This is the fourth of a few blog posts that are after-the-fact
transcribed from my trekking notes. Some are more complete posts, some
are more thoughts along the road as Sister2 and I take on Nepal for a
month!
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| On the way to Ice Lake. |
Day 7
Everyone says you should spend two nights in Manang to adjust to the
altitude (the town is at 3540 meters -- 11,614 feet -- and we're about to go A LOT
higher), so that's what we're doing. We opted for a day hike (no packs
woooohooo!!!) to the Ice Lake, which is at 4600 meters (15,091 feet) and QUITE the
vertical climb. (How do you climb the Himalayas? Slowly slowly!)
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| View from our window in Manang. That is a glacier to your right, with a cloud-covered Annapurna behind it. |
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| We passed through a herd of yak on our way up. |
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| Ice Lake! |
It
took us 3 hours up and 1.5 hours down (because we're so fast/or we just
chug along slowly with few stops), not including a Beautiful Nap on the
way down. The hike was supposed to have amazing views of the Annapuras,
but sadly it was a cloudy day, so we saw some mountains but not the
whole sweeping range. Oh well, at least it's not raining on us!
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| Coming down from Ice Lake. |
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| Annapurnas, leaving Manang. |
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| Leaving Manang, looking back. |
Day 8
I'm sipping milk coffee (a generous description of this hot sweet
beverage, but I'm not complaining) in the windowed dining room at High
Camp (elevation: 4833 meters/15,856 feet), about two hours from Thorong La, the
highest pass in the world. We hiked a lot today (to make tomorrow a bit
easier), leaving all vegetation behind and trekking along through a
moon-surface-ish landscape, if the moon had mountains.
High Camp is
COLD! And not particularly nice (no running water, terrible shared
toilet, dark stone room), but I can't really complain...we ARE on top
of the world.
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| High Camp! |
Oh and we made a friend today! His name is Tyson and he's delightfully
Canadian (from Toronto). He abandoned his less-awesome companions and
hiked with us all day today up to High Camp, and we're planning to do
the pass together tomorrow. Go us and being social!
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| We were going to climb the Himalayas, but then we though, huh, might as well just go to Mars. |
And in other news, after the hike up and down from Ice Lake yesterday,
and a vertical final hour today, my quads and calfs are burning like
they've never burned before. I think a foam roller would make me cry
right now.
It's 8:30 pm and I'm freezing. Aka bed time. Pass day tomorrow!
