Day 4 - Chame (2,700m) - Lower Pisang (3,250m) (Annapurna Circuit)

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The first half of today’s walk contained some relatively mundane river and pine woodland scenery, it wasn’t that the scenery was ugly, far from it, it was just that it did not contain the barrage of knock out views we had seen yesterday. Had I taken this walk anywhere else I’m sure I would have been praising the scenery but standards here are high, anything less than spectacular is mundane.

Part two of the trek was however a different beast altogether, things once again became rather interesting. Veering right from the sheltered woodland/riverside area the landscape around the trail very quickly opened into a large, dry rocky valley. To the front and right hand side of us were a mighty range of lifeless grey rocky mountains, completely devoid of any greenery. Around us the woodland thinned and the trail became noticeably dustier, this arid and desolate landscape was unlike anything we had encountered thus far.

The wind picked up as we continued along the trail and for the first time on the walk I had to stop to put on an extra layer, I had experienced wind previously but not wind that carried such a cold bite. Now at above 3,000m the air temperature even in the heat of the day decidedly was chilly. The effect of the lower temperatures alongside that of the Annapurna rain shadow could be seen all around us in this new dry and desolate section of the trail. The effects became really noticeable however on the final leg of the journey when the trail passed through an increasingly lunar landscape, here the trail passed through a flat, dry, dusty, sparsely vegetated plain which was flanked on either side by grey and brown dehydrated mountains which could barely even support the scrubbiest of small bushes at their base.

After walking across the dry plains we arrived at Lower Pisang, our final destination for the day. After eating far too much Dal Bhat at our tea house (tea houses are the very basic guesthouses you find along the trail) in Lower Pisang, KC and myself took a walk to Upper Pisang to see a Buddhist Monastery that is perched on a hill at the top of the village. Pisang is split into Lower (3200m) and Upper (3300m), Lower being home to most of the tea houses and Upper being home to a traditional farming settlement (although if still contains a few very rustic tea houses). Upper Pisang was the most medieval and rustic of all the villages I have seen so far on the route, perched high on a hill in a very dry, cold and windy area, I imagine it is a very unforgiving place to live especially in the winter. Despite this, I thought both Lower and Upper Pisang were somewhat beautiful in their harsh, raw, desolate nature.

Today I really started to notice the effects of altitude, the reduced levels of oxygen were starting to become very noticeable and I found myself increasingly having to catch my breath, especially on steep ascents. Lower Pisang is at a relatively poultry altitude of 3200m, over 2,000m below the high point of the trek, The Throng La Pass which is at 5,500m. I can’t even begin to imagine what an extra 2,000m+ of altitude will feel like, but I have a feeling it’s not going to be pleasant or easy!

Over the past few days I have started to feel increasingly fatigued. I am finding that overnight my body is not fully recovering from the fatigue which is in turn making each day progressively more challenging. Let’s hope I make it the whole way around! Along with the decreased levels of oxygen in the atmosphere I expect that the severe drop in temperature is contributing towards my tiredness. I am wearing my big goose feather down jacket, boots and thick socks at all times now, long gone are the warm afternoons sitting in a t-shirt. In the evening I am having for the first time to use my industrial strength goose feather down sleeping bag. Being warm at any point throughout the day would appear to be a thing of the past. The inevitable walk of pain through the icey night air for a late night wee has turned into a daily trauma that I know at some point I will have to endure, no matter how many times I have gone before bed. Once again I can only imagine (and worry) what conditions will be like at the 5,500m highpass!

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