ANDY POKHARA, NEPAL. 8th JAN 2014

Trekking  Preparations...exciting times!

The next morning we woke up with a list of equipment to buy and hire as outlined by Norsang Lama, the Manager of High Camp trekking and soon to be our guide, to prepare ourselves for the upcoming trek, there was a list of drugs to buy for the first aid kit - some of them pretty pokey stuff but in Nepal, as in India, you can pretty much pick up anything over the counter if you can pronounce it (and sometimes even if you can't).

We also needed waterproof gloves, gaiters, more layers and to hire walking poles and industrial sleeping bags from Shakar as our UK ‘cold weather’ efforts simply were not up to the job. We spent very little on completely kitting ourself in Nepali North Face gear (Shhh, dont tell North Face) which is likely to only last the 2 weeks of the trek but the whole wardrobe cost less than a pair of genuine North Face walking socks so i’m not complaining!

On the whole when we were finished I really did think we were ready for anything and if anything we would be taking far too much gear and would not use half of it, still, its nice to feel prepared for anything! This shopping trip took us a while and we spent the rest of the time completing personal admin.

Met up with the hotel guys again for another evening meal out and headed off for an early night to prepare for the next days early start and travel to meet Norsang at Besishar (there seem to be multiple spelling but this is the one I am going for) it looks like another 4 hour bus ride to get there to meet with Norsang and then another hour traveling together to the start point of our trek, then finally get to stretch our legs for a bit!

This is probably a good spot to tell you a little about the Annapurna circuit and some of the things we were not so familiar with before we started (sorry if you know or have done this before as I know at least a few of you have - you scan skip ahead to the next post ;) )

The Route:

So the length of the trek is a little sketchy and is estimated at between 200 KM and 250 KM depending on the exact route and how you are measuring the elevation changes. This is largely irrelevant as everything up here is measured in hours walking time and I am not entirely sure how but Norsang’s estimates of our speed were almost always bang on! So we would set out from say, Jagat and walk to Chame and Norsang would say 6.5 Hours and sure enough we would be sat down with a cuppa in 6.5 hours time.

We had scheduled 16 days to complete the circuit following the below route for those who are interested and want to look it up on google maps:

We were starting in Bulbule (for some reason every time I hear this I can’t think of anything other than Michael Buble, sad, I know).

Besishar-Bulbule 1 Hour bus ride
Bulbul-Nagdi 25 min flat walk
Nagdi-Jagat up to 1400M
Jagat-Darapani up to 1900M
Darapani-Chame up to 2690M
Chame-Pisang up to 3100M
Pisang-Manang 3540M
Manang-Yakkkarka up to 4000M
Yakkkarka-Thurong Phedi up to 4510M
Thurong Phedi - over Thurong La pass (Highest Point at 5416M) - down to Marpha at 2670M
Marpha-Kalopani - at 2530M
Kalopani - Tatopani at 1190M
Tatopani-Gorepani at 2750M
Gorepani-Poon Hill 3210M
Poon Hill-Nayapul 1025M then in a taxi back to Pokhara for hot chocolate and a well earned rest!

Walks were planned to be between 5 and 8 hour days, slow and steady and the shorter days were scheduled where required to prevent us ascending too fast to acclimatise to the altitude

The elevation map of the Circuit route with hours walking time and altitudes etc. You may need to zoom in!

A Handy information board at Taal indicating onward trekking times and elevations...

The Altitude

It goes without saying that neither Ana or I have walked in ‘Nepali high altitude’ before but we have both been up Scafell Pike with my mum and dad, the highest mountain in England, I was trying to remember how high this was to tell our guide but I had forgotten (it is 978M for reference if you are reading this Norsang), We have also headed up Snowdon before and this is a little taller at 1,085M although at the top we did stop in the cafe for a coffee and hot chocolate and paid on a credit card so that puts it into a bit of perspective ;)

The high point of this planned route is Thorough La at 5416M, this is higher than Everest base camp (another popular trek that you can complete in Nepal (at 5,364M) this means that the route an timings are planned with altitude and aclimatisation in mind, over 3000M we were taking Diamox which is supposed to assist with Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) which can present in mild and severe forms from headaches and nausea to much more severe and debilitating conditions, other things to watch out for ‘HACE’ and ‘HAPE’ are very serious but I will leave you to look these up and the remedy for any of these conditions is to descend immediately.

Another precaution against AMS is to drink water, a lot of it, in fact as Diamox is a diuretic and we were drinking so much, it did feel like I was more renting the water for a temporary period rather than really buying it, maybe this is why it’s not included in the bill!

Also over 3000M we were ascending much less altitude per day to permit acclimatisation and also practising climb high sleep low which is also supposed to help, either through the day if the route allowed or at the end of a days trekking if not, we would ascend to a higher altitude for a short period of time (30 mins or so) and descend again to sleep at a teahouse.

The Temperatures

So in Pokhara at 700-800M high the weather was lovely and sunny and warm but looking ahead in weather forecasts it looked like the temperatures at altitude could drop really low at night, as low as -15C, as a result we ditched the sleeping bags we had both brought with us thinking they would be OK and hired some cold weather bags at the hotel. However during the day when walking the temperatures looked pretty high - nearly 20C some days! Lots of layers is the key to keeping cool and warm!

The Teahouses

The Annapurna Circuit is a teahouse trekking route, this means that each day you start at a hostel type arrangement where hot food and drinks are available and in our case we always had a private room but in most places a shared bathroom. The accommodation is pretty basic and not really airtight or sealed, in the lower camps this gives you a real outdoorsy camping feel, at higher altitude it gives you hypothermia and a terrible nights sleep if you are not careful! But it does mean no camping required and hot food and drink are available as required and extra blankets on request.

The ‘Off’ Season

Recommended trekking times for the Annapurna circuit in most reference books are February to December. The summer Season starts in April time and by May it should be lovely and clear on top of Thorung La. During the winter times it is not uncommon for the high Pass (Thoroung La) to be impassible due to snow and it will be closed as a route. Please note that somehow Ana and I have ended up trekking this rout in the 1 month of the year not advised, more fool us...

Dal Bhat

A national institution in Nepal, Dal Bhat is the national dish of the Nepalese. It is a dish they are very proud of and it varied from place to place but the essential ingredients to a Dal Bhat as far as I have seen are a Daal or lentil soup, the type of soup wil;l vary and may sometimes be kidney beans or differing types of lentils. A mountain of rice (or Bhat), typically modelled on everest this takes up at least half the plate and I think there is a requirement for it to be at least half a foot tall.

Dal Bhat will also usually come with (depending on availability) a vegetable curry, Achaar (spicy pickle made from whatever veg may be available) sometimes some greens (i.e.spinach) and sometimes some meat if available and if requested.There is a lot of pride in this national dish and the best bit is, if you eat it all, more appears at no extra cost. There is a national pride in ensuring that your guest is full and sated and cannot eat any more!! Brilliant!!

Hmmm - good Dal Bhat, and it just keeps coming!

‘Nepali Flat’:

If a guide uses this term, you will end up at approximately the altitude you started off at, irrespective of the gorges you rappel into or the cliffs that you scale between the 2 points (I exaggerate a little but you get the idea)...

Nepali Flat.... :)