Annapurna says NO! [12/50]

I spent the past two weeks hiking to Manang and back on the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal. It is a spectacular trek; one of the world’s greatest high altitude treks. The village of Manang is at about 4000 meters, well above the snow line and yes, it snowed a lot.

I had planned to go over the Thorung La Pass, which is above 5000 meters, but Annapurna said no. The first few days were tough walking, and it got a lot harder when it started to snow above 3000 meters. Walking in snow is hard work, especially with a pack as you have to be very sure footed otherwise the path gives way, and you sink deeper into the snow. It snowed for about five days when I was in Manang; thus, no one could leave the Tillcho Lodge where we were staying. A few people got sick, so no less than three helicopters came and rescued everybody in the guest house and took them back to Kathmandu.

But 3 of us decided to stay, the other 2 are walking over the pass as we speak, but I walked back down again as the sun came out and the view was spectacular, and I didn’t want to spend any more time at the guest house waiting for the Pass to clear. The walk back was pretty special, and I walked for two days in the snow, or about 40 KMS then got a jeep for the remaining 50 KMS. The jeep was way fun and took about 7 hours to traverse the last 50 KMS of steep cliffs, valleys, rocks and mud.

While stuck in the guest house, which was freezing except for the common room with a roaring pot belly stove, I managed to read Ramachandra Guha’s India after Gandhi, so it was an incredibly productive time as that history book is even tougher than the Annapurna Circuit.

I’m back in Pokora now and have a couple of more weeks in Nepal to go on some more adventures. I will go mountain bike riding tomorrow and the day after, will hire a motorcycle and see how far I can make it up the other side of the trek. I might make it to Jomson but Tatopani has some nice hot springs.