Day 5
I got up at 6:15 am as usual and had a good night's sleep. Had my usual breakfast of omlette and hot coffee and started out trek at 7:45. There was a decent snow covering on the nearby hills.
Within a couple of mins, we came to a fork where the board said to go left for the Annapurna trail. The other much smaller trail had a steep climb. As I found out throughout the day, whenever we were presented with such situations, Raj chose to go along the steepest path. It was ok with me since it was 1st thing in the morning. However this trail was a very steep climb with very few switchbacks. Within a few minutes we were sweating profusely but climbing steadily. As we went higher, I got my first glimpse of manaslu mountain range (the main peak is 8000+ mts mountain). Within an hour we had climbed 300 mts and had taken just a few breaks for taking photos. We reached Thimang and took a good 10 mins break. It had wonderful views of the manaslu range with the highest peak also clearly visible. On either side of the range were the nearby hills which also looked very tall and had a good snow cover. Now that I looked at a real mountain, I could make out why the remaining ones were referred to as hills. After another hour of steady to steep climbing we reached Thanchowk. It offered the same views as Thimang. However since it is at a higher elevation, the views are more spectacular - nearby hills seem closer and more of the manaslu range was now seen.
After Thanchowk, it was a gentle uphill and downhill trail. The nearby hills were in the 3500 - 4000 mts range and had a good cover of coniferous trees and ferns. It was as if I was in Snoqualmie or Stevens pass in early summer. The look and size of the hills (or mountains), the vegetation, glacial stream, distant waterfalls, temperature, cool breeze, etc. reminded me of the pacific northwest. I could very well imagine meeting someone from Seattle on this trail. All this while i was thinking of what would be an appropriate definition of a mountain here. I came up with the following two -
Good cell phone coverage and Internet access (no Wi-Fi though)
I got up at 6:15 am as usual and had a good night's sleep. Had my usual breakfast of omlette and hot coffee and started out trek at 7:45. There was a decent snow covering on the nearby hills.
Within a couple of mins, we came to a fork where the board said to go left for the Annapurna trail. The other much smaller trail had a steep climb. As I found out throughout the day, whenever we were presented with such situations, Raj chose to go along the steepest path. It was ok with me since it was 1st thing in the morning. However this trail was a very steep climb with very few switchbacks. Within a few minutes we were sweating profusely but climbing steadily. As we went higher, I got my first glimpse of manaslu mountain range (the main peak is 8000+ mts mountain). Within an hour we had climbed 300 mts and had taken just a few breaks for taking photos. We reached Thimang and took a good 10 mins break. It had wonderful views of the manaslu range with the highest peak also clearly visible. On either side of the range were the nearby hills which also looked very tall and had a good snow cover. Now that I looked at a real mountain, I could make out why the remaining ones were referred to as hills. After another hour of steady to steep climbing we reached Thanchowk. It offered the same views as Thimang. However since it is at a higher elevation, the views are more spectacular - nearby hills seem closer and more of the manaslu range was now seen.
After Thanchowk, it was a gentle uphill and downhill trail. The nearby hills were in the 3500 - 4000 mts range and had a good cover of coniferous trees and ferns. It was as if I was in Snoqualmie or Stevens pass in early summer. The look and size of the hills (or mountains), the vegetation, glacial stream, distant waterfalls, temperature, cool breeze, etc. reminded me of the pacific northwest. I could very well imagine meeting someone from Seattle on this trail. All this while i was thinking of what would be an appropriate definition of a mountain here. I came up with the following two -
1) Anything that requires multiple days to climb. The hills
surrounding me were around 3800 mts. I was at 2300 mts. It would take me about
6 hrs. to climb the remaining 1500 mts. Overall it would take about 10 hrs. to
climb from a base point of about 1000 mts. So definitely a hill.
2) Anywhere where people (preferably local) have died trying
to summit it would qualify as a mountain.
Soon we passed Koto and after another 30 mins reached our
destination of Chame. I reached Chame well before the intended time and was
pleased that other than locals no one had outpaced me on the trek. Here I
caught my 1st glimpse of the Annapurna range. However almost 90% was shrouded
in clouds. The guesthouse that I stayed in had an even larger room than the
previous one. This one was a 12X12 room and seemed very palatial. I was not
complaining but thought that the rooms would get smaller as I progressed on the
trail.
Had my usual lunch of mo mo at noon and then headed for a hot water
shower + clothes washing session. The hot water was much cooler than lukewarm
(I would call it cold water that was not ice cold) and since I had time on my
hands, I had an extended clothes washing session. Here they charged Rs 50 for a
hot shower and Rs 100 for battery recharge. I am guessing the prices for the
add ons is going to go up as we go higher. Spent a relaxing afternoon bundled
up in my sleeping bag and writing my travel log. It is cloudy and cold here and
I am looking fwd. to hot garlic soup for dinner. Chame has cell phone coverage
and spoke with family back home after a 2 day hiatus. They even have Internet
here and we have plans of chatting on Skype later in the evening. It is
decently expensive at Rs 10/minute.
Random Facts
Price of pure drinking water - Rs 45/literGood cell phone coverage and Internet access (no Wi-Fi though)
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