Blogs from Annapurna Circuit, Annapurna, Nepal, Asia - page 3

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 ... read more

We were all feeling much fresher in the morning but still anxious about crossing the dangerous mountain path back onto the main Annapurna Circuit. However, we were in safe hands as both Stefano and Jose’ were experienced mountaineers and extra people in our group meant more eyes to spot the rocks coming down. Luckily by leaving early the mountains were still mostly frozen and there was little wind so the crossing was not as dangerous on this occasion. The mountain men were soon striding out in front and Tommy wanted to walk a steadier pace so we split up and walked on with Jaap in search of Pilu and Alberto who we were due to meet in Yak Kharka. We had done some pretty shoddy map study the night before and all thought today’s walk would ... read more

We woke early to set off on the trail but Pilu and Alberto were injured and Kerry felt she needed another rest day before attempting the difficult trek. In Manang the sky was grey and drizzly but their were patches of light blue appearing and so we set off. The trek followed the river up towards the mountains. We started at the same level as the river but were soon climbing way higher up the steep mountainside. Due to the previous days bad weather we weren’t sure if the path would be safe all the way to base camp but locals in the first village encouraged us on. We were all really starting to notice the altitude and becoming short of breath. Char felt a headache coming on as we approached the village of Sri Kaka ... read more

We got up bright and early again at 05:30 to be on the trail for 06:00. Well at least some of us were. Tommy was suffering the most out of all of us. I think he spent a good hour on the toilet trying to feel better! As we set off beside the river 100s of metres below us we heard a sound - it was an avalanche on Annapurna 4! It was over ten kilometres away from us and we could see the puff of snow cascading down the side of the mountain. It was a real sight and a show of the mountains power. The amazing thing was that from our perspective it looked like slow motion even though we knew it would be moving hundreds of miles an hour. After watching the avalanche ... read more

The 13 of us were all up early having breakfast and getting ready for the day and we left in our two smaller groups in quick succession. Today was supposed to be a cruisey day of only 4 hours walking. We climbed 400 meters through the valley and up further into the mountains following woodland trails. The pine forest smelt amazing, there were waterfalls and rivers all around and we were all feeling fresh. We stopped for tea in a roof top guesthouse in a beautiful village surrounded by snowy capped mountains. We all sat back and sipped our tea doing 360 degrees of the most beautiful landscape we have ever seen. We walked on and up through more stunning landscapes looking forward to jumping in the hot springs when we arrive. At one moment we ... read more