Day 11 - Annapurna Circuit - High Camp (4900m) to Thorong La Pass (5500m) to Muktinath (3710m)

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We were up at our earliest yet - 3:30am! We wanted to get a head start on the other trekkers and also Jaap was keen to get his head torch on as proper mountaineers do! We set off in darkness and it was freezing! We had pretty much all of our layers on whilst walking and could still feel the nip in the air. The climb was pretty steady all the way and after a couple of hours the sunlight was appearing over the mountains. It revealed quite a desolate landscape with dry rock covered in spatters of snow along the trail and mountain peaks that seemed so far away on day 1 were suddenly upon us. We continued on up the steep slopes in slow motion where just a swallow or cough could mess up your breathing and soon enough most of the landscape was snow covered and started to flatten out. Finally after 3 hours of breathless walking we were at the pass! The snow capped mountains looked amazing and once again we were treated with a carpet of cloud beneath us with the peaks poking through. We wanted to enjoy as much as the view as we could but the sun was still too low beneath the peaks and the temperature was still very low, -13 according to Tommy’s thermometer, and Chars fingers started to show this. They were getting painful, with tingling, pins and needles and almost a burning feeling. Obviously it would be a bonus if Char could keep all of her fingers so we went on ahead of Jaap and Tommy who were taking in the sights.



Downhill we started to feel warm again and took in the, yet again, now changed landscape of arid desert mountains reminiscent of the Middle East. In the distance we could see green, lush, oasis looking like villages down in the valley that would be our bed for the night. Going downhill was gruelling, far more than going up. It was relentless on the knees and ankles where running down was easier than walking just from the repetitive strain. We soon met up with the other lads and arrived in Muktinath, a pilgrimage sight that was a hub for Hindus and Buddhists. This meant it was full of life and hustle bustle that we hadn’t seen for a good while up in the mountains. It was a welcome relief to have society again and soon posted up, had a huge Yak burger and set about piling in the celebratory beers. We met up with Team B who came through a few hours after us and even saw Pilu and Alberto! Turned out that after Manang they had some pretty serious problems (Pilu broke her little toe and Alberto hurt his left quad) but they still managed to get to the pass with Pilu refusing a donkey and going all the way down on her bum! Safe to say that night we all got pretty merry and then the memory blurs from there....

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