The Kongma La is the highest, longest and least used of the three high passes we hope to traverse on this trek. That’s a good thing, as our transit of it yesterday was the toughest day’s walk I can ever recall.The walk did not start on an auspicious note. The braided stream that we had easily crossed the previous afternoon had partially frozen overnight, creating ...
Three blogs to be published today now that there is Wi-Fi again. November 10th We have spent the last couple of days climbing towards the first of the three high passes on our trek. This morning we parted company with the principal trail to Everest Base Camp and worked our way up a side valley to the cluster of trekking lodges known as Chhukung. Located at ...
We are slowly climbing and acclimatizing as we head toward the first of the high passes that we will traverse. We have been pacing ourselves so that we are now at almost 4000 metres without any symptoms of altitude sickness.Last night we stayed at Tengboche, the site of the largest monastery in the Khumbu. We attended the afternoon prayers, where two dozen monks droned their ...
Namche Bazaar is the largest town we will see on our trek. Nestled in a horseshoe shaped hillside at 3400 metres, it has most of the amenities a trekker could desire. There is a hospital, innumerable shops offering trekking gear, several banks and money changers, a (Canadian trained) dentist, and, near and dear to a trekker’s heart, at least three bakeries. What makes all of ...
At two o’clock in the morning, 30 hours after arriving in Kathmandu, we were on a bus speeding (literally) towards an airport at Ramechhap. The four hour ride took us along some truly unnerving stretches of road hanging over cliffs and fording rivers. At dawn we suddenly found ourselves in a world of tourists at a small, remote airstrip. Catching a flight at a small airport ...
Nepal 2019Last year’s trek in the Annapurna region was such a great experience that I have returned for another trek. This year we are three. My nephew Matthew is back for some more well-earned beer at altitude, and we are joined by my old friend Bruce, who walked a portion of the Appalachian Trail with me two years ago.This year we are hoping to walk ...
On our final, twenty-fourth, day of trekking we walked for three hours, mostly on the road. As we descended towards the highway the temperature rose and the intensity of human activity increased. We completed our walk at Naya Pul, a town on the highway that was the historic terminus of the Annapurna Circuit before the more recent road construction. From Naya Pul the highway to ...
Yesterday we got up before dawn to watch the sunrise at ABC. The moon and Venus were bright, and we could see small groups of trekkers with headlamps making their way up from Macchapuchhare Base Camp. I am not much for sunrises, but it was a beautiful transition. There were scores of trekkers actively engaged in taking dozens of pictures. At times I could hardly ...
It was a pretty three hour walk, with 900 metres of climbing, to reach the Annapurna Base Camp (ABC). We crossed stretches of old snow in avalanche chutes, before bursting into the sunshine above the Macchapuchare Base Camp. Helicopters buzzed overhead, much closer than they were yesterday.There are four lodges located at ABC, at an elevation of 4130 metres. There is not a cloud in ...
It was a pleasant climb through a mature hardwood and bamboo forest today. We are in a narrow valley leading into the Annapurna sanctuary, so despite the clear conditions we did not have direct sun until 10:30 am. There are monkeys in the forests we passed through, but unfortunately we did not see them.All morning there were helicopters thumping past us in both directions. It ...