MY HIMALAYAN TREK ; ANNAPURNA BASE CAMP (4120m)

Namaste !

That’s the word you hear on the trails between Dhampus and Annapurna Base Camp. Sometimes it’s a loud and cheery Namaste and sometimes it’s muttered below your breath. It all depends on whether you are dancing downhill or trudging uphill at 45-degree inclines. The other thing you hear is ‘Hajoor’. The Nepalese way of greeting each other with respect. These friendly mountain people have lungs of steel as they support city dweller trekkers like us on the 7-day adventure. 

It was with great excitement that I landed in Pokhara from Kathmandu to join our gang of 10 first timers + 3 guides. We were greeted with scarves for good luck. We needed it. We then made our way on Scorpios up the mountain roads till they couldn’t get any further past Dhampus. That’s where the trekking adventure began. Our Day 1 started with an undulating route followed by an uphill trudge through a lush green forest. We stopped for lunch and had the most delicious and juicy apples and of course the first ‘daal bhaat’ feast of the trip. Loaded up on the carbs which are so necessary for the mountain climbing. Post lunch we were greeted by cold rain. Uff! After a sumptuous meal we put on our raincoats and navigated one of the toughest descents of the trip. Some in the group got really spooked with the slippery rocky descent. A few spills but no one seriously hurt .... just developed a healthy respect for the Himalayas. 

Post the rocky descent we had a flattish walk through pretty villages before ending our Day 1 six-hour trek at Landruk. A beautiful little village with views of the majestic Annapurna South (7219m) and Hiun Chuli (6434m). The best part? Masala Chai, followed by popcorn, followed by Thongba (a local wheat wine). There was supposedly a hot shower that Parasar marketed to all of us which I only sampled for a few seconds till the frigid Himalayan water reminded me that Solar heaters don’t work particularly well in the evenings. 

Next morning day 2 views were spectacular. Blue skies and snow peaks. But they were soon overshadowed by our trip to the local Landruk school. 37 cute kids studying till class 5 in the lap of the Himalayas. We shared some stationary that we had got for them and they serenaded us with the Nepalese national anthem. 

From there we went straight down the valley to a fast gushing river. A beautiful bridge with Buddhist flags made the view so calming. Glad it did because what ensued after that for the next 4 hours was anything but that. A gruelling trek straight up the other side of the valley to the village of Ghandruk. This is the village of the Gurung people or also known as the Gorkhas. One third of this village is either in The British or Indian army. This uphill trek really tested us. Hearts pumping, sweating profusely we wearily made our way up. 

A waterfall on the way up lifted my mood but as we reached Ghandruk village my calves started cramping really badly. Cursing the fact that we had to climb another 500 steps to reach our accommodation right at the top of Ghandruk.  I trudged on. Only to quickly jump aside as the first of many colourful ‘mule trains’ made their way noisily through the village street. At the hotel we pampered ourselves with a beer and a leg massage. Suddenly life was not so bad at all. We could see Landruk and our Day 1 lunch place far far away. A sense of satisfaction that we had come a long way already. Another 6-hour trek day was crowned with the spectacular Machhapuchhre 6997m (fish tail) peak. Very very unique peak which looks like god held in his fingers and twisted it just for fun. 

Day 3 was started with a luxurious breakfast of eggs and coffee basking under the sun and Annapurna + Machhapuchhre peaks. A local Tibetan refugee showed me her wares and I bought some local jewellery, cloth belt and a fossil (salikran). Post breakfast we went down to the original Ghandruk village dodging mule trains and once again descended into a valley to reach a gorgeous river. The sun was shining bright and we were sweating like crazy as we made our way to Lower Sinuwa. Along the way I won a local ‘Panja’ competition and that helped with my ego and put a spring in my step as I started to ‘run’ up to Upper Sinuwa. A spectacular 2 hours later we reached a suspension bridge that spanned across the valley. All 287m of it. Spectacular sight of the New Bridge. As I walked the bridge, I felt one with the mountains, the rivers the sky. I felt so good that right at the Center of the bridge I dropped and did my 50 push ups to celebrate my 50th birth year. The counting was helped a little by Gokul, my guide, who had become a confidante through the last 2 days. His beaming smile pushed me up many a steep mountain side. Soon we reached our tea house for a break after a bit more painful struggle of walking uphill (serves me right ... push ups? ... What was I thinking?!)

After a bit of a debate within the group we all headed down to the Hot springs right at the river side. What a sight! the calm hot springs alongside the raging freezing river. Soon the spring water got a bit warm. What did we do? We took a dip in the raging Modi Khola Himalayan river flowing right beside us! Crazy cold. Could not feel my feet for a few seconds. Right back into the hot pool. Bliss??. After the fun and games at riverside came the walk back up. Powered by ‘daal bhaat’ we vigorously climbed and climbed. Till we were stopped short by a hail storm. In an instant the sunny weather turned cold and windy. My shorts did not feel so good anymore as we huddled together chomping down on chocolate and nuts. In the shelter we met other trekkers from all parts of the world. Nepal trekking is really a melting pot. I saw young teenagers to 70 year olds from every part of the globe. Each finding himself / herself at peace in the majestic mountains. Once the rain stopped we trudged upwards to a beautiful hotel at Chomrong. Fancy cappuccino and a glorious hot water bath was the highlight on arrival. The peaks were sparkling in the evening light. Here we had a decision to make. Half the guys had work pressures that needed them to leave early. Five of us made a call that we had come too far to give up now and would continue on. 

Day 4 started early with omelettes. We bit adieu to Parasar, Pashupati, Viru, Umang and Nikhil. Took a nice group pic and then as a new band of 5 started the most intense day of the adventure.

The plan was to traverse Chomrong to Deurali..... most people do this over 2 days but we were attempting to go all the way in 9 hours. Things started off well... a walk down the valley with more mule trains, a lovely small temple shrine and glorious colourful Buddhist prayer flags fluttering against the deep blue skies.

We then started going uphill (key learning of the trip : what goes down must come up!) at a steady pace set by Samip. We were all feeling great and making progress ahead of plan. We stopped for a lemon squash, protein bar break and then embarked on what had to be the prettiest part of the trip. Imagine a lush green forest ablaze with red and pink rhodendrons, interrupted by massive clumps of bamboo.

The only sounds were birds chirping and the Modi Khola river tumbling towards the plains. This undulating forest walk was genuinely therapeutic and transformed the 5 of us into a meditative state. The only thing you were focused on was the path immediately ahead. Step by step we made progress. We passed lovely little rest places called Bamboo, Himalaya and stopped for ‘daal bhaat power’ at Dovan.

Man these carbs were awesome for supporting the ~4000 calories we were burning every day. Just to be sure we had enough fuel we also got a plate of fried rice too. So yum and satisfied with the meal under the bright sun that I ended up nodding off for a few min right at the table. Not for long ... we had miles to go. The post lunch trek was completely different from the mornings easy forest trek. We went up ... I mean straight up. In fact so ‘up’ that we hit our first snow line. We passed snow till we reached the top of the mountain to see our first view of the glacier. Massive and frankly a bit scary. To lighten our mood, we heard ‘every breath you take’ which was weirdly appropriate as we huffed and puffed and took our infinite steps in the mist. Was good to know that God was watching ‘every step we took’. Because right then we hit our first ice obstacle. We had to traverse across a frozen mountainside. Samip (chief guide) urged us on saying move quickly since the area was avalanche prone. Not a good thing to hear for tired souls who had been on their feet for 9 hours. The air was cold, and the surroundings had become rocky and icy. No more comfort of the green forests we had gotten used to. This is what the high-altitude Himalayas are all about. We crossed a frozen waterfall and finally saw our rest house at Deurali. In failing light, we took a picture to celebrate surviving the toughest day of the trek. That night folks were a bit uneasy. The news was that weather was turning bad and that the rest of the route was ice bound and dangerous. It was decided that we would cut short our trek and take a chopper out. That night we diligently ate our garlic soup (an antidote to AMS or Acute Mountain Sickness). We had been having garlic soup all through the trip but that night we felt like we needed it all the more.

There was a large group from Bangalore in the common dining room and it did not make me feel better to hear their leader say that if anyone felt a headache or nausea, they should immediately report it and get ready to descend. That evening a fellow trekker from HK had reported heart palpitations as soon as he reached Deurali and had to be rushed Off the mountain on a chopper. This was a nervous evening as we crawled into our sleeping bags. The highlight was the hot water bottles that made it snuggly and comforting. Physically we were damn tired after 9 hours and mentally we were torn .... we had worked so hard to get here were we giving up too soon? My mind was not comfortable with going back but I had to respect Samip’s (the lead guide) decision to leave because of bad weather up ahead. 

Day 5 I was up at 3 am. I stared at the craggy unfriendly mountain tops. Not a star in the sky. No moon. Cloudy and dull. Just then my whatsapp pinged. It was Ashwani... he too was going through the mental anguish of leaving. He wanted to trek ahead and was willing to take the risk of getting ‘stuck’ and taking a few more days if needed. I jumped into the group and said, ‘ I am in’. Parasar (now back in Kathmandu) and Anand (with us) were super supportive and said, ‘do what you got to do’. Suddenly the energy was back! 

I had zero aches and pains from the previous days 9 hours. It was as if my body was now used to the grind.

7 am on Day 5 and Ashwani and I were off towards MBC (Macchapuchare Base Camp) with Gokul (guide) and Amrit (Porter). It immediately felt like we had made the right decision.  It was a glorious morning as we navigated upwards. We came across a fantastic waterfall where we built a ‘stone chorten’ shaped like a stupa with 7 stones before moving ahead. We purposefully were walking very slow to acclimatise as the air got rarer. We crossed a cute (flimsy) bridge accompanied by a mountain dog and hit snow and ice Which stayed with us for the whole trip. It was spectacular landscape... we were walking up the mountainside along the V shaped valley with the frozen Modi Khola below us. We traversed many ice falls where we had to walk single file very carefully.

 One slip and you would find yourself hurtling down a steep incline down into the icy river. Perhaps this was the reason Samip was talking us out of proceeding further. Luckily our trekking boots had solid footing (I had given Gokul my second pair of trekking boots) and we made it across safe. This was a short trekking day of 2.5 hours since we moved up to 3700m and we were getting breathless after every 20 steps. It was only later that Ashwani told me that he had started to get a headache due to the altitude (a symptom of AMS) on the trek upto MBC. We arrived at MBC and made ourselves comfortable in the dining hall with Garlic soup and masala chai. Ahead of us was a massive daunting glacier that was the way upto ABC (Annapurna Base Camp).

We could see dots of people snaking up the ice and disappearing into the mist. It looked high and impossible given our breathlessness. We had broken away from schedule, so we were prepared to sleep in the public dining room since we had no reservations. But thanks to a resourceful Gokul we ended up getting 2 beds in a small shared room. Our roomies that night was Kim (korea) and Ejaz (Dubai) who also reached MBC that day. Post lunch we slept for a bit to help acclimatise. When we woke up the weather had turned nasty. A cold wind started up, followed by icy rain and then snow. It snowed hard for 4 -6 hours that day. Groups of returning climbers came in shivering and caked with snow. Once again, our ability to carry on was in doubt. I put on all the layers I had. 2 thermals, a shirt, a jersey and a goose down jacket. The good news was that we had great wifi and the pics and supporting messages from friends and family helped re-build our optimism and energy. We even indulged in a bit of a snow ball fight and enjoyed the white blankets that were heaped on us. By the evening Ashwani’s headache was still there. He was looking a bit worried. He proceeded to do 45 min of Pranayam and immediately felt much better with increased oxygen levels. That night we enjoyed garlic soup, a fresh hot pizza & momos in a crowded dinner room with people from Australia, Poland, Germany, Japan, HK, France etc. A virtual United Nations Meeting at 3700m at MBC. We discussed our plans with Gokul, and it was decided that we will wake up at 3:30 am tomorrow and depending on weather decide whether we trek up to ABC or take a chopper to go back. That night I had trouble falling asleep. Mix of excitement and nervousness about what tomorrow would bring. 

Day 6 started at 3:30 am. We woke up before our alarm. It was -5 degrees. Biting cold but clear skies ! The plan to trek ahead was on. We quickly collected our gear and put on ‘chains’ for our boots to prevent slipping in the snow and ice. What happened next will be etched in my mind forever. 

Up the ‘daunting glacier’ in pitch black darkness I could see small headlights snaking their way up.I did not have my headlamp but Ashwani did. We began our trek up. I was feeling great and began making good progress up the glacier. An absolutely surreal experience of trekking up the snow bathed in moonlight and surrounded by 7000m peaks of the Himalayas. Clearly someone was watching over me as I inched up. Absolutely still, absolutely quiet. The only sound was the ice crunching below my feet and the heaving breath every 20 steps. Despite the altitude I had a great rhythm going by focusing on my out breath.

After an hour of trekking in darkness the sunrise began. What ensued was nothing short of spiritual. The mountain tops turned into molten metal. The power of the sun beams lit up the entire Annapurna massif. Annapurna South, Annapurna I, Gangapurna and Annapurna III were literally on fire. Stunning. 

We had reached ABC after 6 days of trekking. The celebratory board was right there in front of me. But for some reason I did not feel like celebrating, instead I felt like praying. I veered off to the ridge on the right and bent down to pay homage to Ma Annapurna. A true balance of massive power, serenity and beauty. I kneeled down and touched my head to the snow. 

Walking around ABC I found a bunch of memorials of people who had died trying to summit Annapurna. A reminder that climbing these 8000m majesties is very dangerous.  Post a few photographs with Ashwani to celebrate our arrival I grabbed a cup of hot tea and took off to find a place of solitude. I found it beyond the ABC huts (collapsed due to excessive snowfall) on the ridge overlooking the icy morraines, icy lakes and glacier. I sat there for an hour. Still. The sun was out, it had warmed up and I felt like I belonged in the lap of Annapurna. I recorded a few personal messages and got ready to take the chopper ride back to Pokhara.