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Published: October 20th 2008
Thorung La Pass 5416 meter
This was at the top of the Thorung La pass after walking for 3 hours in freezing cold weather from 5am. The pass is at 5416 meter.I flew into Kathmandu from India on 28th September and was picked up in the airport by the owner of the trekking company that I had booked the Annupurna Circuit trek through. During the day I was given a brief about the trek. Afterwards the owner took me shopping for trekking clothes as my rucksack was mainly packed with clothes for hot weather. In the evening he took me to a local Nepalese restaurant.
ANNUPURNA CIRCUIT TREK
The trek is about 320km and is known for being the best trek for scenery and cultural diversity. It crosses to the north of the main Himalayan range and crosses a 5416 meter pass. During the trek there is view of the following snow capped mountains:
Dhaulagire 8167m
Annapurna I 8091m
Annapurna II 7937m
Annapurna III 7855m
Varahashikhar 7847m
Annapurna IV 7525m
Gangapurna 7485m
Annapurna South 7219m
Tarde Kang 7193m
Tilicho Peak 7134m
Nilgiri North 7061m
plus many mountains under 7000 meter. Mountains under 7000 meters are often not named and my guide calls them “baby mountains”. When I told my guide that the highest mountain in Denmark is 147 meter he laughed and asked how we can call it a
One of houndred of river crossings
First time on one of these bridges is a bit scary as the bridge move up and down and from side to side. But after a few times it is ok. mountain?
I was lucky to have a really nice guide and porter. We had a lot of fun together during the trek, which made it an enjoyable trek.
Day 1 (29/9) Basi Sahar (823m) to Khudi (792m)
I had early breakfast in the hotel and was introduced to my guide and porter. We drove by car for 7 hours to our starting point Besi Sahar. We walked 2 hours from here to Khudi, where we spent the first night. There had been a public transport strike the day before, so many people started this day and the hotel we stayed in was full soon after we arrived.
Day 2 (30/9) Khudi (792m) to Jagat (1314m)
We had breakfast at 7am. It was a really hot day and the trek including breaks took us 7 hours. We must have walked further than most, as we did not see the crowd of people that we saw on day one, at Jagat. We saw several waterfalls along the way and crossed the river several times. Within 30 minutes we had the first view of snow capped mountains. We were some of the first to arrive at the lodge and I
had a quick shower straight away, which was lucky as soon after they had problems with the water supply (very common).
Day 3 (1/10) Jagat (1314m) to Bagarchhap (2164m)
We had the usual 7am breakfast. We walked further this day than planned and trekked 8 hours including breaks. My old walking boots went on strike, as the bottom of my left boat started coming off and I had to change to my walking shoes. This was a real blow as the shoes don’t have the same angle support. My guide said we would be able to get them repaired in the next town Chame.
Day 4 (2/10) Bagarchhap (2164m) to Chame (2713m)
We had a late start today, as the walk today was only 3 hours. The first hour was tough as the track was very steep and we just kept going up. We soon had view over Annapurna II (7937m). When we arrived at Chame I got my walking boots repaired.
Day 5 (3/10) Chame (2713m) to Pisang (3185m)
The walk today was mainly through forests. We walked for about 5 hours at a slower pace than previous days. After checking into our lodge we went
A new friend
This girl in one of the lodges did for some reason want to sit with me. She ended up falling a slep on my knee and her mother had to take her to bed. for an acclimatization walk to upper Pisang which is at about 3500m and from there we had fantastic view over the mountains.
Day 6 (4/10) Pisang (3185m) to Manang (3351m)
From Pisang to Manang there is a lower and a higher route. My guide felt that we should take the higher route, as I was strong enough to do it. We started by walking up for about and a half hour to reach about 3700 meter. The view from here was stunning with view over Pisang Peak, Annapurna II and IV. We also saw several eagles below us hunting.
Day 7 (5/10) Acclimatization day in Manang (3351m)
Today was an acclimatization day in Manang. We did a 3 hour walk up to higher altitude to try and acclimatize and get used to less oxygen in the air.
Day 8 (6/10) Manang (3351m) to Thorung Phede (4420m)
We were supposed to have done this stretch in 2 days, but as we all felt ok and were not affected by the altitude we decided to do it. It would give us a day to relax on the other side of the pass. The last 2 hours walk was a
Typical lodge
The lodges are build of stone and wood with no insulation. You can hear everything your nabour is talking about and in the altitudes it is freezing cold. bit unpleasant as it first started raining and when we got further up it turned into snow. Above 4000m it was really cold and I had to put an extra layer of cloth on to stay warm. All the lodges on the route are very basic and build from wood and stone. There is no insulation and you can always hear the people in the next rooms. I did not eat a lot that evening, which always happen to me in altitudes. I did not sleep well that night as it was freezing cold.
Day 9 (7/10) Thorung Phede (4420m) through the Thorung La pass (5416m) to Muktinath (3802m)
We got up at 4.00am. Despite not having much dinner the night before, I could not eat anything for breakfast. It is not unusual to loose appetite at altitude, but getting up this early did certainly not help as I was half asleep. It was freezing cold when we got up and I struggled getting warm despite have 3 layers of clothes on. We had to start early as the wind picks up mid morning at the pass, which makes it very cold. When we started walking I felt really
tired and weak due to lack of food. We walked with torches in the dark and I kept thinking “why am I doing this” and all I had in my head was this dream about sitting in front of an open fire with crackers and cheese plus a glass of wine. When the sun came and it started getting light about 7am, I started waking up (after 2 hours walk) and started enjoying the walk more plus the stunning mountains around us. We walked in about 30cm of snow and it was really beautiful. When we got to the pass at 5416m it was worth the cold 3 hour walk up there (half asleep). It was snowing at the top. We stayed at the top of the pass for about 20min and had a cup of tea to try and get warm. From the top we had a 4 hour walk down to Muktinath. When we arrived, the guide, porter and I were tired after a tough walk/day.
Day 10 (8/10) Muktinath (3802m) to Marpha (2667m)
We had a late start today and did not leave before 9am. The walk was quite boring and it was very windy. We
got to our destination after 5 hours walk. We started playing card late afternoon and my guide suggested we tried the local apple brandy to celebrate that we made the pass. We ended up playing cards to late and finished a bottle of apple brandy.
Day 11 (9/10) Marpha (2667m) to Ghasa (2013m)
By 8am there was no sign of my guide and porter. I knocked on their door and they were quite embarrassed that they had overslept. When we started walking I soon realized that they were suffering a bit from the apple brandy the night before and I could not help laughing at them. The walk took us 6.5 hour and the views were not that good as the weather was very cloudy.
Day 12 (10/10) Ghasa (2013m) to Tatopani (1189m)
The walk today was easy and took about 3.5 hour. We stopped at the stunning Rupse Chhahara waterfall on the way. On the afternoon it was time to get some laundry done, as I was running out of clean clothes.
Day 13 (11/10) Rest day in Tatopani (1189m)
As we were ahead of our schedule, we took a rest day in Tatopani. We walked
to the hot springs in the afternoon. My guide jumped in the hot spring dressed in his underpants. I had to pass as I was on my last clean pair of underpants. In the afternoon I relaxed reading my book and in the evening we played cards.
Day 14 (12/10) Tatopani (1189m) to Ghorepani (2835m)
Today felt like walking up in a skyscraper that would never end. It was 6 hours of walking up steep steps. My porter was struggling a bit at the end, but we waited for him.
Day 15 (13/10) Ghorepani (2835m) to Hille (1577m)
We got up at 4.30am to walk to Poon Hill to see the sunrise. From the hill we had amazing view over Dhaulagari 8167m and Annapurna 8091m plus several other peaks. The 2 peaks are about 40km apart, but it looked like they were next to each other. Afterwards we walked back to the lodge to have breakfast. The walk to Hille was easy and as we had plenty of time we stopped for a 2 hour lunch break.
Day 16 (14/10) Hille (1577m) to Pokhara
We had a 2 hour walk to Birethanti which was the end destination
for the trek. From there we took the bus to Pokhara. As the bus was full we ended up sitting on the rack on the roof of the bus, which was really good with plenty of leg space plus we had a good view of the mountains, valleys and of Pokhara.
Day 17 (15/10) Pokhara
The owner of the trekking company came out to meet us in Pokhara and took us all out for dinner the night before. The guide and porter left early in the morning for Kathmandu. The owner and I spent the day seeing the sights in and around Pokhara.
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