After all the pollution, almost unbearable heat and constant ogling locals in India, we were ecstatic to cross over to the mountainous, beautiful country of Nepal. On our way to the resort town of Pokhara Rosanna actually had her head sticking out the bus window just to take in deep breaths of the crisp, cool air. We headed straight to Pokhara after entering Nepal to get organized for our trek around the Annapurna mountain range.
Talk to most experienced travelers about Nepal and inevitably the discussion turns to the Annapurna Circuit. A long 14-20 day trek; touring remote Nepal villages through two major river valleys, around the Annapurna mountain range (Annapurna I at 8091m being the tenth largest peak in the world). The trek is 211 km long and takes you from 800m to 5416m, back down to 1200m, and then mercilessly back up to 3200m on your second to last day, before ending at 1100m.
You know I was not really thinking about the length of the walk until we started going on the second day, and it kind of dawned on me, 211 kilometers. When would you ever hear someone talk about deciding to take a long walk to Whistler from Vancouver, but that would be comparable. Rosanna and I could not have been more excited for the exercise. After months of busses, trains, and planes, we were looking forward to two feet and a heart beat.
The big question before the trip was do we take a guide/porter. Being fairly independent people we quickly dismissed taking a guide. Never had one for our wedding why start now. We contemplated taking a porter for the two of us for a bit, but decided that we would rather just do it all ourselves. We had complained enough about being so out of shape so what better way to get healthier than to lug around our 17kg backpacks with us for the trek!? So armed with a big map and a guide book away we went. The nicest part of the trek was the number of towns on route that offered accommodation and food. It’s amazing though how rested you can feel after having someone else cook your meal and not have to set up your tent and campsite everynight.
The scenery following the Marshyangdi River on the east side of the pass was impressive. We started in the terraced fields of the lower valley and made our way, as the river gorged narrowed, through pine forests and old rock slides, to views of snow capped mountains. After four days of hiking (7 to 8 hours a day) we arrived in the high alpine town of Manang. Our guide book recommended a couple days in Manang (3500m) to acclimatize, we were more than happy to agree and took advantage of our day of rest. The big talk around town was of Thorong La pass and acute mountain sickness. Acute mountain sickness can occur when people climb too quickly at high altitude, not allowing the bodies to adjust to the lower levels of oxygen. Given that the Thorong La pass is at 5416m (17,769ft) is only about 500 metres shorter than Canada's tallest peak (Mount Logan 5959m), it is definitely considered high altitude (supposedly you can feel symptoms passed 2500m). We spoke to the travel clinic in Vancouver when we were getting ready to go, and they told us that the best medicine for mountain sickness is to go down if you feel some of the symptoms. We passed a few people heading down who didn’t make it over the pass and knew that some were feeling the effects of the high altitude. Needless to say we were a bit nervous about the next few days, but would use or common sense, follow our guidebook, and take our time getting up near the pass. We took the two days recommended to get to Thorong Pedi (the main base camp for the pass at 4450m), and got ready for a long climb and descend day the following day up and over the pass.
