Annapurna Circuit

October 2016

This time I was going to Nepal with some friends. My third trip to the country. The challange was they only had around two weeks. That is really not enough time so I scratched my head for a while, but ended up with a plan of walking part of the oldest teahouse trek in Nepal. I walked a little part of it in 2001. The following describes the trekking days and drive in and out.

About us and the company we used

We where 6 people and we travelled with Firante Treks & Expeditions.
I found the company online and had no previous knowledge about them so I where a little worried, but I wanted to use a local company and since I have been in Nepal several times before and also trekked high before I asked for only one guide and porters. Janga was of great assistance for the upfront organising, we got a great guide (Dawa) and the Rai relatives were the best porters. Everything was arranged as requested and we had a great trip. Just be aware that ATMs in Nepal still is trouble. There are several in Kathmandu, some in Pokhara and a couple in Jomsom, but a lot do not work (empty or something else) and there are usually a limit of 20000 to 30000 rupees on each withdrawal. So make sure you have a agreed on payment method up front.

The accommodation was in tea houses which these days are larger or smaller places with basic rooms and a room where they sell food.

Tips on packing

I would suggest to always carry some extra clothes yourselves in case of really bad weather, see the 2014 disaster.

Day 1

Drive from Kathmandu with start very early in the morning for around 5 hour in bus on usual Nepalese roads (not good) to Besisahar. From there road from hell. I have been on a lot of bad roads but this is really bad. But not that scary. Almost not a road, more a pile of rocks. A wonder the cars last (Indian Mahindra). For obvious reasons not high speed. We were 12 people in one jeep, 3 in front, 4 inside in the back and 5 out in the back. The porters and the guides in the back. People in the back are not allowed for security reasons. I should have checked this better up front. The plan was to reach Chame, but I think everyone knew that was not possible. Spent the night in Dharapani between Besisahar and Chame (1,5 to 2 hours drive from Chame).

Donkeys in Dharapani.
Donkeys in Dharapani.
Day 2

Two more hours in jeep to Chame where we breakfast. Then a nice walk to Pisang (3300 m). Upper Pisang is a little up with nicer view and old buildings. Seems like most tea houses are in Pisang, but would rather have stayed in Upper Pisang for the view of Annapurna 2 (picture).

 

Annapurna 2. View from Upper Pisang.
Annapurna 2. View from Upper Pisang.
Pisang
Pisang
Day 3

Choose the longest path to Manang (3540 m) for scenery and acclimatisation. The road goes at least as far as to Manang. Four hours walking to Ngawal (3660) which is the first place you come to. Nice and clean place. If I ever walk here again I will stay here one night. Several more hours to Manang. Around eight hours all together and some already felt the altitude.

Typical eating area.
Day 4

Acclimatisation day in Manang. Not really that happy about the place or where we stay (Yak Hotel). Manang is large compared to other places in the area. Walked to a view point for acclimitation (Ganggapurna). Spent the rest of the day looking at the surroundings and eating. Cake was found 🙂

Day 5

Nice walk to Yak Kharka (4000 m). Steady climb and around a four hour walk. Really nice tea stop in Gunsang, Chuku West Hotel (3990). Really nice place, both the hotel and the view. So if I walk here again I would have skipped Manang and stayed here – if I walked with people with no altitude problems. If someone in the group was having altitude problems I would probably have stayed in Manang one night.

Day 6

Walk to Thorong Phedi (4525 m). Around four hours walk again. At this point a couple in the group had trouble with the altitude. One so much that it worried me; no sleep because of breathing problems and a lot of other symptoms. But not easy to turn back at this point and the guide said go. If you have the appropriate insurance (and make sure you have that) it is realatively easy to get a helicopter to fly you down.

Thorong Phedi is a rather big place (big in the sense that the one place is big), cold and not very nice in my opinion. Cold and plain room so spent the rest of the day in the restaurant area which was filled with a lot of people. I have bin to places on higher altitude which has managed a little better cleanliness (my expectations are not very high).

On the path to Thorong Phedi (and up to the pass from Thoriong Phedi) you will find people with horses if you are all out of energy.

Day 7

Up to the pass, Thorung La at 5416 m. Started at five o’clock at night in the dark. Had a short tea stop at Thorung High Camp. Very cold and one in the group was quite sick, but it looked like we where going to make it. And we did several hours later. The pass was not one of the most scenic, quite large. But we where very happy that all of us made it.

Thorung La at 5416 m.
Thorung La at 5416 m.

A long walk to Muktinath after the pass. Ate lunch at Chamber Bhu (4180 m) maybe? A place consisting of mostly restaurants quite a long way down. Before a shower and dinner at hour hotel we stopped at Muktinath Tempel and walked around there for a while. Sort of nice but a lot of people there.

Day 8

Last walking day. As most of the road to Jomsom is a long quite boring walk in the dried up river (I have walked it before) we took a detour to Kagbeni and planned on trying to catch a bus from there. Yes, there is a road up to Muktinath. Not mush of the circuit is without a road anymore. Maybe the part between Manang and Muktinath.

Nice walk to Kagbeni. Walked through Jharkot. Nice place, we got a little lost in the alleys. Kagbeni seems to have developed quite a bit since I was here in 2001. Walked through the old part I remember to the gate to Mustang. A rather modern coffee shop there now. Not the old prayer wheels I remember, new payer wheels in place.

Ate lunch in Kagbeni. It seems to have grown but looks quite deserted really. Just a couple of restaurants looks open. No luck with the busses so we ended up walking most of the way to Jomsom in the dry, windy riverbed. The guide managed to find someone we could hitchhike the last part with.

The “road” to Jomsom. Noisy, windy and dusty.

Jomsom also seems a lot bigger than last time. We stayed in a ok place and had a nice last meal with the porters. They was going on the bus home (or to Pokhara) the next morning. And then the two brothers where going to Kuwait to work there for four years. So a hard life.

Day 9

Flight to Pokhara where we where going to stay a couple of days. The runway in Jomson is one of the interesting ones and not that cool for people afraid to fly (one in the group was), but not as bad as Lukla (for the Everest base camp trek) 🙂

The view from Sarangkot, Pokhara.
The view from Sarangkot, Pokhara.

Skiing around Eidsbugarden

About Eidsbugarden

Eidsbugarden  is a hotel in the Norwegian national park Jotunheimen. Its by the Bygdin lake and it is sourrounded by several nice mountains at around 2000 m. Nice place in the summer and nice in the winter. In the summer you can drive all the way or combine bus, car and boat to get there. In the winter the only way to get all the way is to walk in or take a snowmobile from Tyin. The snowmobiles are really cool 🙂 But noisy and probably not that environment friendly. They are from the 50s or something.

Skiing

I am not that experienced with winter conditions in the mountains. By that I mean navigations in no visibility and evaluating the snow, slope and probability for avalanches. Because of that I have so far been walking with guides in the winter (in the summer I go without). Around Eidsbugarden it is easy to get a guide, or if you want to go by yourselves there are several mountains to ascend without to much experience (but you always need to be able to navigate in bad weather and read the snow, terrain and avalanche probability). I have gone up to Galdeberg (2075 m) twice. Its a trip at around 7-8 hours. I would suggest randonee skies because it can be heavy, wet snow and then a little difficult on the way down on mountain skies. But people go with that as well. It is a long but not very difficult trip.

From the Galdeberg top (it looks a little flatter than it is).
From the Galdeberg top. It looks a little flatter than it is.

I like this yearly camp in the winter: http://www.heftyeopplevelser.no/camper/basecamp-eidsbugarden/

 

Stok Kangri

Stok Kangri (6153 m) in India

In August 2014 I ascended my first and only trek above 6000 m (so far). I went with Exodus on this trip. Great guide from Nepal (Ngima Sherpa).

We stared with a couple of acclimatation days in Leh (3500 m). I liked the town/city. Nice to walk around and small acclimatisation trip possibilities to stupas and monasteries. One day we went on a drive up to Khardung La at 5602 m on one of the highest motorable roads in the world. Think everyone felt dissy up there due to the altitude and we did not stay very long since it is very smart because of the sudden addition of around 2000 altitude meters. But I think it is very smart to go on this trip to prepare.

What to pack

Trekking day 1

Drive and short trek to camp in Choksi (3210 m).

Trekking day 2

To Choksi Drok (4200 m)

Trekking day 3

Trek to Kang La (4900 m)

Detour up to 5056 m.

Trekking day 4

Kang La (5260 m), Palam Peak (5380 m), Ganda La (4970 m) and camp at the base of Ganda La.

Trekking day 5

Stok La (4900 m) and camp in Mankarmo (4380 m)

Trekking day 6

To Stok Kangri basecamp (4968 m). This place has a “shop”. You get Snickers, Coke, Beer (do not recommend drinking beer at this altitude).

Trekking day 7 – climb Stok Kangri (6153 m)

Very long day. But we had great weather and no old snow on the top so no need for ice axe and crampons. You cross a small glacier on your way but they did not put us in ropes so I guess it was pretty safe at that time. But I will assume you need sometimes. And on the top some parts were narrow so Ngima put us in a rope the last part even if it was now snow or ice. Maybe because it is very likely that someone is not feeling good at this point or are having trouble with the altitude. But it was ok in this conditions. With ice and snow I think I would have felt a little unsafe and would have wanted the rope.

The day is very lang and hard, but I did not feel the hight as bad as I did when I went up to Mt Kilimanjaro. Probably because the route was very well designed to get well acclimatised (gives the days available).

Walked for around 14 hours I think.

Trekking day 8

Descent through Mankarmo to Stok and then a drive to Leh. Very tired and happy to get to Stok and have a beer.

MORE INFO SOON.

Stok Kangri in the distance with snow on top
Stok Kangri in the distance with snow on top. Beer in Stok.