude: 1230 to 1070
Our final days walking was just a gentle plod following the river down hill and out to the town of Naya Pul, with tired legs but a slight bounce in our step as we approached the end… this was soon ruined by the worst, bumpiest, most uncomfortable bus ride back to Pokhara – sitting on a seat with no cushions just a metal frame as the bus bounced on potholes for 90 minutes! The thought of a hot shower and a good nights sleep though eased it all.