How did one Himalayan trek change things for us
My wife Manasa, and I trekked to the Annapurna Base camp in April 2019. This blog is a short account of our experience. She did the painting and the illustration for the blog and the photographs are mine.
We both probably needed a challenge, a kind of a goal to keep pushing us. There was nothing short for happiness but we had reached a kind of an all-time low. An unexplained state of mind, difficult to put in words. I was extremely anxious about something unsure, a kind of restlessness and felt like pulling out my hairs and banging my head against the wall. She had her difficult times, fluctuations in her body, and her frequent mood swings demanded a lot of effort from her to focus on anything. Despite our best efforts, we couldn’t control these. It all looked like we needed a big challenge — something which would make us feel accomplished.
Our failure to reach the summit in our first Himalayan trek (Pangarchulla, Uttarakhand) was still haunting us. It didn’t take us much to figure out that another challenging Himalayan trek would be the answer to the questions life had posed to us. Reading through a bunch of blogs and seeing a few mesmerizing videos, we rounded down on the Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) trek. ABC seemed to be in a different league of treks altogether, which demanded good preparation mentally and physically, considering the state we both were in.
To make it a complete backpacking experience, we decided not to book any accommodation along the trail. We also made a pact with ourselves to not take help from guides or porters. A couple of weeks before the trek, we sat down together and jotted down the points which we wanted to overcome and the questions we wanted the answers for.
After seeing a few videos and photos on the internet, we stopped looking at them. We wanted to keep the curiosity alive until we saw the mountains ourselves. We had roughly 4 months for the trek. I had pedaled to work every day for about 6 months and we both joined a fitness center. We never felt ready for the mighty mountains and there was a shortage of training and preparation.
13 April — Bangalore to Delhi
The beginning itself was no less adventurous than the trek! When Kathmandu was just 10 minutes away, our flight took a u-turn and flew to Delhi due to bad weather in Kathmandu. We spent the night sleeping on the floor in Delhi Airport and flew to Kathmandu the next morning.
14 April — Delhi to Kathmandu
The extremely helpful ‘Metro hotel’ owner — Mr.Dil was waiting with his taxi at the Kathmandu airport, he had tracked our flight the previous day and was at the airport on time. Pooja, at the hotel, cooked some filling lunch and dinner.
Manasa’s rucksack got exchanged with someone else’s at the airport(blame the same looking bag and the idiot us for not marking ours). However, we were relieved when we found that the person who had picked up our bag had left it at the airport itself. Of course, for a few moments, we weren’t sure if we would even start the trek!
Mr.Dil helped us with bus tickets to Pokhara, it was almost evening by the time we reached Pokhara and headed to the Nepal Tourism Board office, to get our TIMS and ACAP permits. I bought a map of the trek route and got cash from the nearby ATM. Pokhara is a relaxed and casual city to wander around. The small city was mostly crowded with travelers and trekkers. We walked along the lakeside road to our stay.
15 April — Kathmandu to Pokhara
The ABC trek can be started from different villages that are to the west of Kathmandu. We chose to start from Kimche — a small village popular among trekkers visiting the Annapurna Conservation Area. The nerve-wracking bus ride from Kathmandu to Pokhara, and from Pokhara to Kimche is an adventure by itself. The bus drivers race down these narrow, rugged roads as if they are on a national highway. We almost felt we would end up in the gorge, even before we started the trek. We held each other and our rucksacks until we reached Kimche.
16 April — Bus ride from Pokhara to a small village near Kimche via Nayapul and hike to Komrong
The first stretch of the hike, we had already started feeling our back due to the rucksack. Each of our rucksacks weighed close to 20kilos. After a steady climb from Kimche to Komrong, we were tempted to go further but we were not prepared for the unpredictable post-noon showers. The flowing clouds covered the mountains and the temperature plummeted after it started to rain. We found a warm place to stay for the night.
17 April — Komrong to Chomrong
We climbed down from Komrong to Modi Khola river. We stopped at the river to nibble on the packed chapatis. We got the taste of the steep steps and the brutal climb. We just managed to reach the first set of tea-houses in Chomrong and the rains had caught up. It was cold and wet. We sat around the dining area with sunset in the backdrop and the illuminated mountains.
Though it was an off-season for the trek, we were told that there were shortages of rooms and dining halls were used to sleep. We gathered the phone numbers of the tea-houses and ringed everyone to book our slots. We had to change our itinerary based on the availability of the tea-houses.
A guide from a different group who had come back from the ABC insisted us to arrange for the crampons since there would be a lot of snow on the trail. We didn’t have one, we couldn’t buy or rent it there. With no other option, we decided that we will go as far as we could without the crampons.
We had packed chapatis for 2 to 3 days, packets of Khakhra, dry fruits, biscuits, and chikkis. We stuck to the staple Dal-Bath and occasionally tried thupka and noodles. We had a big mug full of tea together every evening with a serene view which we later figured out is the cause for our sleeplessness in the night.
18 April — Chomrong to Bamboo
On the next day, we started early in the morning. Bought oranges on the way, whistled, and walked our way to Bamboo happily. A relatively easy path. A cozy stay at Bamboo, we enjoyed the food and the rain and hail showered in the evening.
19 April — Bamboo to Himalaya
We packed used clothes into another bag and kept it at Bamboo. We also reserved a room to stay when we come back 2 days later. We walked across the thick lush green forest and small water streams.
The trail from Bamboo all the way till MBC (Machapuchare Base Camp) and back, was breathtaking and equally challenging. Hide and seek with the snow-capped mountain peaks, saying Namaste to passing by trekkers and locals, rustling leaves, burbling water, chirping birds, howling winds, the sound of the silence, freezing temperatures, the mighty mountains dwarfing our mere existence, wandering like a nomad with no other responsibility and the feeling of being lost yet be there somewhere, are all still afresh in our heart.
The dinner time at Himalaya, we met a couple of trekkers, sat around the table, and exchanged our experiences. We had tea and snacks together. The owner of the hotel arranged us two pairs of rented crampons, which was a lot of relief, nothing could now stop us from reaching the base camp.
20 April — Himalaya to Machapuchare Base Camp (MBC)
We started early on the next morning, the steep climb until Deurali deterred us a bit but the views kept us going. We stood awed at every stretch of the trail. We climbed down and crossed the river to witness our nightmare; heaps of snow! We didn’t have any experience of waking on the snow and the entire trail was covered with it. We thought we would go as far as possible and return back to Deurali or Himalaya. Something just kept us pushing, one step at a time, we made it to MBC. The views were waiting for us — snow-capped mountains, drifting clouds, and the whistling winds. We hadn’t seen anything as beautiful as that!
Our first experience of walking on a snow trail was fun, euphoric, and scary. Our hearts did skip a few beats while climbing the mountain ridges and crossing the mighty Modi Khola river on makeshift bridges made of wooden planks. One step at a time we slowly walked on the narrow snow trail and one wrong foot would have resulted in sliding to the roaring river down below. We were scared but we had each other to encourage.
We treated ourselves with tea, french fries, soup, and noodles. We took a stroll around the stay and watched the mountains disappear in the dark. The stay in MBC was an experience in itself. The thermometer read -4°C during the dinner time and it dipped in the night. The next day was a big day and the trail looked treacherous. We were almost convinced that we will not make it the ABC but we pushed our decision until the next morning.
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