First off, mountains. It took a couple of days for us to wend our way up the Marsyangdi Khola to the point where I first saw snow-capped peaks. It's worth mentioning that the hills along the way were still stunning, far bigger than anything available in Australia. The general scale of the Himalayas is hard to describe; even the foothills rise so high that the sun sets around about 3:30pm, and the mountains can almost completely fill your field of view. The rivers foam and churn through valleys that are hundreds of metres deep, as trekkers stride over precarious suspension bridges bolted into sheer cliffs.
The most impressive thing is how densely the hills are populated, relatively speaking of course. It was unusual to walk for more than fifteen or twenty minutes without seeing evidence of human civilisation - random Buddhist stupas, Maoist slogans daubed on rock faces, or just another friendly tea-house.
Finally we reached the mountains proper. They begin by hiding at the top of valleys and peeking over the passes, but within a couple of days walking they surround you completely. Being in the midst of such massive natural structures gives one a sense of impermanence, but also security. It was an awe-inspiring feeling to walk out the door every morning and suddenly realise, Hey, I'm in the highest mountain range on Earth.
After trekking up the Marsyangdi for six or seven days, we started to get into the serious altitudes. After spending an extra night in Manang (3600m) to acclimatise, we progressed slowly up the valleys towards the Thorung La. As we walked, the climate turned cold, always falling well below freezing and night and often not much hotter during the day. Mountains were everywhere, and the landscape was cold, dry, and arid - inhospitable and beautiful.
Crossing the Thorung La itself was a challenge, well and truly. At just under 5500m, the air pressure on top of the pass provides very little oxygen, and every step is a struggle. Moving too fast leaves you winded, and your body goes into overdrive to compensate - my resting pulse rate was 124bpm, and my respiration rate not much slower. We left the high camp at 4.30am, and although it was hard to roll out of bed so early, there were things that made it worthwhile; not least the beautiful views of the sun rising to the east of Thorung Peak and the hard-packed snow fields. Finally, around about 7.00am, I stood on top of my own little world.
The trek down from the other side of the pass took us through the Kali Gandaki valley, which is essentially a high-altitude desert. Instead of snow-capped mountains, I was enveloped in wind, dust, and vast river plains. We travelled past the holy temple at Muktinath, through Marpha (apple brandy country!), and onwards towards the thriving town of Jomsom.
We concluded the trek off easily, passing through Kalopani, Tatopani (home of the best hot springs this side of Rotorua), and Ghorapani. I made the traditional early morning pilgrimage to Poon Hill to take in the gorgeous sunrise view of the Annapurna massif, before a solid day trekking downhill towards Birethanti and Naya Pul, from whence a taxi carried me to Pokhara. All in all, I walked something like 200km in seventeen days, with a sum altitude change around about 12000m. Good times.
Up till now, most of the photos I've posted have been landscapes. But the trek was really made by the people I shared it with. I had two fantastic guides in Dawanuri Sherpa and Hari (whose last name I never quite discovered), and met many other fascinating characters, like Salt Lake City Tom, and Andy and Alice, a honeymooning couple from Brisbane. Good times were had.
And finally, let's not forget the wildlife!
Thus endeth a really stupidly long blog post. As always, all photos are links, and there's many more shots up on my Flickr page - please explore them! Until next time...
1 comment:
hey man, amazing pictures, looks like fun...
will have to visit one day... very jealous!
Post a Comment