Around the Annapurnas, 2011 – Is It the End of An Era? (post and photos by mary)

Matt, dwarfed under the glacial wall of the Annapurna Range.

The dream of trekking in Nepal’s Annapurna Circuit has come true! Matt and I have been plotting and scheming this trek long before we left home last February. We have been lugging gear for ten months, outfitting ourselves in Hong Kong, Tibet and Pokhara (all stuff that will not fit into our small rucksacks). We even completely turned our country itinerary list around from a spring visit after India, to post-monsoon season to ensure clear skies above the mountains for our photos. Yes, I would say that this trek has been a real highlight of our adventures. A hobbit’s journey through the Misty Mountains.

Lush rice paddies in the lowlands terracing the hillsides.

After a brief stop in Kathmandu, we put our faith in Nepal’s bus transportation and arrived, safely, in Pokhara. We nestled into the wonderful Peace Eye Guest House and began our planning. Multiple lists were made, hiking permits were bought, the numerous hiking shops all offering “name brand” gear and dirt cheap prices were canvassed. Copious notes were made to compare prices (Matt is no compulsive shopper, except for beans), a horde of good dark chocolate and munchies gathered and a great porter (not a dark beer) was selected. The monsoon season was still soaking the region so we opted to wait out the rain. We sensed the end of the monsoon with one final wicked thunder storm raging through the valley. The following Monday, 27 Oct 2010, we headed off on the bus to Besi Sahar (820 metres), the starting point of the Annapurna Circuit. Joining us were our good friends Larissa and Shane, the Alaskans who travelled with us in Tibet, Amber a mountain girl from Colorado and our good porter/guide, Yam Pun from Pokhara.

Waterfalls creating landslides along the trail invoke courage for all that cross!

Fall is my favourite time of the year and the Annapurna trail in late September and October was every bit as good as being in Nova Scotia during an Indian summer. Maybe better. The weather was perfect with blue sky everyday. We followed the Marsyangdi River for eleven days and wandered through green lush rice fields in the lower villages. As we gained altitude around the village of Chame, crops changed to millet, buckwheat, lentil and corn; all of which was ready for harvest. Fields that have been plowed by yak or oxen in the spring now yielded golden grain that was destined to be cut by a 14 inch curved hand scythe. The entire family, grandparents, husbands, wives and small children, all tended their fields together; cutting, thrashing and carrying bundles triple the size of the person hauling the crop back to their homes for further drying and sorting. It was one of my trek high lights to witness this collective effort of family harmony and hard work, all without any machinery. One family in the village of Manang invited us into their field for a glass of their home made wine (at 10 in the morning) and an apple while on a breakfast break of Nepal’s staple dal bhaat. The harvest provided an unexpected bonus to the great beauty of the mountain trail.

Farming families worked the harvest from dawn to dusk.

Each day we walked along the cliffs cut into the mountain following the river, often crossing it on wire suspension foot bridges and passed through old villages that had been settled by Tibetan farmers centuries ago. The stone work in their buildings and walls were of incredible precision and efficiency. The layout was similar from village to village with the ground floor walls open for livestock, upper levels were for family living and exterior porches lined the upstairs for drying corn, hay and stocks and flat roofs provided drying space for grain, seeds and sliced apples. There were bee hives in cut hollow logs hung under the eves on the sunny side of the houses. Talk about a bee hive of activity!  Each village had an intricate water system which dispersed water to homes and fields. Such hard working people, and everything done by hand as it has been for hundreds of years.

Yam Poon, our porter/guide and friend, was the best porter on our journey.  You can hire hime out of the Peace Eye Guest House in Pokhara.

Porters were good company as we travelled together for days as they made their way with goods up the mountain trails.

The trail was a well trodden path used by Nepali farmers, traders and porters. Villages rely on porters to bring provisions, fresh produce and even fresh chickens (live)! It was amazing to walk behind these squat, strong Nepali men and women employed in this critically important “porter” service. The loads they carried varied from stacked boxes of store provisions, toilet paper, bicycles, chickens, corrugated metal roofing and boxes of beer (and we tourists rightly pay a dear price for those Everest Beer at the tea houses!). Tough grueling work, up hill, on paths washed out by landslides with not much more than flip flop sandals on their grizzled feet. Following the worn down paths carved by their forefathers’ feet.

The ravaged, scarred mountain slopes foreboding change for the valley with the coming of the Chinese Road.

By day five, past the village of Timang (2270 metres) we started ascending altitude. The peace of the valley, apart from the constant roar of the swift flowing glacial Marsyangdi River, was disturbed by the sound of jack hammers. Across the river from the trail was a deep cut into the mountain that will eventually become the first road through the valley, compliments of the Chinese government. We were horrified to see the scarred mountain cliffs stripped of its lush green growth of trees, bamboo and mosses. As rock was blown up to shape the road, the rubble falling over the cliff caused small landslides of rock and growth into the river. As far as the eye could see was a scarred mountain foretelling the threat of change for this wonderful secluded way of life.

Narrow cuts into the mountain walls required every creature to be sure footed.

Gone will be the absence of motor vehicles, gone will be the family gatherings cultivating the fields by hands, gone will be the sense of tranquility trekkers now enjoy wandering in fields or over cliffs with only the jingling mule trains to move over for. Gone will be the employment of many porters and the way of life that links villages together by the stories that travel with the porters bringing news up the valley (ok, they all have cell phones, but the word of mouth is still alive and well in these parts!). The road will introduce trucks and jeeps into the narrow village lanes, tractors for farming, higher expenses for fuel and vehicles and a hastier way of doing things. The Chinese Road will bring an end to an era on the Annapurna Circuit.

One of many ancient villages perched high on the mountains.

We count ourselves amongst the last trekkers who will have experienced this old way of life. Nepal is celebrating “2011, the Year of Tourism”. Those who come and wander this trail next year will likely witness this change. We are so grateful to have roamed in these ancient villages and witnessed that way of life. Matt and I wonder if others like us will want to come and do this trek with traffic racing past us.

The hardy Gorphwysfa Mountaineering trekkers celebrating at Thorung La.

The trail was an international gathering of adventurers of all ages from Canada, the US, France, Germany, Isreal, Spain and Belgium. Friendships were easily made in tea houses in the evenings and it was my great delight to walk alongside a group of Norwegians, true descendants of real giants, who were in their 60s on an expidition to ascend Mount Himlung on the Phu Trek. Among the many trekkers we met along the trail was a group from England, who belonged to the “Gorphwysfa Mountaineering Club”. Their 71 year old leader, Harvey Lloyd, had the foresight to arrange the group’s expedition organized and executed prior the completion of the Chinese Road on the Circuit. The expedition included both the Annapurna Circuit and the Upper Mustang treks. It was so inspiring to see this group of mostly retirees and Oxford academics, the majority in their late sixties take on such a vigorous adventure. Not only were they climbing Thorung La pass at 5200 metres, they were sleeping in tents the whole way. No cozy tea houses for this sturdy lot. They were up at 0400 in the snow on the day of crossing Thorung La pass and we were pleased to have witnessed their celebration of making it to the top in darkness and through snow. And to everyone’s surprise and delight one of the group proposed marriage to his sweetheart. More cause for this merry group to celebrate! They have promised that those invited to their wedding next year will have to be capable of climbing great heights if they wish to celebrate with them.

The breath taking mountains that followed us up the trail to Thorung La.
Dark Chocolate for all!  The great climb through snow and thin air to reach Thorung La!

On Day 10, 10/10/10 we climbed the 900 metres from our Thorang Pedi teahouse and crossed over Thorung La at 5,200 metres. We aimed to reach the top by 10:10 am, but as usual, Matt and I slept in and were an hour late departing. Poor Yam, he had been chiding us each morning telling us that we were not travelling on Nepali time! Seems Canadian time, or more precisely Matt and Mary time is much slower! We celebrated with our fellow travellers with the best cup of tea and broke out the dark chocolate that we managed to save for that moment. I celebrated making it without getting the dreaded altitude sickness, something I had experienced at other high altitude adventures. Matt celebrated making the long 1,600 metre descent to Muktinath without hurting his knees on the trail (little did we know about the upcoming Annapurna Sanctuary trail, that is entirely up and down on skillfully built steps for most of that trek).

A dramatic change in landscape on the other side of Thorung La looking into the Mustang Valley.

New faces greeting us on the way to Annapurna Base Camp.

The terrain changed completely once over the pass. We made our way to Kagbeni (2800 metres) and found ourselves in a parched, land that was deep morang left over from cutting glacier paths. Erosion carved the cliffs down to the Kali Gandaki River, which coursed down from Upper Mustang. Also coursing down from Upper Mustang was the other Chinese Road, joining Tibet (aka China) and Nepal. This road was made ten years ago, which opened road traffic from Upper Mustang to Tatopani, thus ending the quiet hiking trail for the remaining 55 kilometres of the Annapurna Circuit. The narrow dirt road is not much more than deep ruts cut into steep cliffs along the Kali Gandaki River. Buses and jeeps run out of Jomson and that is where many brave trekkers end their hike. Not us, too afraid of risking our lives in those vehicles, we marched on down the Kali Gandaki valley. In truth, we just didn’t want to stop walking through these spectacular mountains, dramatic river gorges and every village still a step back in time. Our decision to walk out of this region was confirmed when we passed the giant prayer flag posted on the side of the road where a jeep had plunged 500 feet to its destruction in the river below, killing 14 people and miraculously leaving one woman alive. Yes, walking was the way to go.

Tea served in bed watching others’ toil is a most satisfying experience!

On Day 20, the Anapurna Circuit ended for us at Ghorepani, a total of 200 kilometres. That was our most difficult day. We left Tatopani at 1200 metres and made the steep ascent to Ghorepani (2870 metres), all uphill and all up stone stairs. To add to that challenge, it was our first rainy day. We had walked an average of 17 kilometres in those past four days and I was exhausted and defeated in those final steep steps up to our teahouse. Once out of the rain, we were greeted by a room full of happy trekkers, welcoming Nepali hosts, a blazing fire and a guarantee of hot water in the shower. It didn’t take too much time to cheer up and warm up! We stayed for two days to rest. Imagine our delight the next morning lying in bed with a nice cup of chai delivered by Yam, seeing the clouds part and the sun beam on the Annapurna Range, while those keen trekkers returned cold and tired from their 0400 foggy hike up 330 metres to Poon Hill. At Yam’s insistence, we did the same the next morning and were in awe of those majestic mountains topping the world.

Annapurna Sanctuary Stairs; thousands and thousands there and back again!

Day 22 we began the Annapurna Sanctuary Trek from Ghorepani to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC – 4130 metres). This was along a hilly trail that lead up the narrow Moli Khola River valley into remote, lush bamboo and rhododendron forests. The trail had many stone steps up and down steep hills and after the lovely town of Chhomrong (2170 metres), famous for its chocolate cake, we left behind established farming villages with only a few, overcrowded tea houses along the way. Once again Matt willed the weather gods for snow at ABC. We arrived there on a warm, sunny morning and by afternoon it was blowing with wet slush and hail! We woke up at 0500 on Day 26 to six inches of crunchy snow on the ground! My fears of Matt bringing a blizzard on us was alleviated by a blue sky sunrise and we were dazzled by the gold painted on the mountain peaks that surrounded us. Made all the more perfect by the glittering snow!

The aches and pains all rewarded with sunrises like this!

The trail reversed on itself once you reached the end at ABC. Due to bad weather at Mount Everest, many trekkers had been rerouted to this trek and we found the trail to be a little too crowded for our liking (especially after feeling you were alone in the world in some places on the Annapurna Circuit). The crowds also made it challenging for securing a room at the end of the hiking day. On our return, we had to bunk in with our dear friends, Shane and Larissa, bringing new heights to our friendship! The innkeeper moved them into a room with three single beds, moved them together as one and all four of us slept on it! Curiously the boys claimed the wall and outer edge of the bed long before we all fell into it!

Snow at Annapurna Base Camp!

We happily stayed at the Chhomrong Cottages again on our way out, mostly for more cake. By Day 30 we had made it to our last village on the Sanctuary Trek, Dhampus, a sweet farming village high in the Annapurna foothills overlooking the Ghobang Khola River valley and lakes with the full Annapurna range towering above us. Matt and I really didn’t want to end this journey, either did Yam but we all knew we had to get back to reality. What an adventure! 31 days, 300 kilometres, two high passes, four glacier river valleys and 26 teahouses and their villages. Our bodies transformed from their soft, insulated frames and reverted back to their strong, muscular twenty something bodies of old!

Manang’s 94 year old Lama giving blessings in his mountain cave at 4500 metres!

Prayer flags on every roof top bringing on Good Karma with the wind.

Both treks opened our eyes to so many treasures – like the village elders of Chame blowing ten foot long horns at four in the morning to commemorate the beginning of the harvest, or Upper Pisang’s old Tibetan Monastery in the high hills where young monks burned incense and chanted with each rising of the sun, or climbing 500 metres to be blessed by Manang’s 94 year old Lama. The old stone houses and elaborate waterways found in Kagbeni and many other villages, unchanged for centuries. The Tibetan culture was so well preserved in all of the villages on the Circuit, it was like being back in Tibet. How pleased the old timers were to hear my few Tibetan greetings and words of gratitude spoken! I can only hope that these treasures are not harmed with the arrival of the new Chinese Road into the Marsyandi River Valley. 2011 is Nepal’s Year of Tourism, offering free visa access. This is the year to visit and experience this wonderful experience and way of life.