After a while when you have a great family, fabulous friends, a reasonable income and respectable health we tend to get a tad complacent and take things for granted. Every once in a while we need to get out of our comfort zone and do something that we think isn’t normally possible.
Its altogether better to shake ourselves up once in a while rather than be shaken up by life with things we cannot control.
This was my motivation to drop everything and head off up north to the Himalayas. The call of the mountains bit me hard and from starting to think of a 3 day trek in Uttarakhand to mulling the altogether too crowded Everest Base Camp, or the Annapurna Base Camp that is full of steps.
I decided to do the slightly longer and more varied/ scenic Annapurna Circuit.
So I’m off today to Kathmandu and drive out 7 hours to Besisahar to start my trek from Syange on the 5th. The Annapurna circuit mini is a classic 10 day 115km trek starting at an altitude of 850mtrs climbing over the Thorong La pass at 5416m. With just a guide and a Kindle for company, Weather, legs and Altitude sickness permitting, I should cross the High pass on 14th April and end the trek at Muktinath/ Jomsom and fly back to Kathmandu via Pokhara.
The weather should range from a warm 25C in the lowlands to a freezing -20C and snowfall as we go higher.
The trek starts in the Valley of the Marsyangadi River and climbs steadily over the Thorong La with a rapid descent to Muktinath in the Kali Gandaki Gorge. There’ll be long days of walking and longer days of walking but, there’s gonna be apple pie waiting.
As of today, there’s snow on the passes… I’m not sure if I want that snow to remain by the time I get there for the romance, challenge and talking credits of climbing a snow covered pass or let it melt and give my untested and weary legs an easier climb.
Flight to Kathmandu
3rd April 2023
The morning was a little anticlimactic. There was no big sense of excitement as I boarded the flight from Bangalore. On the flight from Delhi to Kathmandu I was looking at everyone boarding and trying to guess what they were going to Nepal for. Trekker, Trekker, School vacation, Vietnamese girls soccer team, Hippie, a dude not showered for a month…
As we approached Kathmandu, we were cruising at about 8000 mtrs we were flying adjacent to thick deep clouds below us as far as the eye could see. And still at that height in the distance we could see massive snow covered peaks rising above those clouds sounding an unheard challenge. Below us were just miles and miles of ridges and canyons, like a crumpled piece of origami – evidence to the brute force of the continental impact that created these mountains.
To not feel small here is to not feel anything at all
It’s finally dawned upon me, after months of planning, that I was actually going to be alone for 2 weeks starting today. That itself is probably the biggest challenge.
Checked in to the Ramada for probably the last warm and soft bed for the next 10 days. I took a walk around the Thamel neighbourhood in search of wool underwear noticing that it looks and feels exactly like any small Indian town Bazaar street.
Boxers found, I can sleep peacefully. Onward to day 1
The Drive to Besisahar
4th April 2023
Woke up at 4:30 cursing that I couldn’t get back to sleep. Finally dozed off till 6:30.
Made a choice not to have breakfast at the hotel and got in to drive from Kathmandu (1400mtrs) down to Besisahar (760mtrs)
My “English speaking” guide named Yam is with me chattering away, conjuring visions of a talking tapioca and a fat potato (me). Breakfast was Maggi by the side of the road under the backdrop of the lesser mountains that surround Kathmandu.
Quite the roller coaster of a drive with roads broken in equal parts by construction and landslides, temperatures climbing to 38 C before we finally reached Besisahar and checked into the New Manaslu Hotel.
In a dramatic change of weather so manifest of the mountains we had a 15 minute hailstorm here just after we reached with accompanying snowfall visible in the higher regions followed by bright sunny skies. The next few days are going to be telling.
Is Thorong La going to be a tease…
Nothing to do now but sip on some tea and pray to the weather gods.
Take a long nap, prepare for tomorrow, the 1st day of trekking.
