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Published: August 7th 2007
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This blog by Lucas:
Trek summary:
Day 9: 2 hr 10 mins YAK KHARKA (4018 m/13,182 ft) via Letdar to THORUNG PHEDI (4450m/14,600 ft)
Day 10: 6 hrs THORUNG PHEDI (4450m/14,600 ft) via THORUNG LA PASS (5416m/17,796 ft) to MUKTINATH (RANIPAUWA) (3800m/12,467 ft)
Day 11: 5 hrs MUKTINATH (RANIPAUWA) (3800m/12,467 ft) via Jharkot, Khinger, Eklaibhetti, JOMSON for lunch and onto MARPHA (2670m/8,760ft)
Day 12: REST DAY in MARPHA (much needed)
Ok, so the truth is out. We are not actually in Nepal, we are in Philly. But we are determined to finish this entire blog for posterity's sake and before the real world totally consumes us... so here goes.
Arriving to Yak Kharka on Day 8, we went to bed with crystal clear Himalayan sky lit up by a huge moon. We awoke to... snow! It was short-lived, thankfully, and we continued to close in on the pass which began to materialize before us as we rounded the final valley. We shared the trail with some wild horses and hairy yaks, adding to the increasingly surreal and astoundingly beautiful section of our trek. Just before reaching Throung Pedi, we come across a huge landslide area.
Our guide Thakur goes ahead and safely waves us across, while we look up for falling rocks and down the steep embankment to the glacial river while trying to maintain balance on a skinny trail. Death awaits by a vertigo-induced fall down the cliff OR by a huge rock smacking into you. Good times, good times.
But seriously, we had a big scare on the trail. We rounded the corner on one section and came upon our Kiwi friends Becs and Claire, who had left a good ten minutes before us. Claire was crouched down and as we got closer we saw blood streaming down her cheeks and a terrified look in her eyes. Moments before they had scrambled to find cover while some huge rocks came tumbling down, and just as Claire thought it was over she lifted her head, looked up, and was hit square in the jaw by a huge rock. We managed to get her across the landslide area and up to Thorung Pedi for some rudimentary first aid, all the while remaining incredulous that she was in the exact wrong spot at the exact wrong time, but feeling quite lucky that she wasn't thrown
off the cliff down into the river. She forged ahead and finished the entire Annapurna Circuit in record time, and found out when she got home that she had basically shattered her jaw with no less than 6 fractures (this from a girl who had multiple jaw surgeries in her history). Claire, if you are reading this, you are my hero!
Now the air is extremely thin, and a few weary trekkers have already turned back to lower altitudes to relieve the symptoms of Acute Mountain Sickness. We ingest some serious carb fuel, go to bed early, and leave for the pass at 4AM the next morning. A 3 hour climb to the roof of the world during sunrise goes down as one of the best experiences of our lives. It is clear humans did not evolve to live at these altitudes, and our lungs demand a slow and steady pace. Jac has a bit of a headache, and I've got a bit of a natural high, but we are lucky in that we make it to the top with few ill effects. We share the trail with a virtual United Nations - 4 Israelis, 2 Kiwis, 1 Swiss,
2 Dutch, 3 Spaniards and a group of Aussies.
We take the obligatory pictures at the top, the highest pass in the world that you can reach without major mountaineering equipment - 17,769 feet! See our Intro Annapurna blog to see how this compares with other major peaks in the world. Our rest up here is short, as we our eager for more oxygen in the air at lower altitudes and to escape the negative 5 degree celcius temp and searing wind chill factor. The views across to the Mustang Valley are incredible, and we are lucky to have such clear skies. Another 3 hours down, which was brutally difficult on shins and quads, to arrive in Muktinath, a dusty almost Western town, where I half expected John Wayne to bust out of some saloon doors in a fistfight with Genghis Khan. Most of the men in town are engaged in an archery competition, and we see some of our first signs of civilization as some motorcycles cruise through town (apparently airlifted here by helicopter).
After Muktinath we punish ourselves with a 5 hour hike down the valley to Marpha, the Apple capital of Nepal, famous for homemade
SNOW!
You have to be prepared for pretty much every weather condition on the circuit You have to be prepared for pretty much every weather condition on the circuit
apple pie and some ruthless apple brandy. After our huge 6 hour hike the day before, and with rain and thunderstorms engulfing us for the last hour, our porter Raj is about ready to mutiny so we decide on a rest day.
We have a great time recovering in Marpha, exploring cobblestone streets amdist the whitewashed houses and hiking above the village for views of the wheatfields and apple orchards alongside the river. We discover some unbelievable curry fusion quesadillas for lunch, and have our first taste of meat with some tough but tasty yak steak for dinner. This is one of the most scenic villages on the entire circuit, with the ominous presence of Dhaulagiri looming above. We could have stayed for weeks.
Recommendations:
Go slow up to and over the pass - we saw plenty of people dealing with AMS.
We wished we had stayed in Jharkot after Muktinath (or instead of Muktinath) - a beautiful clifff-perched village, as well as Kagbeni. No need to rush the day after the arduous pass crossing.
The Himalayan Inn & Bakery
Looking up the valley to Thorung Pedi
The Thorung La Pass is up and over the left side of this picture in Jomson has THE BEST Dhal Bhat on the Annapurna Circuit
Get the corner room over the vegetable garden (in the back) at the Sunrise Guest House in Marpha
Neeru's in Marpha has the best chicken quesadillas outside of latin america.
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