Highly Elevated 1

Anannapurna Circuit

(That’s an Annapurna Circuit, not the Annapurna Circuit).

I love the mountains here, so much! I was so super inspired by our shorter trek a couple of days ago that I immediately decided to do a longer and higher one. Such bliss is impossible to resist.

The great thing about trekking in Nepal is that it’s completely flexible. I mean, you need a trekking permit for certain areas, like for the Annapurna Conservation Area, which is the place I decided to go.

But besides that, you can just go, with little planning. There’s small villages in the mountains, where you can get a bed and some food, as well as snacks or whatever else you need en route.

A lot of trekking people come to Pokhara specifically to hike the very well-known Annapurna Circuit, which is a long distance hike of around a couple of weeks, give or take a few days. The circuit is generally packed full of trekkers these days, all accompanied by expensive guides.

It’s amazing, apparently.

But it also has a couple of higher altitude crossings, one of which is the 5400m high Thorong La pass, and at this time of year it’s totally covered in snow, and can be tricky. The temperatures on the circuit right now are extremely cold, well below zero, given that it’s almost winter. The other day it was 22 degrees below zero up on the pass.

That really puts me out of contention unfortunately, as I don’t have gear for very cold temperatures, nor any trekking boots or proper rain gear.

Luckily though, the other day I met an old Nepali guy in Pokhara, Narayan, a retired trekking guide, and he told me of a beautiful place to go as an alternative to the Annapurna Circuit, where I could do my own circuit trek for a week or so. The trek is still inside the Annapurna Conservation Area, and overlooks the same beautiful mountains in the Annapurna Massif, but at slightly lower altitudes.

And I think I can wing it with the gear I’ve got.

And without a guide.

Stepping Up

So I grabbed a local bus to a town called Nayapul, and off I went, offline map app at the ready.

Biker boys preparing for a trip

Yet another local rattler

Follow the red arrow

The beautiful small town of Nayapul

There was a wedding happening in the main street

As soon as I walked out of town I was in the forest.

I followed this guy upstream for awhile

There were the most beautiful villages on the way

And the occasional guest house or restaurant that no longer operates.

Covid devastated tourism in Nepal, as it did all over the world. But in Nepal, where tourism was a much higher percentage of the economy than for most other countries, the sudden disappearance of tourists completely bankrupted millions of people.

Thriving businesses disappeared overnight, many never to reopen. And while there’s been a big recovery since then, that hasn’t happened everywhere. Around here, visitor numbers are still less than pre-Covid levels.

Workin’ the fields

Nearly ripe rice

Most of Nepal is mountainous. As soon as you hit the hills it’s steep. There’s no such thing as rolling hills.

The paths for the first two days consisted of thousands and thousands of stone steps, paths that were built years ago, and are used by locals, and the occasional trekkers like me.

Beautiful Tibetan/Gurung settlement

The views from a couple of swing bridges

Ram Bam Thank You Ma’am

Close to my destination for the first night, a tiny settlement called Ulleri.

Sunset from the guest house balcony

And the view from my room.

English Laura was in the little dining room in the evening, we chatted for hours. She’s super interesting - she basically works freelance, taking groups of people to various countries as a tour guide, and she’s also a mountaineer, with her own trekking company.

She’s just spent a month trekking in the east of Nepal, in the Everest region, checking out some new routes to take mountaineers from the UK next year. Sounds fun doesn’t it.

I was tired at night, I’d climbed over 1000m just in the afternoon, over a distance of about 12km.

The Only Way Is Up

And the next day was no different.

The mountains are so bloody steep here, there’s no such thing as a gentle climb, or a smooth descent.

Breakfast khanna

It was clear-ish in the morning, and the views were stunning.

Heading up, through Ulleri

And into the bush. It was forest pretty much all day, and, I gotta say, it was magnificent.

As I climbed I eventually walked right into the cloud, it was bloody freezing. And beautiful.

But occasionally the clouds parted.

Ghorepani village. My destination for the day, after a long long uphill walk. I found a room, it was deliciously warm, as the sun was streaming in through the window. So I lay on the bed to soak it in, and, completely involuntarily, crashed out for over an hour.

When I woke the clouds had enveloped the village, but I decided to climb Poon Hill anyway, about 350m up, in the hope I might get a view.

Ghorepani from above

Yeah, so it was a tough one hour climb, and this was the view from the top.

Incredible cloud and fog scenery

I wasn’t too worried. I was coming back tomorrow morning, for sunrise.

The food prices at the kiosk are about ten times more than for the same things down in Pokhara. Every ingredient, and the gas needed to heat them up, has to be carried up here on someone’s back. Or a horse’s.

It was freeeezing at night. I wore everything I own to bed, including my thermals, beanie, scarf, and puffer jacket, and I had 2 cheap doonas on me as well.

It was well below zero.

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Go to Part 2