Trek The Unknown

We decided to leave early as we were worried there will be no accommodations available in high camp. High camp is the highest and closest camping place to Throng La pass. If you want the hardest day of the trek the be as easy as possible, try spend the night before crossing the pass at High camp.

High Camp has a accommodations for 110 persons, whoever reaches too late gets to sleep in the dining room. nobody get to be thrown out, don’t worry

Eventually instead of leaving at 7AM we left at 8:30AM. We knew we have something like 2.5-3 hour of walking till Throng Phedi (That’s the place to stay for the night before High Camp). Throng Phedi means, under the mountain or hill, which is of course under Throng La pass area, the highest place around.

We reached Throng Phedi at 9:50AM. This was a good start for the day…Walking there includes some uphill walking but a lot of it is also straight surface.

Throng Phedi was discovered to be a VERY nice place. We stopped there to get used to the height of 4450 meters.

At 10:30 we decided to go on. We understood that the hardest climb of the trek is just beyond us. The Climb is one hour long it’s slow hard to breath walk. Some people that want to acclimatize thmeselves get to Throng Phedi climb to high camp and then walk back down to Throng Phedi. Then next day they climb this again. we acclematized ourselves enough in Mananag and along the way, we stayed extra nights at some places and climbed a little every day.

Entering into high camp we found there are 2 camp sites. The 1st buildings you’ll see on your left are the old buildings. don’t waste your energy that you don’t have anyway to walk around there. Keep walking up a little more to the buildings on the left. This is the new camp.

At High Camp we took 2 rooms. it really didn’t seem the acoomodation there were too crowded.
After resting and settling out breath we decided to go for a walk around. there is a mountain right beside the camp which is 100-150 meters higher than the camp itself. There is a great view for there and it’s highly recommended.

At the Time of year we were there (end of October) the whole mountain side was covered with snow. It’s was great sliding on it using the plastic coats we had! Try not to slide accidentally to unknown places where only a helicopter can help getting you out of.

Since high camp is a almost the highest place around, if the sun is out there aren’t any mountains disturbing it’s way into the greenhouse like dinins room. It’s VERY plesent and warm (as long as the sun is shining), with big glass windows watching the whole area around.

pricing:
room for a night: 320 NR
Spaghetti: 190 NR
potato curry (recommended): 130 NR
Veg fried rice (recommended): 190 NR

Since high camp is an isolated place there is no meat in the menu, only veggie stuff.
also, There is light at the rooms (on some other guest houses on previous days there wasn’t) and an early dinner is served at 4:30 PM.

We went to sleep very early at around 6:00 PM , because our plans were to wake up at 4AM in order to cross Throng La Pass.

We Left Manang, it was Thursday morning. I had mixed feelings…after the unsuccessful previous day, I was a little disappointed from it, but on the other hand was anticipating to reach Throng La.

We Left at 8:55 in the morning and reached Yak Karka at 12:15 PM. walking from Manang to Yak Karka is easy. A little bit of an uphill trail but really not too bad. Towards Yak Karka there is an half an hour to an hour of almost straight walk, with no uphills or downhills. These are the times when we had our chance of really enjoy to views, without worrying about our next physical challenge.

We decided we will spend the night at Yak Karka. It was the beginning of November which is high season. We were afraid there won’t be any rooms left for all of us ( we were a group of 4 people). Eventually we found a guest house. It wasn’t even too hard.

Since we arrived early, it was only noon time I sat in the dinning room and learned some Chinese. I started talking to a 60 years old man from Canada. His name was wain. He said that it’s the toughest physical challenge he ever had. At some point he showed me his camera and said it’s not working, he thought he needs a new charger…I needed a few minutes to figure out that a remarkable button named “RESET” would solve the problem. He was very greatful!

I think this is the greatest magic in traveling. I love these encounters with people from all around the world. learning about their culture, home, work. It’s fascinating!

here’s some common pricing at Yak Karka:
2 Boiled eggs - 80 NR
Chapati (2 pieces) - 80 NR
Vegetable soup - 95 NR
double room - 150 NR

The next day we headed to Letdar. Letdar is just a few guest houses on the mountains. It’s not really a village. villagers from Manang built these Guest houses ( there are 4 of them, I think) for travelers. Letdar is very close to Yak Karka, 35 minutes walk…We took it easy and spent Friday and sauterday resting there.

Letdar is more expensive than Yak Karka since as you go higher all services are more expensive. just think that the food you are eating made the same way you did on the back of one of the many porters working in the area.

costs at Letdar:
2 Boiled eggs - 100 NR
chapati (2 pieces) - 100 NR
Veg spring roll - 180 NR
Spagetti with tomato souce - 190 NR
double room - 200 NR

Source: WikipediaAnnapurna Circuit – day 9 – trying to reach Tilicho Lake.

I read about Tilicho Lake a lot before deciding I want to go there. Most guide books claim it to be a little dangerous. Also it’s off the beaten track of most travelers which is the reason I go trekking - feeling adventurous! But even going to those places one should be smart enough and not do stupid things. I’m a very responsible traveler.

The Tilicho Lake is a side trip at the Annapurna Circuit trek. It leaves from Manang, and takes 3-4 days to complete and coming back to Manang. This was my plan….

Leaving Manang in the morning walking through kangsar to Tilicho Base camp. On the next day climbing up to the lake at dawn and sleeping again at the Tilicho base camp an additional night. The last day would be walking back the same way we walked the 1st day.

We left Manang at 7:45 towards kangsar. Our , Sonam, said it would take 3 to 3.5 hours reaching the village. We were very glad to discover after one hour and 20 minutes that we have reached our 1st destination – kangsar village.

We wanted to continue walking to the Base camp. On the way Sonam fell twice and twisted his leg. We saw he started to limp and it hurts for him. We kept walking anyway….

My friend Eli, which joined this side trip, and I were for fear of the trail going there. There are 2 ways reaching the base camp. One is long and hard & takes 4 hours. It goes up a mountain and then all the way down. The 2nd trail is the lower trail it’s an easier relatively straight trail which takes around 2-2.5 hours to complete. The problem is that the latter one is a very narrow trail, with a land slide to the side of it at some part, defiantly not a great experience…

In addition at the afternoon the wind start to blow there and Blue Sheep start to walk on the mountains which causes rocks to fall down on the trail. It was pretty early but we had to make a decision on which trail to walk.

We asked each person passing us on the opposite way if the lower trail is appropriate for waking. Everyone said its fine and we shouldn’t worry. My main fear was the landslide. It’s a narrow trail for one foot while the other foot must be put on the landslide, this causes the sand to go down a bit….fortunately it stops and you don’t find yourself falling down the mountain…but still very scary in my opinion.

After Sonam asked a few people we met a bunch of tourists which came down from the lake. They said the road down is fine and no need to be afraid of that landslide. The Problem is, they told us, was falling rocks (!!!) when climbing up from the base camp to the lake. They said there were strong winds therefore a big rock almost hit them when rolling down!

I didn’t want to take ANY risks I don’t have to take. I agreed to walk a few more hours on the longer and more difficult trail (Although everybody said the lower one is just fine). I was managing my risks…..

In addition I decided that there would be strong wind we won’t going to climb up to the lake from the base camp…another risk is solved. One risk I couldn’t solve was Sonams’ leg. He claimed to be fine…

I was afraid to walk on the lower trail and too lazy to walk the upper harder one. I solved this by saying to myself that because of Sonams leg we should just return and walk back to Manang.

That’s what we did eventually….

I was very disappointed on the way back for not coping with my fear of the way (which everybody said it’s just fine and walkable). On the other hand I choose the more human option and took care of my porter. What would have happened if something happened to him on the mountain?! Then would have been to deeper trouble. We then had needed to rescue him somehow and would have got stuck without a porter for the next few days.

If someone of my readers who walked this lower trail from Kangsar to Tilicho Base Camp can comment on this trail situation? Is there a way to do this way without risking yourself?

I’m thinking when will be my next chance of visiting there. That place is amazing from the pictures I saw!

I have a plan of taking a flight to Jomson on my next trip to that area then walk through Tilicho Lake and Tilicho pass, going again through Kangsahar, Manang and finally Homde. Homde, as I mentioned on previous post has an airport. So flying back to Pokhara is certainly an option.

This trip suppose to take 5-6 days and requires camping gear, since at the 1st 3-4 days of the trek, there are no guest houses to stay in,.

What do you suggest? How do you cope with these kinds of fears? When I came back I was angry at myself that I’m a just cowered.

After arriving back at Manang, I knew we made the right decision. I went with Sonam to the HRA (Himalayan rescue association) clinic. The doctor gave him some pills and put a bandage on his leg. He told him to rest as much a he can. On the other hand he said: “I know it’s your job and you don’t have any other choice, so if you are back to work then just don’t push it too much or else it will get worse.

On the next few days we took short and easy walks. Sonam’s leg was just fine afterwards…

“There are some things in life that are frightening and you just have to try them, but sometimes it’s hard to find some courage for that deep down inside you….”

Acclimatizing yourself is very important and one of the most useful ways is going up the heights for the day and come down for sleeping. Because of that Manang offers several day trips around it to higher sights in order to get used to the heights.

The highest option is going up to the “Ice Lake”. It’s a great day trip with amazing views (in my opinion it has the best views on the whole trip).

From Manang there are 2 ways going up to the Ice Lake. The 1st one goes out of Manang itself. It’s steeper and takes less time. The 2nd trail which is easier to walk goes out of Braga (Braka). This is the previous village on the trail and it takes around half and hour to walk back.

We choose the 2nd option. We left Manang at 7:55 AM and headed back to Braga. The trail goes right inside the village so you have to cross it. The general direction is up, so just keep going straight.

After passing the last few houses of the village the narrow goat trail turns to the right and goes along the mountain. Then it turns again to the left and climb up in a very steep climb, this will be your hardest and steepest climb of the day. It’s not too long though relatively.

The trail keeps going up but it’s not so steep any more and it has a few parts of going pretty straight.

When reaching the height of 4600 M, you suppose to see the lake. In order to see it, cross the hill on your right or go around the hill for a few minutes. Right afterwards you’ll see a lake; this is NOT the “Ice Lake”. The Ice Lake is lying another 10 minutes walk after the 1st lake.

Along the way there are signs of ACAP showing the way to the Ice Lake. At this time of the year it’s no very icy though. We reached it around 12:30 PM.

My personal opinion is that the lakes are not as beautiful as I expected, on the other hand the way going there is absolutely amazing! You get to see the opposite ridge and great views of the Annapurna range, Braga and Mananag.

On top near the lake we met a young guy which was a reporter of a local newspaper. He took some video shots of the place. We decided we want to go down the steeper way, the one going straight to Mananag. We really didn’t know where this way is. A

sking that reporter, didn’t also give us the wanted answer. Therefore we just walked back on the way we came. The reporter came with us although he said he already walked once on the steeper trail, but I guess he couldn’t find it either.

We left the lake at around 13:00 and reached Braga at 15:55 then it’s and easy walk to Mananag. We were exhausted, and reached Mananag at 16:30.

Summing it up, It’s a long and hard day of climbing (although from the signs in Manang it doesn’t’ seems so.) 1000 M. The views worth it all! Adding the importance of the good acclimatization you get from this trip, it’s just a must!

So, as I promised….

Manang is a special village along the way when trekking the Annapurna Circuit. It’s the last village before people going up to the highest place on trek - Throng La or Throng Pass which is 5416 M high up. This is high!

volunteer doctors from the HRA (Himalayan Rescue Association)
come every season and stay at Manang and other villages around to help the trekkers. When going into the heights above 2500- 3000 M many people suffer from a Problem called mountain sickness, Which can be leth?l if you are not aware of the symptoms and how to handle them.

When reaching Manang you are advised ( or more like…YOU HAVE TO) stay there for at least one day to acclimatize yourself to the heights. It’s just get higher and higher from there on until the pass and you want to survive that on perfect shape.

The clinic In Manang helps travelers and the local community in a few ways….Every day at 15:00 there is a lecture about mountain sickness. Many of the deaths from mountain sickness are caused because people were not aware what they should do when getting any symptoms of this illness and how to deal with it. It’s very important to reach this lecture and learn about mountain sickness. IT CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE!

The Clinic also helps the local people for free and is funded by the medical treatment being given to the tourists coming there.

It’s possible to buy medicine or other medical stuff you need and missing at the clinic or just donate by buying a T-shirt.

The HRA also operates a few more clinics around the Everest base camp for the same reasons.

I hope this small post would save many many lives. All you need to do is be aware of this mountain sickness. read about it, go to the lecture there and enjoy your trip!