Annapurna Base Camp Trek (April 14-21, 2024)

                                                Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) Trek

                                    Vista Trekkers – “One Step Further, A Peak Higher”

                                                                April 14-21, 2024

              

                After my Kilimanjaro trek presentation in August’23, my buddies at Adarsh Vista got excited and the Vista Brunch and Trekking Club (VBTC) was formed. We started doing half-day treks around Bangalore once a month. In Feb’24 I met Padmaji on the Vista streets and she was going for the ABC trek in May. That got me thinking and the initial feeler to VBTC immediately had 8-10 people interested. Soon, we were signed up for the trek in April, the travel agent Shree (owner of Base Camp Adventure) was engaged, and we were working on our fitness. Finally, we were 12 (9 from Vista, 3 friends from outside) – Prakash, Chandan, Rakshit, Sumedha, Sreeram, Samyukta, Shashank, Sreekandh, PK, Akhilesh, Bindu and I. Our age span was quite striking: 11-56.

              April 13^th saw us fly into Kathmandu, check-in to Marriott Fairfield Thamel and get briefed by Shree and Shiva, our lead guide. We would have 2 guides – Shiva leading, Naba at the back, and 6 porters. We would carry our day packs. We had an 8-day itinerary, going up via Poon Hill (6 days), coming down direct (2 days).

              Catching the flight from Kathmandu to Pokhara was a little bit of a chaotic experience, but we all reached fine, boarded our minibus to Naya Pul and started the trek. No time to lose 😊

            The first day itself was strenuous: 10km, 3500ft ascent in 7hrs (including lunch). Initially we walked along a dirt road where vehicles also ply, later through a forest. At lunch we were introduced to the staple food “Dal Bhat” – a mound of rice, a bowl of Dal, potato curry, a green leafy vegetable, some pickle/chutney and a papad. It is prepared fresh, so takes time. The joke was that since it was 7hrs total, we could take 3 hrs for lunch, then we would need to walk only 4 hrs 😊 😊. We crossed a few suspension bridges, and then stared up a stairway to heaven (or hell as you feel like 😊). It turned out to be 3000 steps!! This was going to be a theme all through the trek, stairs after stairs, up and down, up and down…. They call it Nepali flat, go figure! We reached Ulleri as it was getting dark, the last ones getting loud cheers from the youngsters 😊 We did some stretches, a usual routine before and after the day’s trek. The lodge was nice, rooms had attached bathrooms with hot water and showers. We had the popular drink: hot honey lemon ginger, followed by a hearty dinner. In between was a short game of cricket in the hallway – Shashank had brought a bat and ball 😊

        

              Next morning, we were introduced to another local breakfast favourite, Tibetan corn bread with a curry (the bread looks like the eye of Sauron 😊). Then we headed off for Ghodepani. The ascent was more gradual this time, through forest area. We saw a lovely little pool and stopped to have some fun. We also saw a lot of ladybugs, and Shashank made us be careful not to trample them, such a cute kid. At the tea break, Bindu kept going and we only met her at Ghodepani! But we kept getting news of her from the people we met going the other way – “are you part of the supermom group?” (she was wearing a bright yellow supermom Tshirt), “are you the group of 12? She is far ahead” or “Are you the Bangalore group?”. It was really funny… as we got close to Ghodepani, we were treated to lovely views of rhododendrons, which were in full bloom all over – red, dark pink, light pink and white. We had lunch at the lodge, and people even did some shopping of shawls, Shashank bought a cute little metal crocodile, etc. We relaxed in the dining room in the warmth of the stove, which also heated water. Shashank gave us all nicknames 😊 We retired early, since we had an early start to Poon Hill for sunrise.

              Sreeram was ready at 4:15am to make south Indian filter coffee using his home filter, coffee powder and coconut milk, as he did every morning. We set off in the dark with headlamps, this time stairs all the way to the top, about an hour. There was a lot of traffic. It started getting light as we neared the viewpoint at the top, and we saw some lovely orange views of the Annapurna range and Dhaulagiri. Unfortunately, it became cloudy/hazy as the sun rose. But we enjoyed a lot, took some funky sun photos, met some locals and took a video of folk songs and I even got a picture with 6 pretty Nepali girls (and then never heard the end of it!) 😊We came back to our lodge for breakfast before we headed on to Tadapani. The weather was decent, mostly Tshirts and shorts during the trek, evenings/nights were a little chilly, but we had warm comforters at the lodges. Today was a descent, but as usual, it was up and down stairs. We continued to have lovely views of the rhodies, and later walked along a ridge with great views of the valley. 

            Sreekandh had us chant any shloka of our choice in our minds 200 times without distraction, which distracted us from the strain  of the trek 😊 We reached in the early evening after a long day, and were treated to great views of the mountains, and yoga and stretching led by Prakash and Sreekandh. And of course some cricket, but I was quite tired and took some rest. My and Sumedha’s knees were feeling strained, and we couldn’t bend our left legs fully. Now imagine using an Indian style toilet in that condition. Ok maybe not a good idea 😊The knee braces and hiking poles were a life saver through the trek!

              The next morning we had amazing views of the sunrise and first rays on Annapurna South, and PK wrapped in his comforter 😊 I was suddenly feeling very energetic, maybe the mountain air, and really enjoyed the walk down the stairs, across bridges and through meadows and forests. PK and I went up ahead, but were restrained by Bindu’s message. How unfair! We all even sang “Hotel California” and tapped the rhythm of “We will rock you” with our sticks. Chandan was our DJ, and the songs kept us company. It started raining as we reached Chomrong, but we all were just in the nick of time. We had a great comedy of errors. The first of 3 subgroups reached with Shiva, the last was with Naba, they couldn’t see the middle group of 3 and thought they were lost. Naba went ahead to look for them, and we were then told the last subgroup was lost. In the end, everyone was saying others were lost, but no one was actually lost!!! We had a good game of cards at the dining table, while I wrote my daily journal. Guess who won – our 11 year-old wise baby Shashank! The views from our lodge were amazing – layers upon layers of mountains shrouded in mist as the evening descended. I met a couple from Belarus who were coming down from ABC.

              New day, new destination (Himalaya village), same routine of pack, get ready, breakfast, stretch and leave with our backpacks and sticks. Prakash decided we were too boring (just kidding) and took a pony for the day. It was some experience, especially when the pony decided it wanted to eat grass from the valley slope on the side of the trail, and Prakash was left half hanging above the void below 😊 We had had sunshine and warmth and mist the past few days, this day it became rainy as we reached Bamboo for lunch, and after putting on and taking off our ponchos a few times, we kept them on. We went through beautiful groves of bamboos for a couple of hours. Shashank and Samyukta led us in singing some Ram and Krishna chants – “Ram Ram Jai Raja Ram, Ram Ram Jai Sita Ram” etc. Was so much fun! Later we came across a lovely waterfall flowing down a mountain face in many small streams, with dried grass between them, bright rhododendrons beside us, and a stream below. There was also a Varaha temple where we paid our respects. 

We had been walking about 10km every day, but today was 15km, 1000m ascent and 10hrs walk, so we were so done by the time we reached Himalaya in the rain. And next day was the steep ascent to base camp! Facilities were getting more basic, so we had shared toilets, and 6 people in one room in bunk beds. But the food was good and we needed it.

              We were in a valley with hills close by, so next morning we had great views, but couldn’t see the Annapurna range. We were excited that we had all made it this far, and were going to be at the base camp later on that Day6 of the trek. Time had gone by so fast! We had the Modi river roaring with us now for most of the way. The joke was that we spent multiple days walking beside Modi 😊We walked through large open areas now, with mountains all around and the river flowing fast in the middle, and beautiful weather. That sense of huge space was amazing, with rows and rows of snow clad peaks. Gangapurna was the most prominent. 

We crossed the river using short bridges a few times.  Suddenly we saw a large patch of snow and were walking on it, with a very pretty bridal-veil type waterfall close by. I even went to it and got wet. We reached Machhapuchhre Base Camp and had lunch. Later the weather became very foggy, we could sometimes only see 10-20 meters ahead. The snow also became more treacherous, so we wore our cramp-ons (spikes) under our shoes. Sreekandh and I were ahead and sometimes lost visibility of the rest, even though we were in a wide open space. At some point, we could see ABC far in the distance, but it wouldn’t get any closer, such was the expanse of space. The ground and slopes and mountains were all snow covered. Finally, after the last hour of trekking we started reaching the big yellow sign proclaiming “Annapurna Base Camp”! A loud cheer went up as our Vista Trekkers reached it one by one. PK and Shashank were especially tired, but we had all done it!!!!!! It was another 200m to get to the lodge, but what a feeling! 

Other than Bindu and I, everyone was doing their first long Himalayan trek in Nepal, and all had made it.

             We had a big celebration of spicy Indian snacks, sohan papdi and tea! That carried on at dinner – pizza, spaghetti, thukpa, ramen noodles, etc. Not much talk of Dal Bhat this time 😊Meanwhile we had a great viewing of the mountains at dusk, with the moon shining bright over the snow. 

But the best was yet to come the next day! PK was feeling better, Shashank had vomited and lay down for a couple of hours, but was better later in the night. Prakash didn’t want to leave any mode of transport unused, so decided to take a helicopter back to Pokhara next day. After some deliberation, Sreeram and Shashank decided to join him just to be safe. We had 17km to trek downhill the next day! But what a feeling of accomplishment and the views to die for! Chandan even got out late night to take in some amazing views and pictures of the mountains and sky filled with stars.

We had a 5:30am appointment with lord Surya and he didn’t disappoint. 

We walked up to a viewpoint just above the lodges, slipping and sliding on the hard transparent ice that had formed. We were on the edge of a ridge, with the whole Annapurna range laid out in front of us, catching the first rays of the sun, and the Annapurna glacier flowing across way down below in front of the range. The beauty is difficult to describe. 

We took pictures with the India flags we had brought with us, then rushed back to take full group pictures with our Vista Trekker T-shirts (curtesy Akhilesh and Bindu) before Prakash, Sreeram and Shashank went off in their helicopter. That was also a sight to see - the helicopter landing in snow and taking off.

              Later we had breakfast and started back down, after a couple more pictures with the ABC  sign. We were running late, and had a long day ahead of us. We were going from ABC -> MBC -> Deurali -> Himalaya -> Devon -> Bamboo. Initially, I had good energy and went fast to MBC and Deurali. 

But after that, things went slow until Himalaya where we had lunch. Sumedha was about an hour behind the rest of us. After lunch, 4 youngsters decided to wait for Sumedha while the rest 4 kept going. Going down to Bamboo actually went well for me, “Kha ke, PK” 😊 the lunch gave me energy, and a long chat with PK the distraction. We reached Bamboo at ~6pm as it was getting dark, and Sumedha and the gang of 4 reached at 9pm, after 12 hrs of trekking!! What courage and stamina from Sumedha, and what spirit from the youngsters to be with her and the guide, especially the last 3 hrs in darkness with headlamps, with a rumoured bear sighting. Hats off! The whole lodge cheered for them when they arrived.

              Sumedha, Bindu and I decided to take ponies to Jhinu Danda the next day, to keep things going, since we had a 3 hr jeep ride from there to Pokhara. The rest 6 left at 8am, and we left at 10am. The pony ride was an experience, it was scary initially when the ponies were going down irregular steps or loose mud, or chose to stop and eat grass from the edge of the trail looking down into the steep valley, or my pony Commando kicked the one behind (Sumedha’s) to prevent it from crossing him on the narrow trail. A couple of times we had to dismount (which itself was a comic exercise) on the bad parts of the trail. A couple of times, I had to sway away to prevent branches hitting my face, or a wire decapitating me 😊 

It took us 4 hrs to reach Jhinu Danda, to find the trekkers had beaten us! We had a good lunch, crossed this really long bridge (280m) after a brief skirmish with some mules, and then took jeeps to Pokhara, to meet up with the 3 already at the Batika hotel in Pokhara.

Oh what a lovely shave and hot shower! 😊 And then a lavish dinner at Med5, a mediterranean café close to the lake. I had a surprise early-birthday cake from the gang, and a birthday song from Shashank with some mention of diapers etc 😊

From there we made it back to Kathmandu the next morning, did some sightseeing, paid our respects at the Pashupatinath temple, and flew back to Bangalore.

             

Date	Title	Distance	Time	Start Elevation	Dest Elevation	Total Ascent	Total Descent
Apr 14	Nayapul to Ulleri	9.6km	05:08	870m	1,949m	1,496m	409m
Apr 15	Ulleri to Godepani	8.6km	05:41	1,949m	2,900m	1,018m	102m
Apr 16	Poon Hill Trek	3.2km	02:50	2,900m	3,132m	320m	335m
Apr 16	Ghodepani to Tadapani	9.6km	05:46	2,900m	2,650m	630m	753m
Apr 17	Tadapani to Chomrong	10.0km	06:08	2,650m	2,150m	502m	991m
Apr 18	Chomrong to Himalaya	14.8km	10:14	2,150m	2,925m	1,840m	1,153m
Apr 19	Himalaya to ABC	12.8km	08:16	2,925m	4,130m	1,432m	254m
Apr 20	ABC to Bamboo	16.6km	08:23	4,130m	2,400m	197m	1,868m
Apr 21	Bamboo to Jhinu Danda	9.5km	04:03	2,400m	1,780m	546m	1,115m
Apr 21	Jhinu Danda to car	1.3km	00:46	1,780m	1,720m	47m	103m
	TOTAL	96.0 km	57:20			8028m	7083m

 

This was a trek with a lifetime of memories. The landscapes, mountains, weather patterns, flowers etc were amazing in itself. The closeness of the group, the leg-pulling and camaraderie was on top of it. As Sumedha said – seeing the youngsters and their involvement and the amazing help and support, we don’t need to worry about the next generation. And then the physical demands of the trek and our mental and physical strength to do it gave us all a lot of confidence. Finally, as many said, this was a much needed break, and it also told us things can happen in our absence, we are not indispensable, we can take these breaks once in a while. Lots of learnings to take with us!

 

Link to the handwritten trip diary:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YZTzlHhqblLlCHHplK77mqRp-R_sPlMD/view?usp=drive_link

Link to the pictures

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ko9Z9x2DGyDwfwex5