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robinator-adventures · 2 years

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PART 2/2

Day 7-8 1/2:

Time did fly, but unfortunately our pain didn't. After now 7 days on the track our body's started to respond to the weight we were carrying. And we were starting to get jealous of all the people who booked a porter for their Annapurna circle hike. With something between 13-16 kg on our backs the decision to do everything alone and not with a porter, which would resolve in a 6kg day pack to carry, was questioned with every further step we were taking.

But with this in mind, it was always a sweet topic to talk about with the other hikers, who also didn't have the comfort of porter. And to be honest, we are complaining about roughly 15kg on our backs, while the Nepali porters are carrying up to 40kg on theirs - without trekking boots, sticks or any further comfort we invest so much money in beforehand.

Our path let us to Manang, the last "big" village before our hike would bring us over the pass within the next three days.

Manang has gained some special trading rights century's ago and offers slightly more comfort then many other of the previous villages. It is the place to refill the energy, restock on blister packages, nuts and sunscreen.

Most travelers stay for two days to rest their aching body's, before the altitude quickly hits the 4000m - and shortly after the 5000m.

After cutting the previous days a bit shorter, and due to the missing charme of Manang, we decide to stay only one night.

We do our laundry, eat a yak steak, pack our bags with nuts, Snickers and further supplies and move on from Manang.

Due to slowly drying laundry, we decide to start our next day a bit later at about 10:00 am (our normals starting time is between 6:30 and 7:00 am). We do that with the confidence, that we will reach our next goal - Yak Kharka at 4000m - before the sun sets any way.

Day 7-8 2/2: The last two days were spectacular as the day before and We are running out of words to describe the ever changing and unbelievable fascinating landscapes.

The smiles on our faces, even though our body's are hurting more and more with every Meter climbed, are proof and witness at the same time.

Our views get filled with more snow covered mountain peaks as we pass the tree growth line. Our cameras are burning, as the blister on our feed.

We will have another cold night in front of us at over 4000m altitude. Showers are not mandatory any more and our minds occasionally start to think about the relaxing time afterwards. But for now, we only see our goal Thorung La at 5416m.

Day 9-14 - Part 1 of 6:

With only two more day trips to cover, we were eager to find our way over the pass at 5416m and succeed on our trip of the Annapurna Curcuit. But man, those two day trips had something prepared for us.

We arrived at Thorung Pedi at around 4400m altitude and after only a short walk of about 3 hours and 6-7km from our previous destination Yak Kharka. Even though we knew that it would be a short day we started at 5:30 in the morning, due to the supposedly, shortage of rooms at the Basecamp of Thorung La, that we learned from a Canadian Couple. We agreed, that we didn't want to spent the night before our 1000m climb and 1500m decent in a dorm or on in the dining room. Even though we were just at the beginning of the season, this might happen when all the guest houses are fully booked early in the day.

Our early start paid of and we got the last twin room at the basecamp and we even had our own toilet, which sounds much nicer, then it actually was.

We arrived at around 10 o'clock and were very happy that we weren't part of later group...

We hoped that the early arrival would help us to regenerate a bit and lick our wounds before starting the last chapter of our journey upwards. But we had to learn that one day for that might not be enough- Specially when you had a look at some of the blisters we were starting to carry around the Annapurna region - very disgusting and i will spare you the pictures.... With being at around 4400m, altitude sickness gave us a first sign of being present to us. With so far no issues it came to us as a small suprise that we had to struggle with a mild headache. Not knowing if it would get better or worse, we decided to take anti-altitude-sickness tablets for the first time and also to extend our stay for one more night and regenerate and acclimatize a bit further - something that paid off when looking back.

Day 9-14 - part 2 of 6:

We used the extra day to acclimatize a bit further and do a short day trip to Thorung Pedi High camp, which was only an hour walk (without luggage), but still covered about 400m altitude. After this steep climb, which we would have to do again in the morning, one of us decided to use a porter for the next day for the 1000 climb. But not the decent! I was asked to mention that... ;)

As expected, the extra day to acclimatize paid off quite well and after the first night and some rest. We didn't have any issues with headaches or whatsoever - so we decided to take on what we were looking forward to the last two weeks: The stage that bring us to Thorung La and on 5416m.

Our alarm goes off at 3:40 and after quickly packing everything together we enjoy our last breakfast on this side of the pass and with pitch blackness outside our breakfast room. Our Porter picks us up at 4:30 and with a delay of just 5 minutes (every hiker knows, perfect packing of your luggage is key and can take a bit longer, eventually) we start with our headtorches into the night.

Even though we did the first stage to high camp the day before without luggage, it still feels like eternity taking on this first challenge of the day.

While it is still dark, we only see headtorches behind us climbing up the never ending hill. After 70 minutes we reach high camp and need the first break for a hot tee and to reheat a bit before taking on the next stage. While the water outside is freezing up in the drinking tubes of all the other hikers, we enjoy a hot Mansala tea and meet our British friend Kevin, who we met a few days ago for the first time and who slept at high camp and waited for us. He is on his own and didn't want to take this stage on his own. Something that will pay of shortly after....

Day 9-14 - Part 3 of 6:

After this short break we don't see or need any more headtorches when stepping out of the tea house, as the dawn has brightened the sky (no, this isn't a Twilight reference). We start our trek in a small group of three. The scenery changed again and became more abstrus with every step taken. After a small bridge and at around 4900m altitude we had our first case of severe altitude sickness. Kevin looked like he got hit by a bus and if somebody would have asked me at that particular moment, i would have said, that he had to go back - and he thought the same, as he pointed out later on.

But we sad down, he had some water and rested for a while - and it happened, what we didn't thought would be happen: He reassembled himself, took a porter on short notice and moved forward - driven by his eagerness and ambition not to go back. -

After the first steal climb in the morning we kept moving upwards. It was still hard but the climb was way more steady - but longer. It was more then 600m up anyways...

After a lot more small breaks we reached Thorung La at 5416m. This might ask for a more dramatic introduction or build up, but i have to admit it was a spot to take pictures and to hug the people you accomplished this journey and meet over and over again, while your head is spinning around the exhaustion you did build up over the hours and days before. -

So it was done - at least the climbing part - and after some tea and a snickers in a tiny shed at the top we move forward. After all it took us around 5 hours till that point and we would still have 7 more hours to go, to reach our goals Muktinath and find a home for the night.

Normally you would think, you reach the pass and the scenery on the other side would repeat itself to some extend, as you climb down - but, of course it didn't.

Day 9-14 - part 4 of 6:

We started our way down and within the first hour, you could almost see all the way down into the valley. I am not sure, if this helped us, or if this frustrated us more. Just to be clear, this was a 7 hour climb down - and trust me, it gets hard, when to goal doesn't come closer.

But, i also have to admit, that we didn't get tired of the never changing landscape. While still being around 5000m altitude and way above the tree growth line the rocky, unreal broad sceen painted a picture, that was burned in our minds for a long time or even indefenetdly.

One thing that really struck us hard and was kind of unexpected: We didn't find any guest houses, tea houses or water drinking stations to refill our water along the way down. While on the other side of the pass, you could almost have been shure to find something like that every hour or so, the climb down became a real challenge - because we slowly run out of water.

We started to ratio our water and made it to the first restaurant/guest house after around 6 hours. So we drank (a lot) and had lunch with some friends. A well deserved and needed break. -

We knew it would be only an hour more, but we were a bit demoralized, due to the knee shattering decent and the already 13 hour day. But, what option did we have, then to keep on moving forward?

We reach Muktinath and shortly after Raunipawa, which we didn't like. After three failed attempts to find a guest house (2x to dirty/noisy, 1x full) we check into our compromised destination for the night and find an early rest.

Day 9-14 - part 5 of 6:

From Raunipawa our next stop was Jomson, where we decided to take the flight out back to Pokhara. Our decision to stop our hike here and not to move on after 13/14 days, because we heard, that the other side of the pass is way more crowded and the new build infrastructure included some roads and less scenery. Also, we were done and needed a good bed, a good meal and at least a couple of nights, were we don't need to pack our staff over and over again. -

In Raunipawa we got lucky and were able to hitchhike in the back of Toyota together with two other Germans, who were on a world trip with their build up sprinter, but had to leaf it at the border for different reasons. We feel lucky to enjoy the scenery - that reminds me of Afghanistan - in the back of the truck while we are passing many backpackers, who walking alongside the road under the boiling sun. The just 1 hour ride saves a hole day of walking and we arrive in Jomson before most of the backpackers do. We go the the ACAP Checkpoint to have our permits checked and stamped for the last time, book into our hotels and catch and early flight for the next day to Pokhara - all in all, a lucky and easy day. -

A couple of hours after us, Kevin, our British friend, checked into our Hotel in Jomson and we enjoyed a last meal on the track together. He also got a flight out of Jomson and to Pokhara on the next day, but a bit later.

We enjoy a great and well deserved steak, while talking about the hours and days on the trail, and, of course, about how much we look forward to rest our aching body's. We are happy about our achievement and we don't feel like we are cutting it short at the end. After all we have some days in Pokhara and way more things to see in Nepal anyway - but the Annapurna experience ends here.

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robinator-adventures · 7 years

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PART 1/2: Pokhara -> Besisahar (820m) -> Ndagi Bazar (950m) We started our Journey of the Annapurna Circuit without many decisions made beforehand. Our Bus from Pokhara to Besisahar, the starting point of the Annapurna Circuit, took us about 4-5 hours and already used up a lot of our energy. With leg space, that made me bag for a seat in a Rynair jet and the most bumpy roads you can imagine, this bus ride would normally call for a day of recovering itself. During the bus right, that not all of us were able to spend on seats - some had to sit in „chairs“ in the middle of the truck - we already exchanged plans and information about the upcoming hike with other travelers, who were as eager to start, as we were. Back at our last guest house in Pokhara, and before we started the track, we were thinking about cutting our track short and take a Jeep from Besisahar to Charme. This would include a 5-6 house Jeep drive and would cut our adventure about 5 days short - which would give us more time to find another hike afterwards. After arriving in Besisahar we tried to get a Jeep to take us to Charme together with other hikers. So we got together to have a stronger position to negotiate. First, they asked for about 8000 Rupees per Person (about 64€), which was more or less a joke. We knew that the standard price were about 2000-2500 Nepali Rupees. After arguing for a while and a quick decision not to pay the roughly 3000 Rupees asked, we jumped into a local bus, that drops you off about 4-5km further and saves you a day of walking - a good compromise in our opinion. Specially as this scenery is nice, but not the most spectacular. We were not alone with our decision and so we found ourselfs in the Bus with many more hikers who also didn‘t want to take the overpriced Jeep option - specially as the „boss“ of the Jeep drivers became kind of rude with an ongoing discussion. Taking the wrong seat at the bus was my first mistake of this hike - and i am not meaning leg space wise, which was also not existing... I took the seat on the right side of the bus and at the window. This let me see how close we are driving, or better „bumping“ to the edge of the street and to certain death. I used to be scared of flying and this was way, way worse... My companion had a similar opinion and mindest towards my „safety concerns“, so we decided to drop out of the bus at the next given chance. We didn‘t save much walking time, but at least the sweat now came from walking and not from the fear of certain death. „Fun“ Fact: we later learned, that a Jeep had a fatal car crash a couple of days before and that the roads would get more crazy on the way to Charme. So after all, we were pretty happy with our decision. We dropped out of the bus at the first check point for checking hiking permits, etc. and started walking under the boiling sun and backpacks that seem to weigh about 50kg (they weight about 13kg + water). Already exhausted, we spend our first night at Ndagi Kola next to a water power plant built by China - to be honest, this wasn‘t the perfect scenery that we imagined. But we hope, this would increase within the next days of hiking.   15 more days to go. — Day 2: From Ndagi Bazar our second day would bring us Jagat and about 400m higher onto 1300m altitude. During this exhausting day we learned to following things: 1. We hate our backpacks 2. One of us didn‘t train enough before the trip started 3. Walking in the boiling sun makes you hate your backpacks even more After about 7 hours of walking, we checked into our guest house, had a hot shower (yes, hot showers - and wifi!) and called it a night Ndagi Bazar (890m) -> Jagat (1300m) — Day 3: The third day wasn‘t much different from the last, but a bit rougher. To avoid the boiling sun as good as possible, we woke up at about 5:45 and started walking before 7 am. Our goal for today was Dharapani at 1900m. It was to that point the biggest altitude change on one day with about 600m. Even though we were able to walk on trails and had amazing views and sceneries, the eveolving infrastructure became quite obvious. Again and again we had to walk on roads, that, to be fair, were bumpy as hell, had no alsphat and rarely a Jeep did pass by, but it was still a noticeable thing and reminded us of the impact of tourism. We learned about the influence from China, who were investing massively into this area. With the Chinese Boarder roughly 30-50km away from the Annapurna Circuit at all time, this became understandable - specially when it comes to their interest in energy with the help to water power plants. Again, a long day (about 8-9 hours of walking), a hot shower and a Dhal Bat ends our day early at about 7pm. Jagat (1300) -> Dharapani (1900m)  — Day 4: it's finally getting colder. Wearing jackets will become mandatory from this point forward and we are happy to get some weight of our backpacks and onto our bodies. This stage brings us to Charme at around 2700m. Again, we try to have as little sun as possible, so we start even earlier at around 6:30am. It‘s a hard day that takes almost all that we have to offer - physically and mentally - on the 9 hours of walking. Many breaks and a late arrival at around 4pm let our bodies start to aich and wish for a warm shower and a rest day for the first time on our hike - but we know, it is to early to give into those thoughts. We also realize, that the stamina build up in the first days will become helpful to survive the next 9 days of our hike. Again, we are very happy not to have jumped into the back of the Jeep and cut our hike short. We also would have missed out on some amazing scenery....  Dharapani (1900m) -> Charme (2670m) — Day 5: today we woke up in the shadows of the Manaslu (8156m) and the Annapurna II (7937m) in Charme.  We started our day at around 2670m at and crossed the 3000m mark shortly before our lunch break at Dhikur Pokhari.  Overall it was less exhausting then the days before - maybe due to our new gained stamina; maybe due to the slightly shorter distance we had to cover.  Still, we are looking forward to some rest at Upper Pisang, while enjoying the view towards Lower Pisang and some snow covered mountain tops.  Currently the wind is blowing massively and we only can appreciate the shelter we found for the night.  Charme (2670m)-> Upper Pisang (3310m) — Day 6:  After spending a rather poor night in Upper Pisang, due to our choice of a new build and not well thought trough guest house, the visit of the Buddhist Tempel was worth it the exhausting night and cold shower.  While seeing a lot of clouds before the sun set on the day before, it was surprising to have no clouds throughout the day. Even though we wouldn't have preferred the rain, the sun was boiling us while we were walking up the steep, hard and long trail to Ghyaru.  At Ghyaru we were as exhausted as all the hikers and we saw a lot of smiling faces after accomplishing one of the toughest parts of the hole Annapurna circuit - also the view towards Annapurna II (7739m) at 3700m could have been responsible for at least half of the smiles. We used the amazing viewpoint not just for taking some amazing pictures, but also to enjoy the, till that point, best apple pie sold from a small booth of an old lady.  We got lucky, as the pie quickly were sold out after we arrived. 5 pies between the two of us is more then enough proof about the quality - and we would have gotten more, if they weren't sold out.  After the long exhausting climb to Ghyaru we were looking forward to some steady trails without any altitude drops. We were benefitted with the, again, so far, most amazing views, as the sun was relentlessly shining down on us.  A slight sunburn and exhaustion from the heat and altitude change let us decide to find our home for the night in a lovely guest house at Ngawal with only 8km covered. As blisters are increasing we appreciate the early rest before moving on to Manag tomorrow.  Upper Pisang (3310m) -> Ngawal (3680m) #Nepal #Annapurna #AnnapurnaCircuit #Himalays #travel #photography #hiking #RobinatorAdventures

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