Day 17 Ghorepani-Tadapani (2590m) via Poon Hill

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I woke up at five to four just before the alarm went off. The guesthouse owner turned up at the door a couple of minutes later quite annimated saying 'you very lucky, good morning, clear sky'. Fantastic news although it does of course mean we are not going back to bed! So, equipped with headtorch, camera and warm fleece we begin to climb yet again. I think I made it in around 45 minutes. The sun was still firmly behing Machapuchare (fishtail mountain) on arrival but the sky was beginning to brighten revealing an incredidible array of huge mountains. For me, Dhaulagiri was the most fantastic, a huge wall of ice rising high above all others. 7th highest in the world and standing at 8167m (26,794ft). As the sun rose behind Machapuchare the light deflected around the edge of the mountain creating an incredible lighting effect. Machapuchare is regarded by some to be the most beautifil mountain in the world on account of it;s fishtail like symmetry. I can see where they are coming from. To the North east of Dhalagiri we were able to spot Thorong La Pass where we had toiled relentlessly 6 days ago and to the west the broken clouds hung way below us confirming we are still at high altitude.

We retreated to the guesthouse for breakfast and said goodbye to Peter and Marcus who were heading back to Pokhara. Next stop for Darren, Alan and myself would be Tadapani, 160m lower than Ghorepanibut before that a long climb and descent with a final climb into Tadapani to round off an undulating day. Wet weather seems to be a daily event now and as we are moving onto the ABC trek leeches will be prominent now in the jungle terrain we will be passing through. Within 30 minutes of todays trek they were crawling all over my shoes. Harmless but unpleasant. Tonight we stayed at the Fishtail View guesthouse. Liars, all I can see is cloud.

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Photos

Machapuchare (Fishtail Mountain)
Complete with wonderful lighting effect and Canon blob on lens, thanks Canon!

Dhalagiri
Dhalagiri & Blob from Poon Hill

Poon Hill View
From Poon Hill

Tadapani
In the Fishtail View Lodge kitchen