Nepal Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) trek

Hello everyone. We are back. We weren't attacked by the Yeti, we didn't get crushed by an avalanche and didn't die of hypothermia!!!!

We began our trek 9 days ago and in that time we have trekked over 85km, up and down, over hills, mountains, rocks, rivers, trees, fields, suspension bridges and waterfalls. We have spent 9 days in weather ranging from balmy sunshine to snow and hail. We have been down in the center of valleys alongside the ever present river that we always seemed to be following and have been up as high as 4,130m at the Annapurna base camp at the center of the Annapurna mountain range in the Himalayas. And have we enjoyed it? We sure have.



Each day we woke about 6:30am, had breakfast and then left about 8am with our guide Bharat Gorkha ( By the way he is an excellent guide and if anyone wants to come to Nepal and use him he can be contacted at bharatgorkha@gmail.com ). We each carried our own rucksack within which we had our clothes and equipment for the 10 day trek.
We usually stopped for lunch between 12 and 1pm and then had another 2 to 3 hour walk before reaching our guest house for the night.


For the first couple of days the weather was a little cloudy and we couldn't really see the mountains ahead of us, but a lot of the time we were in wooded areas so it didn't really matter. On day 1 I decided to get a closer look at the river (as seen on this photo)


What you can't see though is where I fell in after on my way back off of the rock!!! It was a little slippy and both feet went into the river leaving me with wet shoes and socks for the next couple of hours....lol

On day 2 we stopped at the local hot springs which were beside the river. The local people had built 3 small pools that were filled with naturally heated thermal water. On each side were steep hills with trees, plants and animals. And next to us was the cold river which flowed from the mountains. It was a lovely setting and we stayed for well over two hours.....
Day 3 saw us having lunch at 2,400m slap bang in the middle of a thunderstorm. Outside of our dining hall window where clouds and when the lightning came the thunder was instant. It then began to hail!!! After waiting a while the storm relented and it was just raining. We then set off in our new designer wet weather gear;




I kinda looked like a teenage mutant hero turtle whilst Erika (not pictured here although I swear I took a picture) looked like little red riding hood...It worked though, keeping us dry even if we did look a little silly ;-)

Day 4 saw us meet our first Langur monkey. Our guide spotted him sitting in a rhododendron tree ahead of us. It then jumped down onto a rock and left. After leaving the forest area we were walking along a mountain side through numerous avalanche areas. Whilst we were in the middle of one previous avalanche looking up at where the snow could have come from and posing for pictures, we heard a large "Crack". Lets just say we didn't hang around in that spot for much longer....Nothing came of it though. Luckily!!!!

By day 5 it was starting to get cold, especially when we stopped walking and at night. We countered this by managing to secure 3 thick blankets most nights. And wearing lots of clothes. It was pretty warm once in bed, although difficult to move because of the weight!!!! I must also add that hot showers had also disappeared and that all that was available was a "bucket shower". This involved standing naked outside in the shower room and washing with a bucket of hot water. As it was so cold, both of us had declined this option, our previous wash having taken place at the hot springs on day 2!!!! I had also decided not to shave on the trip (to save space and weight of shaving foam and razor) and was getting quite hairy....)


By the end of the day we had made it to the Machhapuchhre base camp (MBC) 3,720M. Machhapuchhre (commonly known as fishtail) is a beautiful mountain and has never been climbed to its summit. The only attempt was in 1957 by a British team. 2 climbers got to within 50m of the summit via the north ridge, but did not complete the ascent; they had promised not to set foot on the actual summit. Since then, the mountain has been declared sacred, and it is now forbidden to climbers, although our guide did tell us that some have illegally tried to climb and have ended up dieing in the process.


From MBC we made the last 410m hike to Annapurna base camp (ABC).
ABC was our goal and stood 4,130m above sea level..We had made it .....At ABC we were at the foot of the surrounding mountains and had a great view. When the clouds weren't around!

Next to us was a giant valley full of fallen rocks. This was the site of a glacier which had which was now buried beneath the rubble but was still moving and causing further large "cracks" to be heard and further rocks to fall from the far side...(pictured below)















Day 6 saw us leave MBC and head back home. We encountered another thunderstorm and we completed the section we were walking in record time apparently. This was mainly due to the fact that we were walking in the middle of a bamboo forest in the middle of a thunderstorm each holding a metal pole in our hands.......Probably not the best idea...

Day 7 saw us completing another assent followed by a descent, followed by an assent again. From here we were meant to walk along and go another 1000m higher!!! We knew that this was coming and were not looking forward to it at all. Our power was also starting to decline and we decided to change the route and and take a flatter route that was mostly downhill, it would also take us to the hot springs again :-)

Day 8 saw us at the hot springs and we went there with a couple of other people that we had met on the journey. We also got a taste of the Holi festival which was occurring that day. Which basically means that everyone gets covered in red powder. We didn't escape although we did get off rather lightly!!!!!













Whilst there we decided to alter our relaxing hot bath by taking occasional dips into the river (which was very cold).













In the late afternoon we stopped for our last night out in the wilderness at a really nice little village. We had a look around and saw some farming, carpentry and cooking going on. The also had some interesting crops in there fields. Not sure what they were though???












Day 9 saw us complete our final walk of 3 hours before getting in our cab and taking the hour and a half journey back to our hotel. We even got a free room upgrade. We now have a bath....Wooooo!!!!!