TREK REPORTS SPRING 2010
TREK REPORT – Annapurna Base Camp, March 2010
Wednesday 3 March
Early coffee in my room at the Shambala and then
a taxi to Greenline. Had to wake up the taxi driver
and he consequently never smiled once, all the way
into Thamel. Mangal was waiting to meet us at the
bus depot and we got away on time. The traffic was
dreadful. It took 2 hours to reach the rim of the
valley but we had plain sailing after that and our
driver made up a little time here and there. Rudan
was waiting for us with the motorbike (my favourite)
and the Lake Diamond family were happy to see
us back just five days after my last departure from
Pokhara with the Kali Gandaki group.
View on Day 2 from Ghandruk
Washed the dust off , had a cuppa and then headed
off to Café Olive, Dorje’s (Moondance owner) new
café. In a beautiful garden setting with a small but
tempting menu. Pasta al pesto, salad and white wine
– very civilised!
Met Mark from UK, a lovely bloke who, just quietly,
rather took my fancy.
Thursday 4 March
We decided on a second night in Pokhara. With
time-a-plenty Robyn, Lahar and I took the boat
ride across the lake and up to the Peace Stupa. We
were a bit too late, at 9.30, for clear mountain views, though the early
morning had been wonderfully clear on
the terrace of the Lake Diamond. I had
quite forgotten how nice this walk is.
The jungle abounded in playful langur
monkeys, huge butterflies showed us
the way and the Peace Stupa itself was
a stark white against an azure sky. I had
seen this stupa far too close-up just
recently when our flight zoomed in
from Jomsom and the stupa appeared,
rather shockingly, just outside the left -
side window. I swear it was at eye level.
We walked down the far side of the hill
and linked up with a micro and then a
bus back to Lakeside. Having alighted
just near Moondance it was a logical
choice for lunch. Meanwhile, Mangal
had the permits under control so we
got our final packing done and turned
in early, ready for our big adventure to
begin in the morning.
Friday 5 March
A huge day! Our early taxi took the four
of us, me, Mangal, Lahar and Robina to
Nayapul (New Bridge) and after a quick
cuppa we were off on the long, easy trail
to Syauli Bazaar. It was very warm and the climb to Upper Syauli was a killer.
Didn’t realise at that point that it would be twice as
hard in the afternoon. How could I have forgotten
how hard this trail is?
We were testing this route for an October trek. As we
staggered into Ghandruk three hours later my one
thought was ‘too hard’ for average customers. The
stone stairs seemed endless and, in a final cruelty,
got much steeper at the end of the day.
Our lodge was a beauty. Neat little rooms with tiled
bathrooms attached. Too tired to shower, almost too
tired to eat, Robina slunk off to bed at 7.10. I was
reading Alice Seebold’s The Lovely Bones which kept
me going till about 9 pm with bats whizzing around
me on the terrace. No sleeping bags required.
Saturday 6 March
Slept really well all night and awoke to a great view of
Machhapuchhre. Porridge for breakfast (we are on
trek now) and then off through the beautiful village.
Around a corner, in a deeply-shaded trail between old stone houses, Annapurna South and Hiunchuli
towered above us. Blindingly white with skirts of
rhododendron woods and petticoats of row upon
row of green terraced fields. Cameras out! Shock
horror! I had left the memory stick for the camera
in the laptop back in Pokhara. Luckily Robina had
a camera, which I immediately ‘borrowed’ for a few
shots. We all have our own idea of what constitutes
a good composition. All the pics in this report are
from Robina (thanks).
Photos were soon forgotten as we soon started our
first ascent. Again, we thought it was pretty hard up
to Kimrong, but that was only because we hadn’t seen
the rest of the trail. Over a black tea we surveyed the
task ahead. It looked huge but not impossible from
this angle. After a half hour descent on a broken trail
we crossed the river for a lunch stop.
 Wonderful new plants to discover – this one is incredibly soft to touch |
Lunch was in a pretty, old lodge with jasmine over
the veranda and a sweet-faced 3-month-old baby
in a bamboo basket hanging from the veranda posts. The baby had so many clothes and blankets
I thought they were trying to cook it but it seemed
contented enough in its thick swaddling. Omelettes
and chapattis were worth waiting for, especially with
a Mars chaser. Seeing the afternoon’s climb from
this angle we figured we would need all the energy
we could get. We were right.
Hells bells it was hard. Taking just 20–30 steps
between rests we had the hardest part done in about
one and a half hours. Mangal and Lahar caught us up
after a rest; just after we had taken a wrong turn over
a landslide which occurred last monsoon season. I
thought the trail we were on looked better-used than
the rough dirt track he was advocating. Of course, as
usual, I was wrong. When will I learn?? After just
a few minutes we reached the top of the landslide
impact zone. There was an extremely rough exit
route (well, sort of) over crumbling earth, under
brambles. With a few new footholds hacked out by
Lahar and then a hearty pull up from him we got up
to the proper trail in about 10 minutes. Robina did
the same with Mangal. Phew! Glad I don’t have a
group of regular customers with me today.
We took some tea at a little bhatti on a stunning ridge
at the top of the climb and the last hour was almost
reasonable. The sun had clouded over, much to our
relief, and the soft light showed the little houses,
farms, vegie gardens and animals to advantage. We
ran into ‘Miss Korea’ again as we entered Chomrong
around 4.30, clad only in the fabulous purple silk
polka-dot pyjamas I so coveted. She had been there
since 1.20. She is young!
It was a struggle to believe Lahar that our lodge of
choice was still some five minutes away – uphill!
What else. Passing a lovely-looking place called
Superb View Lodge I decided that enough was
enough. Being one of the highest lodges in the village
with windows looking over the valley it turned out
to be a good choice. So good we decided to stay here
and have a rest day tomorrow. Thank goodness.
Sunday 7 March
The view this morning was magical. I had awoken
several times during the night and gazed out of my
bedroom window at the mountains bathed in the
light of a large, waning moon. As the sun rose the
mountains were truly spectacular. Really, anyone
who can find the time to get to Chomrong and
see this view should do so. Annapurna South and the long ridge joining it to Hiunchuli were sharply
defined against the bluest of skies. This is what we
came here for!
Robyn and I used our rest day for hot showers,
clothes washing and resting our weary legs. We are
only on our third day but the first two days were
killers. As I write this the mountains have clouded
over but watching this happen over the last 6 or 7
hours has been awesome. Hope we can bring the next
group in by an easier route. Spent a lovely evening
around the hot table with Iris and Sirko who spent
the day descending several hundred metres for a
bathe in the hot springs. It was a long walk back but
they were so happy walking without packs that they
didn’t mind.
Monday 8 March
We got up quite early to witness another spectacularly
clear sunrise. It appeared a little snow had fallen
overnight. We were soon off on our next big day
out. We could see a fairly steep trail rising above
Chomrong but unfortunately it took 45 minutes
down a stone staircase to reach the bridge across
the river at the start of the climb. This is one of the
frustrations of this particular trek – so much up and
then so much down. The climb was certainly severe
but we paced ourselves and were quite happy to
reach Sinuwa at 11 am (3 hours). The dining terrace
was on a high ridge but unfortunately the mountains
were already beginning to cloud over. Sitting in
the deep shade we had to endure the braying of an
English ‘drop-kick’ bragging that he had raced from
Sinuwa to ABC in five hours the previous day and
come back in the same astounding time today. What
he had seen along the way heaven only knows – his
feet mostly!
The afternoon was not quite as hard with short
stretches of level trail through lush forests with
bamboo, rhododendrons, ferns and lots of tiny
flowering strawberries and miniature violets. We
gained a couple of hundred metres but just as the
environment started to become a bit more alpine
the trail descended on yet another steep stone
staircase – one of the steepest I’ve seen. After about
20 minutes we had lost all the altitude we had gained
after lunch and found ourselves in the rather dreary
collection of lodges known as Bamboo. It was a bit
rustic but clean. Single storey rows of rooms with
outside loos. Pretty standard. Meeting Patricia and
Maria was the highlight of our afternoon. They were happy to meet some fellow trekkers who found it all
a ‘bit hard’. At 4.30 it was chilly but not cold. After
four days of slogging up and down hills we are still
at just 2,250 metres. Doesn’t seem like enough for
the effort.
Tuesday 9 March
After a surprisingly cosy night in our rustic lodge
(food was excellent so I tipped the cook) we set off
really early on a lovely cool morning. The walk to
Dovan was easy. This was the first easy stretch we
had seen. In just over an hour we were sitting down
to an early cuppa and then heading off for the twohour
climb to Himalaya. It was very steep in places
but the forest was shady and lush with bamboo,
rhododendrons and a wonderful combination of
hitherto unseen trees. Tiny pink flowers adorned the
trail and pale pink primroses clung in clusters to the
moist, rocky ledges. At Himalaya we sat in the shade
for a good lunch, watching the owner’s cat playfully
trying to trip him up. We met the nice Brits we had
met in Chomrong – already on their way back down
– they raved about their experience.
It was up, up, up again after lunch. When the jungle
finally gave way to an open view it was wonderful
to finally see the river we had been able to hear
roaring below us for hours. We saw a big langur
and heard others rustling the canopy overhead.
Some of the river crossings on stepping stones and
wobbly wooden log bridges were pretty exciting.
Near the end of the day we crossed the first of many
avalanches.
Deorali is on a high ridge with great views up and
down the valley. The hot table was created with an
old kerosene cooking stove. We didn’t care – it was
really warm. We met Jane and Jacinta from Adelaide.
They were doing it tough. They were doing the same
trek as us – in just 8 days, compared to our 12!
Phew!
 Crossing this avalanche was no fun at all! |
Wednesday 10 March
Early start again today as we wanted to cross all the
avalanche chutes before 10 am. There had been quite
a lot of snow over the past few days and the trail
was soon slippery with snow underfoot. The regular West bank trail was closed due to avalanche danger
(and the fact that the trail was buried under tons of
snow). We crossed the raging Modi Khola on a tiny
iron bridge and then scrambled laboriously over
huge boulders and through impossible gaps until
we crossed back to the West bank further upstream.
There were still three big avalanche spills to cross on
tracks no wider than your foot. Not much danger of
avalanche early in the day but the slippery ice and
snow slowed our progress dramatically. Some of the
access points onto and off the avalanche itself were
quite precipitous and I was nervous more than once.
I don’t think I would be comfortable bringing clients
up here. Thanks Robina for being such a trooper as
my ‘guinea pig’.
It took about three and a half hours to reach the
Machhapuchhre Base Camp on a fine, sunny
morning. We were shattered but very happy to have
made it this far. It was warm enough to eat lunch
outside but the afternoon was a very different story.
First the surrounding peaks disappeared into dark
grey clouds. Thunder boomed and a torrent of frozen pellets gathered speed until they were just
pouring out of the sky. We fetched our pillows and
heavy quilts and snugged down in the dining room
to watch ten different kinds of snow come and go
all afternoon. We felt sorry for Jane and Jacinta,
somewhere on their way to the Annapurna Base
Camp.
I awoke at 4 am for a quick dash to the loo. The view
outside was stupendous. The far peaks behind the
ABC, Hiunchuli, Annapurna South, the Baraha
Shikhar Range and Annapurna I were glowing faintly
by the light of a million stars. So glad I got up!
 Dozing away the afternoon at the Machhapuchhre Base Camp |
Thursday 11 March
Very early this morning Robina, Lahar and I downed
a big mug of black tea and then trudged up the hill
towards the Annapurna Base Camp. We didn’t find
it as hard as we expected. The fresh snow gave good
traction and the slope was fairly gentle. Still, above
4,500 metres everything feels a bit hard. Once the
ABC came into view we decided that was enough
for us. We had no plans to stay at the upper camp and had decided yesterday not to dally too long. We
wanted to return across the avalanche trails before 10
am on the way down as there had been a lot of fresh
snow overnight – a potentially dangerous situation.
The array of peaks in the rising sun was certainly
a just reward for our efforts. Being the first people
outdoors had its rewards too. An unearthly silence
in which to gaze in awe at this magical place.
The decision to go down fairly early turned out to be
a good one. The snow and ice-covered trail had been
difficult on the way up but positively murderous on
the way down. Several times I just sat down in my
waterproof pants and went sliding down the trail.
Better to slide down on your ass than fall on it! Lahar
and Mangal were a huge help and by 11 am we were
munching on vegie omelettes and chapattis in the
sunshine at Deorali. WE HAD DONE IT!!!
The rest of the day was comparatively easy although
our knees were shot fairly early in the day. We made
a short camp at Dovan. I am writing this at the hot
table. I have had a bowl of warm water to wash the dust off my face and neck and just cracked a bottle
of Khukri rum – to share with Lahar of course. Daal
Bhat (for me) and Momos (for Robina) ordered for
dinner. Alles gut ja!
Friday 12 March
It was a clear morning as we set out for Bamboo, just
an hour away. We enjoyed a cup of tea there (God,
we drink a lot of tea on these treks) while watching
the sun spread quickly down the steep walls of the
valley. We were sitting in sunshine by 9 am. This
section, from Dovan to Bamboo and then the next
couple of hours to Sinuwa is the finest part of the
trek for walking. The trail still rises and falls 200
metres at a time and the stairs outside Bamboo are
a killer as an ascent. However, this area abounds in
life, especially after the snow and rock and ice of
the upper reaches of the valley. Butterflies and birds
abound in the lush forests and the rhododendrons
have come out even more since we passed this way
four days earlier. The forest is a tangle of mosscovered
trees with an exotic array of other epiphytic
plants growing on them.
 The bad weather just crept up the valley towards us at the MBC |
We started our lunch in the shade at Sinuwa but
clouds soon thickened and a few spots of rain
saw us digging out our ponchos. The rain actually
held off till we were safely in the lodge (again)
and the descent from Sinuwa was not as hard as
we expected. The ascent back to Chomrong up
thousands of perfectly formed stone stairs was hell
on wheels. Actually, Robina handled it better than I
did. Every time we climbed a hundred stairs it just
gave us a better view of the next two hundred. We
finally dragged ourselves into the Splendid View
five minutes ahead of a massive thunderstorm. A
dazzling flash of lightening and then a massive clap
of thunder which reverberated around the valley
and the heavens opened. It only lasted ten minutes.
The lodge is full tonight as the season really kicks off
big time. I am writing this in bed at 8 pm and expect
to be asleep within the next five minutes!
Saturday 13 March
Aware that we didn’t have much ground to cover
today, we slept in late and took a long, leisurely
breakfast on the terrace. This lodge’s name ‘Splendid
View’ says it all.
It was a fine morning and we soon grew hot
descending steeply on the sunny ridge. The first
lodge we tried at Jinnu Danda was brand new but
they didn’t want to give us single rooms so we kept
moving. The older pyrostigia-covered lodge we next
tried sported two huge spiders on the wall before we
even checked out the rooms. We decided to take the
shared room back at the other lodge. The rooms on
trek can be quite cheap but the lodge owners make
their money selling you $20 worth of food while you
stay there. Single rooms don’t make much economic
sense to them – which I totally understand. We had
been lucky up till that point. The locals did think it
pretty funny that I was scared of harmless spiders
but honestly they were ‘quite large’.
 Heaven is a few clean undies! |
 Exquisite orchids cascading out of the damp rock walls |
We washed a few clothes at the outdoor laundry tap
and whiled away the afternoon reading and eating
peanuts from the shell. Sutjal, the owner’s son was
entertaining. As the evening came down a large group
of French arrived, then ‘Miss Nebraska’ and her Kiwi
boyfriend came down. They had ‘overcooked’ their
legs the day before walking from ABC to Chomrong
(no surprises there). A great Mexican couple came in late and we had a rather jolly evening. It rained
most of the evening as Robina and I played on the
porch with Sutjal making noisy toys from empty
Pringle tins containing pistachio shells.
Sunday 14 March
A very lovely day’s walking. We dropped down to
New Bridge through a lush tangle of interesting
plants which included massed white orchids with
yellow throats. They were growing in their hundreds
on the moist rocky overhangs. We traversed
farmlands where impossibly dirty ragged children
called ‘hullo’ – it was a piece of cake after the past
ten days. After a juice at New Bridge we farewelled
the Mexicans – again – and crossed the Modi Khola
on a nasty, old wobbling bridge. It had extremely
fine wire mesh sides which gave no sense of security
at all. There were more of these to come.
The walking between New Bridge and Landruk
was wonderful. We were walking very close to the
tumbling river, under verdant cliff s of dripping
water, ferns and small waterfalls. The trail was exquisite and, until Landruk, quite easy. The climb
up to Landruk was hot and seemed to go on forever.
Even when we reached the village it still took half
an hour to climb up stone stairs between old stone
walls (and therefore hot) to reach the Sherpa Lodge.
Lahar knew we would like this one. We got two big
clean rooms with attached bathrooms. Just what the
doctor ordered. We got our hair washed – after 7
days – and there was just enough sun afterwards to
get it dry. While the skies looked ominous I took a
chance on an afternoon stroll. No pack, walking on
a fl at track. Heaven. Just on dusk we had another
sudden cloudburst and a big hailstone shower. We
enjoyed the best veg curry EVER and then sat on
the roof watching nature’s sound and light show.
Massive sheets of lightening illuminating the whole
valley and the thunder echo reverberating around
the same hills. Stunning stuff .
This bridge was not as securely attached as you might imagine
Monday 15 March
At first it was very easy today. Staying high above the
Modi Khola we traversed farmland on a very level
trail. It didn’t last. Up through the woods on old stone stairs (again!) until we finally made Deorali at
midday. It was quite hot in the sun but there was a
good breeze coming up the southern side of the steep
ridge on which this little cluster of lodges sits. We
could see all the way down to Phewa Tal, the lake at
Pokhara. After lunch we made Pothana so easily we
decided to keep going. I’ve never fancied the lodges
in Pothana much. The trail here is on a wide, closelygrazed
field between open woodlands. The ‘lawns’, as
they appeared, were dotted with thousands of tiny,
bright blue gentians. There were rhododendrons in
full bloom along the way and healthy-looking cattle
browsing in the woods on either side of us.
Damphus came up quite quickly and we found
terrific rooms in a new lodge. Hot showers were
‘the best since I left Melbourne’ declared Robina.
Pity the beds were like rocks. The mattresses looked
impressive but appeared to be made of wood. The
entire range of mountains was spread before us at
dusk in a somewhat ethereal mixture of clouds and
haze. Very beautiful if not perfectly clear.
Tuesday 16 March
No view at all this morning for the first time in twelve
days. Our plan was to skip the conventional trek exit
at Phedi and walk right out along the ridge in front
of Damphus almost all the way back to Pokhara. It
was a great day. The farmland was varied, the people
friendly, we saw no rubbish, no shops and NO
OTHER TREKKERS! Great.
We climbed up the hill at the end of the ridge, past
traditional round adobe houses with thatched roofs.
We soon reached the place run by the family of
Gouma and Biswa from Marigold Lodge in Pokhara
(see the Kali Gandaki Trek Report). The place had
impressive organic vegie gardens, a bio-gas plant
and well-built rooms. It is not quite finished (the
dining room is still under construction) but will be
a great destination for next season. It took about
ten minutes of jungle-bashing to reach the road.
A well-made dirt road led downhill all the way to
Kalinchok and we didn’t see a single vehicle on it
all afternoon. We had a bit of a scare when a farmer came shouting down the road for us to hide in the
bushes as a ‘angry buffalo’ was coming down the
hill. It seemed a bit melodramatic but the buffalo
did look cross. We found a taxi at Kalinchok and
within ten minutes we were at the Lake Diamond in
Lakeside. Phew! That was a big trek.
 These mean buffalos just don’t get out of the way |
Wednesday 17 March
We had no energy today so we just dagged around
Pokhara, bought some new clothes, had lunch at
Moondance and dinner at Café Concerto. When
I washed the worst of my clothes I could scarcely
believe the colour of the dirty water. Had I really
been wearing these clothes??
Thursday 18 March
Luxury. A whole day of sitting on our backsides in
the bus. Nothing quite like it after a long trek. Met an
old friend Roopshri on the bus, and the large group
of ‘frogs’ from Jinnu Danda. Also reunited with the
charming Patricia and Maria who shared lunch with
us at the Riverside Springs resort, along with their
Dev and our Mangal.
It was great to be back home at the Shambala. My
tiny bathroom was half-full of dirty washing, the TV was tuned to BBC World Service and, as I write this
final entry in the journal, I’ve just cracked a bottle of
Gossips Cabernet Sauvignon. We’re back!
It was a spectacular trek but definitely ‘too hard’
for consideration for future clients. I feel it took all
my strength, patience and determination. I think
it would be asking too much of people to pay for
this level of endurance. Still, very glad we did it.
The Base Camp in the middle of the Annapurnas
is really a wonder to behold. Robyn had told me
she was ‘not that fit’ and to ‘go easy’ on her but she
still hung in there and joined me on what was the
hardest physical challenge I’ve faced in a long while.
Thanks Robina!
Cheers from Germany,
Teresa
