Teizeen:
We returned from 3 weeks in Nepal a few days ago. We spent 16 days on a trek called the "Annapurna Circiuit Trek" which circuits around the Annapurna Mountain range with views of several 8000+ m peaks - some of the highest peaks in the world. Below are some quick facts about our trek:
Total trekking distance: about 300 km (186 miles)
Highest elevation: 5416m (17,769 feet) at Thorung La Pass
Highest change in elevation in a single day: 1600 m (5250 feet)
Average hours walked per day: 6 hours/day
Number of days Teizeen was cold at night: 6 out of 15
Number of photos taken: hundreds, more than we are willing to admit
Who won the blister competition: Ryan (his blister's were way more impressive than mine)
Sickness: One cold each, not altitude sickness
Number of showers Teizeen took: 7
Number of showers Ryan took: 5
Number of 'hot' showers that went cold mid-way: 4 out of 7 (for Teizeen), 0 out of 5 (for Ryan)
Number of days walking in rain: zero
Enough of facts, let's get to the gritty details.
We had one guide and one porter. Having a porter, at first, felt a little bit elitist, and felt a little bit like cheating. So, I spent the first few days of the trek pondering whether I could do this while carrying my own pack for 16 days - and I would alternate between "yes, I could do this with my own pack" when we were talking on flat or slightly downhill terrain and "no, there's no way I could" when we were on a steep uphill or downhill gradient. And everytime I saw independent guideless and porterless trekkers on this well-travelled trail, particularly women, I would be inspired.
We met many trekkers at the various 'tea house lodges' from around the world, chatting over dinner. We met a family from Colorado with two boys (aged 10 and 12), who were in the midst of a year-long trip around the world! Knowing how I had felt climbing up to Chame (one of the night stops) the night we met them, I was totally impressed with the boys' attitudes - this trek is in no way extreme, but it isn't easy. If I was 10 or 12, I'd be complaining.
We saw avalanches - 3 within an hour on a single day, high up on the mountain slopes as the sun warmed the top layers of snow. Cold fast raging rivers carrying glacial water paralleled much of our path, providing water to all the little villages along the way. At each village, there was food of all sorts (Snickers bars, Nutella, beer, etc), being brought uphill by people or mules, up to high elevations - the cost of each of these items increased as we got higher and higher.
Porters. Porters deserve a story of their own - especially human porters. We saw porters carrying planks of wood about 10-feet long over steep terrain on trails that lined steep cliffs, manouvering with great skill. Porters carrying stones, firewood, huge furniture, other trekker's gear, and our most favorite porter of all, the chicken-porter who was carrying a cage of a dozen or more chickens on his back!
The mountain views were some of the best we had ever seen - huge huge mountains that just don't look quite as big in photos as they did in real life.
When we got to the big pass (Thorung La Pass, 5416 m), which was snowed in, a 6-hour uphill climb, and at an altitude where the air is much thinner, we found ourselves huffing and puffing every 10-20 steps. My guilt about not carrying my own pack dissipated completely. The winds were nasty, blowing hard powdered snow into our faces, stinging us like pin pricks so that we had to duck. It was like getting a cold hard slap in the face every time a large gust of wind picked up. My toes (under 2 pairs of socks and thick leather boots) froze to numbness, and we stopped in a small lodge on the way up to thaw them out with a nalgene bottle filled with boiling water. And, my Marmot mittened gloves proved all their worth as my usually ultra-cold-sensitive fingers remained warm in their cosiness for the full ascent. We descended from the pass into less wind and soon, warmth, and then, no snow at all within a matter of hours. This was our longest day; almost 9 hours of walking up and down in a single day.
Now in the extreme warmth of the Varanasi sun, back in India, our cold mountain experience seems surreal. We've got some remnants of our trek - blister scars, and slightly sore muscles still, as well as a little trimming of fat around our waists. But the latter will be lost now that we are back to tasty oily Indian food....
We returned from 3 weeks in Nepal a few days ago. We spent 16 days on a trek called the "Annapurna Circiuit Trek" which circuits around the Annapurna Mountain range with views of several 8000+ m peaks - some of the highest peaks in the world. Below are some quick facts about our trek:
Total trekking distance: about 300 km (186 miles)
Highest elevation: 5416m (17,769 feet) at Thorung La Pass
Highest change in elevation in a single day: 1600 m (5250 feet)
Average hours walked per day: 6 hours/day
Number of days Teizeen was cold at night: 6 out of 15
Number of photos taken: hundreds, more than we are willing to admit
Who won the blister competition: Ryan (his blister's were way more impressive than mine)
Sickness: One cold each, not altitude sickness
Number of showers Teizeen took: 7
Number of showers Ryan took: 5
Number of 'hot' showers that went cold mid-way: 4 out of 7 (for Teizeen), 0 out of 5 (for Ryan)
Number of days walking in rain: zero
Enough of facts, let's get to the gritty details.
We had one guide and one porter. Having a porter, at first, felt a little bit elitist, and felt a little bit like cheating. So, I spent the first few days of the trek pondering whether I could do this while carrying my own pack for 16 days - and I would alternate between "yes, I could do this with my own pack" when we were talking on flat or slightly downhill terrain and "no, there's no way I could" when we were on a steep uphill or downhill gradient. And everytime I saw independent guideless and porterless trekkers on this well-travelled trail, particularly women, I would be inspired.
We met many trekkers at the various 'tea house lodges' from around the world, chatting over dinner. We met a family from Colorado with two boys (aged 10 and 12), who were in the midst of a year-long trip around the world! Knowing how I had felt climbing up to Chame (one of the night stops) the night we met them, I was totally impressed with the boys' attitudes - this trek is in no way extreme, but it isn't easy. If I was 10 or 12, I'd be complaining.
We saw avalanches - 3 within an hour on a single day, high up on the mountain slopes as the sun warmed the top layers of snow. Cold fast raging rivers carrying glacial water paralleled much of our path, providing water to all the little villages along the way. At each village, there was food of all sorts (Snickers bars, Nutella, beer, etc), being brought uphill by people or mules, up to high elevations - the cost of each of these items increased as we got higher and higher.
Porters. Porters deserve a story of their own - especially human porters. We saw porters carrying planks of wood about 10-feet long over steep terrain on trails that lined steep cliffs, manouvering with great skill. Porters carrying stones, firewood, huge furniture, other trekker's gear, and our most favorite porter of all, the chicken-porter who was carrying a cage of a dozen or more chickens on his back!
The mountain views were some of the best we had ever seen - huge huge mountains that just don't look quite as big in photos as they did in real life.
When we got to the big pass (Thorung La Pass, 5416 m), which was snowed in, a 6-hour uphill climb, and at an altitude where the air is much thinner, we found ourselves huffing and puffing every 10-20 steps. My guilt about not carrying my own pack dissipated completely. The winds were nasty, blowing hard powdered snow into our faces, stinging us like pin pricks so that we had to duck. It was like getting a cold hard slap in the face every time a large gust of wind picked up. My toes (under 2 pairs of socks and thick leather boots) froze to numbness, and we stopped in a small lodge on the way up to thaw them out with a nalgene bottle filled with boiling water. And, my Marmot mittened gloves proved all their worth as my usually ultra-cold-sensitive fingers remained warm in their cosiness for the full ascent. We descended from the pass into less wind and soon, warmth, and then, no snow at all within a matter of hours. This was our longest day; almost 9 hours of walking up and down in a single day.
Now in the extreme warmth of the Varanasi sun, back in India, our cold mountain experience seems surreal. We've got some remnants of our trek - blister scars, and slightly sore muscles still, as well as a little trimming of fat around our waists. But the latter will be lost now that we are back to tasty oily Indian food....
glad to hear you made it around. can't wait for pictures!
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