After my first Himalayan expedition at Tapovan, I had planned to go on an expedition every year and I followed it for 3 years. In 2018 we as a team decided to run the Highest Ultra Marathon in the World, The Khardung-La Challenge. Since I was preparing religiously for The Khardung-La Challenge, which is amongst the Toughest and Ultimate Challenging Endurance Races, I couldn't go on any expedition in 2018.
As usual I had a plan for an Expedition in 2019, but I was looking for an opportunity to make up for the lost opportunity of 2018. I was planning to go on an expedition in first half of 2019. In the meantime Vishnu contacted me asking if we can go on a Himalayan Trek. Knowing Vishnu personally right from the Goecha-la expedition, I immediately agreed for it.
We were looking to trek in March or April. Since most of the high altitude Himalayan treks are not accessible at this time of the year, we started searching for 14,000+ ft ones. We found that Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) is the best option. As per India Hikes, ABC is a 9 day trek and even though the maximum altitude is 13,500ft it is categorised as Moderate-Difficult trek.
Initial thought was to go with IndiaHikes or TrekTheHimalayas because ABC is located in Nepal. When Vishnu talked to one of his colleagues, who had already been to ABC, we learnt that ABC can be done solo. Also, I personally do not enjoy trekking with such groups since trekkers are taken care too much. The easy schedules, the comforts and most importantly the dictated pace is a big NO for any experienced trekkers. Also going with trekking groups would need 9 day leaves. Since I could afford only 5 days leaves, we had to come up with an aggressive plan. Considering all these, when Vishnu told that we can do it solo, I was up for it without even a second thought.
I left the task of collecting details from his colleague to Vishnu. After discussing with his colleague Vishnu came up with this plan:
With a rough plan and promised to discuss it further, we decided to book flight tickets. Since we were travelling on Saturday we got a direct flight to Kathmandu. While returning we booked Jet airways(!) which had a layover at Mumbai.
After this we both became busy and the plan was never discussed in details.
Generally, any Himalayan expedition needs a good amount of preparations. Vishnu was a little concerned about his fitness, so he insisted on doing 2 or 3 practice treks to Nandi Hills on weekends. My long runs on Saturday and Vishnu's Kung-fu classes on Sunday meant we could not find a common day for trekking Nandi Hills on weekends.
With just 2 weeks to go, we decided that we have to do at least one trek together.
On 17th of March, we trekked Nandi Hills twice with 6-8 Kgs on our back. Though we had initially decided to talk about the plan post trek, we never did it. With less than 2 weeks to go, we got to know that Jet Airways cancelled our tickets, so we had to re-book the tickets for our return journey.
For me, the week before expedition was hell. The workload had increased drastically in the second half of March. To make matters worse, on Friday, I was down with high fever, headache and horrible cough and cold. Yet, I went for a run on Saturday. It was one of the difficult 10 miles I have ever run. Things got better in the next couple of days and I tried a 12K on Tuesday. Again it was not easy and I was coughing non-stop for 5 minutes after the run. I was now worried about my fitness for the trek. Having done "Friendship Peak", expedition with a horrible Shin-splint I knew I can pull it off. However, since we were only 2 of us, I did not want to be the weaker link. On Friday, the day before our journey, I ran a 16k. I felt like a feather because of which I was very confident about completing the expedition even though I had horrible cough.
Along with the illness, I got busy with a lot of work at the office. Even Vishnu was busy, so the plan never got discussed! We decided that we will buy a map in Kathmandu and discuss the plan on the way.
On Saturday, the 30th of March, I started post lunch. I reached the airport pretty early, got done with security check and immigration. And in half an hour, Vishnu joined me.
The KLM flight was not clean but the journey was a pleasant one. We reached Kathmandu by 10:00 PM. We went to the forex counter at the airport and tried to exchange 20,000 Indian Rupees. To our surprise we were told we can exchange only 5,000 Rupees per person. So we got only 16,000 Nepali Rupees (NR).
We boarded a taxi to Zostel which was pre-booked. Taxi charged us 900 NR (while coming back we got to know it was just 500-600 Rupees).
We had plans of buying a map & planning the trip on reaching Kathmandu. But since we reached late night we had no option but to reach Pokhara and do the planning.
On reaching Zostel we checked-in and inquired about the bus to Pokhara in the morning. We got to know that there are private transports from Thamel, which is walkable distance from Zostel.
AT Zostel Kathmandu
For back-packers, Zostel is an amazing place to stay and we had a pretty good sleep. We woke up early in the morning, took a bath and checked-out. We were in bus to Pokhara in the next 15 minutes. We did not buy map so far and did not discuss the plan either.
On the way we had a good breakfast. We reached Pokhara at 2:30 PM. We inquired about the permit office and walked down. We submitted details and got the permit. It was 3:30 PM when we came out. As we were walking out dark clouds had formed and it was looking like 7 o'clock in the evening. We took a local bus to Baglung bus stop. We were just 15 minutes late for the last bus to Ghandruk. Fortunately we were just on time for the last bus to Naya Pool. Since we were late we had no time to buy a map and plan the trip!!
As soon as we reached Baglung bus stop, it started raining cats and dogs. There was hail fall as well. We later got to know that 30 people died and 400 were injured in that thunder storm in Nepal.
Hail storm at Baglung bus stop, Pokhara
On the way, the only thing we discussed about the plan was that all the tea houses in ABC were destroyed by an Avalanche. As per plan, we were supposed to trek till Deurali on 2nd day and stay at ABC on day 3. But no tea houses in ABC meant that we had to tweak the rough plan. Since we had only 5 days, any change in plan would mean a hectic Day 2 or Day 3. Trekking from Deurali to ABC and coming back to MBC / Deurali was not a feasible option because of the fresh snow that was being deposited every night due to bad weather. So we thought of extending the 2nd day trek till MBC, which was an aggressive decision knowing that the first day trek would be for 12 hours.
We reached Kimche and enquired for a room & dinner. The room cost 500 NR & cost of Dhal bath was 400 NR. We went to our room and calculated the cash remaining with us. To give a little background, Nepalese uses to accept Indian rupees earlier. But post demonetisation no new Indian currency are accepted. Luckily, I had spoken to Aman, a colleague of mine who had asked me to carry 100 Rs notes so I had 3500 in 100 Rs notes.
We had close to 12000 NR left and we had 7 days left in our trip. Also we were in a place with no ATM/Bank. Going back meant losing a day there by putting our already aggressive plan to a risk. We also had to consider that weather was not at all favorable. Without any alternative, we decided to cut down on food and go ahead. It was a big decision considering we had to physically push ourselves in the next 4-5 days, but we knew that was the only way to successfully complete the expedition. Any other decision would put our plan of reaching ABC to serious risk.
Financial planning!
Because of the aggressive plan, bad weather, no tea houses in ABC and shortage of Nepali money, we knew WE WERE WALKING ON THIN ICE EVEN BEFORE THE FUN BEGAN and pulling it off would be nothing short of spectacular!
Day 1 (April 1) : Kimche-Ghandruk-Komrong-Kyumrung-Chomrung-Sinuwa-Bamboo
We woke up at 5AM and got ready. We were ready to start our awesome journey by 5.30 fully aware that our ABC plan was at serious risk from all aspects!! When we came out of our room there wasn't much light & we saw one of the best views outside our room
View from our room
First glimpse of Mt.Machapuchare
We reached Ghandruk in 45 mins. It was a normal hike on mud road with stone steps in few places. The route passes through the Ghandruk village. After crossing the village we continued towards Komrong.
From Ghandruk its a short descent then followed by a steep ascent all the way to Komrong. I reached a little early and was sitting at Komrong where I met the IndiaHikes team which has started the trek a day before us. Vishnu reached in a bit and we started our journey ahead.
From Komrong it's a steep descend towards the river, Kimrong Khola. Then its a short steep ascend to Kimrong. From there it's again a steep ascend to Chomrung.
Both Komrong to Chomrung are at 7000ft altitude. Whenever you are going towards peak you expect to gain altitude as you trek, so basically any descend on the onward journey is very frustrating because the lost altitude has to be gained again. Also you know that while returning you need to do this all over again!
At Chomrung we made an entry in the TIMS permit office. While making entry the lady officer enquired about our plans. We said we came from Kimche and will trek till Bamboo. She gave a surprised look. Then she asked what's the plan for tomorrow. We said we will go till MBC. She said the trail from Deurali to MBC will be covered with fresh snow. She instructed us to stay at Deurali on day 2 and trek to MBC on day 3.
To give a little background, walking on fresh snow once the sun is up is very risky. The snow melts very easily making it really difficult to grip. Even crampons will be of little help on fresh snow. We thought over her instructions. Stopping at Deurali on day 2 would mean putting our 5 day plan was at serious risk. With just 4 days remaining, the best bet was to reach MBC and come back!!
We rested for a few minutes and at around 11 AM started trekking ahead. From Chomrung we need to cross another river, Chomrung Khola. It is another frustrating descend and ascend. We started walking slowly on the stone steps towards the river. We were totally spent by then. We had already hiked for close to 6 hours with the last proper meal being the previous day breakfast. Also the 13KG rucksack was feeling like a ton one now. The rest breaks became more frequent! After capturing a few pics & a small break, we started our ascent towards Lower Sinuwa, where we planned to stop for lunch. By now dark clouds had started covering the sky and we knew our remaining 4 hours journey was in jeopardy.
The path as seen from top!
We reached Lower Sinuwa. Lower Sinuwa is a beautiful place with an exquisite panoramic view of the valley and the villages of Ghandruk and Chomrung. We ordered for Dal Bhat and took a few pics. We were so tired that both of us slept even before the food arrived!! As we started having food it started raining cats and dogs. There was hail storm again!! The guy at the Himal Guest house said that it is going to rain for a couple of hours. It was beautiful to watch the valley in the rain, but thinking about the 3 hours journey ahead made us concerned.
Himal Guest house is owned by a Bee hunter we spent our time reading about them in the dining hall.
Panoramic view from Lower Sinuwa
The rain stopped after close to an hour. I went to pay for food. We realized that the cost of food kept increasing as we moved up(which is logical given the logistics issues). We were more concerned that our previous day plan might not work. I requested the lady there to accept Indian Rupees(500 rs note). TO my surprise she accepted!
We pulled out our rain jackets and covered our rucksacks with rain cover and started our hike to Bamboo. Its another steep ascend towards upper Sinuwa.
Both Upper Sinuwa & Bamboo are at 7500ft altitude. We were told that the road is flat with no much ascend and descend. Since we were really tired, Vishnu asked me to stick with him for the last leg of the day. As we started hiking towards Bamboo we had few steep climbs. After walking for over 8 hours with rucksack & when you were told the road is flat, those were frustrating climbs. At one point Vishnu let out his frustration and screamed "who said its flat". Since we were only 2 of us, I knew it was really easy to get demotivated. I knew he was a very strong bloke but what we had gone through that day with little food was not ordinary. So I said its ok Vishnu don't get demotivated SO EARLY. On hearing that he was angry(which he told while returning) but he did not say anything.
From Upper Sinuwa, we had to gain 500ft altitude. Then its a steep descend on stone steps. Like I said any steep descend on the onward journey is frustrating because you know you need to climb that while returning, when you are more tired!
We struck together and slowly walked towards Bamboo. The route cuts through forest and is a beautiful stretch. Light rains made it much more beautiful, sadly we were too tired to fully enjoy it. Since I was in a little better position I was enjoying the beautiful trail on a rainy day (may not be to the fullest).
At 4:30 PM, after close to 10 hours trek, when we finally reached Bamboo.
Being an endurance athlete, I strongly believe any endurance activity is 30% physical & 70% mental. I know how easy it is for the mind to give-up. So, even though I was fully aware that we were walking on a very very thin rope, I was in no situation to let any demotivation to kick in at that moment. I just looked outside at the harsh weather & told him "look what you have done today is nothing short of phenomenal (yes IndiaHikes reaches Bamboo only on the 3rd Day of trek), we are sticking to our plans and next few days are RELATIVELY easy. We will just see how it goes.
We were too tired to even speak so we slept for some time.
By 6.30 PM we heard a bang on the door. It was the owner asking for food order. Since we were short on Nepali Ruppes, we said we will take one Daal Bhat. She said you cannot share you need to take 2. We said we are short on Nepali Currency, if you can accept Indian Rupees we will take 2. She reluctantly agreed to take Indian 200 Rupee notes. We were happy that we could have 2 proper meals on that hectic day!
After having dinner we settled the bills exhausting all the 200 Rupee notes we had. Then we discussed about our next day. We decided we will reach Deurali(4.5 hours trek) as soon as possible, then see if there is any thin chance of pushing to MBC.
Day 2 (April 2) : Bamboo-Dovan-Himalaya-Deurali-MBC
Just like the first day we woke up at 5 AM and started our trek by 5:30. From Bamboo it a gradual ascend towards Dovan. As we were walking we found 2 doctors who were from Kathmandu. They were also on an aggressive plan but they were not carrying any rucksack. One of them was suffering from nausea and Roshan asked me if I had any medication. I knew Vishnu carried a sophisticated medical kit, so I waited with them till Vishnu came. But Roshan couldn't find any tablet related to AMS in that so they took some rest and we went ahead. The walk is mostly through the forest until we reach Dovan which is at 8500 ft.
A bridge which we had to cross!
Dovan is one of the beautiful places with an awesome panoramic view. Also we could see a beautiful view of Mt.Machapuchare from a nice angle.
We continued our walk towards Himalaya. Its a nice and gradual ascent with steep ascend in only a few places. While trekking here we could see fresh snow on either side of the path. Also we spotted a musk deer on the way
We reached Himalaya, rested for few minutes and then started our hike towards Deurali. Again, its a nice and gradual ascend. But snowing over the last few days had blocked the way in quite a few places. There was one place where a stretch of 20 meters was blocked by hard snow. It was really slippery and we had to be careful there. The final stretch to Deurali was fully covered with fresh snow and we had to walk on it. I was a little ahead of Vishnu & reached Deurali around 10:00 AM. There were a few porters who were resting at Deurali. I enquired with them about the feasibility of hiking to MBC. They said the route is slippery but we can push off if started immediately.
As soon as Vishnu arrived, I told him about my conversation with porters. He was not so convinced to carry on with hiking but still he agreed to it, since reaching MBC that day would certainly mean we can reach ABC as planned. We had already trekked 4.5 hours without any breakfast. We knew the next 2 and a half hours to MBC on a slippery surface with rucksack won't be easy.
I had crampons on me but did not use it because I thought it is of little help on melting fresh snow. We started our hike and within a few minutes of stepping on snow, Vishnu slipped and landed hard on his base. I was afraid of how he would react and how to calm him. But surprisingly he got up and said, this is common till we reach MBC!
We were trekking in an Avalanche risk area and the risk of avalanche is higher when the snow starts to melt. This was the exact time we were trekking! So I made it a point to stay within visible distance of Vishnu.
We took a few breaks and crossed the Modi Khola. From there the route to MBC is a long walk through the valley. The fresh snow had already started melting by now making the route very slippery. At times we had to be on our fours and still we were slipping like anything. With no food in our belly we were really struggling here. All we could see was white blanket of snow making it difficult to judge how far we had walked and how further MBC is. After one steep ascend MBC tea houses were visible. I informed Vishnu and pushed ahead. I reached one of the tea houses and was relaxing. Good thing about the second day was, unlike day 1 it was all ascend.
Views from MBC
Since he agreed to accept Indian Currency we also took WiFi. Yes Wifi is available at every tea house, but its charged 300 NR.
We sat down and had a nice lunch(first meal of the day). We called home via Whatsapp that's when we got to know that Vishnu's parents had panicked hearing the death of 40 people in Nepal & they had contacted Indian embassy and Nepal embassy. Vishnu also had a whatsapp message from Nepal Embassy! I was joking to him saying if we had not taken WiFi his photo would have been in paper by the time we reached Kathmandu.
Vishnu slept after lunch, while I was enjoying the view of snow covered mountains. All I could see was endless snow cover and few mountain peaks rising from the snow blanket. The view became better as the light started to fade.
Evening we had an early dinner. While having Dinner Vishnu said to me that he doesn't want to attempt ABC in the morning and asked me to continue with the other people there. I was literally shocked! All we did in the last 2 days was for this moment and with just 2 hours of hike left, that too after a good night's rest, I did not understand why he was backing off. I tried convincing him. His point was the endless push of last 2 days had taken a toll on his body, which is undeniable.
It is very easy to get demotivated in such harsh conditions and this was a classic example! Knowing his abilities in mountains, I can say with conviction that if Vishnu is ready to sacrifice reaching peak just 2 hours short, then it wouldn't have been possible for many others to even reach till MBC. I was so glad we did not let anybody else come with us because it would have been impossible for them to even reach MBC(except for experienced mountaineers).
There was no way I would let Vishnu fail the ABC expedition just 2 hours short. I talked to him and convinced him that we will travel light while attempting ABC. Rucksacks would be at MBC which we would pick up on the way back.
Also considering Vishnu's point, I told him that we will take it slow while going back. He agreed to my proposal. So, we decided that plan for the next day is trek to ABC and push back to Dovan. On the following ie., 4th day, trek back to Kimrong and use the reserve day to go back to Ghandruk from where board bus to Pokhara.
Day 3 (April 3rd) : MBC-ABC-MBC then MBC-Deurali-Himalaya-Dovan
We woke up at 5 and began out attempt to ABC by 5:30. Initially there is a steep ascend for around half an hour. Then it is a gradual ascend till the ABC. We had to walk completely on snow. As the sun rose we could see the peaks glowing in golden colour.
Walking on fresh snow
Everywhere I looked, there were rolling hills. It was a breathtaking experience. I was totally occupied with thoughts, how we missed planning the schedule, shortage of money, hiking without sufficient food, the agitation, getting discouraged at times, thoughts of giving up halfway through and so on.
After a good 1 and a half hour trek, ABC was visible from distance. As soon as ABC was visible, I already started feeling the sense of achievement.
We reached ABC and were enjoying the dazzling view of Annapurna Massif including Hiunchuli, Annapurna South, Annapurna I, Annapurna III, Gangapurna and Machapuchare peaks. Vishnu arrived in a while. It was the same feeling for him too. He thanked himself for not giving up halfway but making it to the summit. We retrospected our last 3 days within ourselves to understand that it's not mountains that we conquer, but ourselves, as once stated by Sir Edmund Hillary, the man who climbed Mt. Everest.
Mt.Annapurna 1
Mt.Annapurna South
Mt.Annapurna
Generally I am not an expressive person, but after all the hardships I asked Vishnu to click this jubilant pic.
We took some nice pics and enjoyed the view. After some time we started out trek back to MBC.
We had walked hardly for half an hour when we heard a loud burst. When we turned back, a huge avalanche had triggered and the snow was moving towards ABC. But it lost momentum in between and stopped.
Also while walking back to MBC, we could see a magnificent view of Mt.Machapuchare.
We quickly trekked back to MBC, packed our Rucksack and settled bills. As discussed with the owner earlier I settled the bills in Indian currency at 1.4 rate. This was of great help to us since the bill here was quite high and it saved a lot of Nepali Currency for us.
We started trekking towards Deurali at a comfortable pace.
On reaching Deurali where we took a short break and continued to Himalaya. We reached Himalaya by 12:00. It was cloudy and there were chances of rain. We ordered lunch, again the first meal of the day. We were in no hurry because we knew Dovan was not very far and we had enough time with us.
After lunch we slowly started descending to Dovan. By 3:00PM we were in Dovan and we took a room for night stay.
As I mentioned, Dovan has one of the best Panoramic views. After taking a cold water shower, I was just enjoying the view when Abhishek approached me. Basically I was wearing Bengaluru Marathon jersey looking at which he could identify that I am a runner and started a conversation. Abhishek is a marathoner himself and he was trekking with 2 of his friends Sharada(Marathoner & a tri-athlete) and Dharmesh, all from Pune. Vishnu came out looking for me & he also joined the conversation.
After seeing mountaineers from different countries, they were happy that they finally met some Indians. We were chatting for a long time on our trekking and running experiences. Since they were going towards ABC, they asked us about the road ahead. I was explaining them our experience when I happened to mentioned about the financial issue we faced. At the end of the conversation Abhishek handed over 2000 NR without asking anything in return. He even offered more, but knowing that they were on the onward journey, it wasn't fair on my part to accept it. He just gave me his phone number and asked me to ring him once we were back in India. I and Vishnu were touched by this gesture from a person who was a stranger just couple of hours ago. Honestly he did not had to do that. We will never forget that kind gesture in our life!!
First thing we did after getting that money was we went and had tea. The last time we had tea was on the way to Kimche. We felt it was a relaxed day even though we had trekked for 7 and a half hours, mainly because we did not have to carry Rucksack to ABC and then it was a descend to Dovan. We sat in the nice and comfy dining hall having tea and reading books. We had dinner and settled the bills since we had plans to leave early in the morning the next day.
Mt.Machapuchareha before and during sun set
Day 4 (April 4th) : Dovan-Bamboo-Sinuwa-Chomrung-Kyumrung
Since we knew it was a relaxed day by our standards (still it had over 6 hours of trekking), we decided to leave at 6AM instead of 5:30AM. We planned to have breakfast since we would reach Himal Guest house by 9AM . This is the place in Lower Sinuwa who accepted Indian currency.
The steep descend after Bamboo was the only difficult part and as expected we reached Sinuwa by 9AM. We had breakfast for the first time since we started this trek.
Steep ascend after Bamboo
Beautiful flowers on the way
Glimpse of breakfast for the first time in the trek!!
We had a friendly conversation with the owners, paid them and started out trek back to Chomrung. We descended to Chomrung Khola and ascended to Chomrung. We stamped at the TIMS permit office and enquired about the option to exchange currency. The lady at the desk said there is a tea house called Excellent View top whose relative studies in India. She said we might get some help from them.
We went to Excellent View top and actually we could get Indian currency exchanged there at 1.5 rate.
We then started our descent to Kyumrung. The idea was to go as close as possible to Kimche so that it would be easy to catch the next day morning bus.
We reached Kyumrung by 1:30PM.
It was another relaxing day. We played frisbee for some time, had a nice cup of masala chai and enjoyed the view of the valley.
After 2 very hectic days, the last 2 days were very relaxing. We had dinner and hit the sack on time.
Day 5 (April 4th) : Kyumrung-Komrong-Ghandruk-Kimche then to Pokhara
The final descend and ascend
We started at 6:30 AM, crossed Kimrong Khola and started the final ascend towards Komrong. I reached Komrong and was waiting for Vishnu while I met a nice girl Daniel from Chile. Daniel was in Uttarakhand for a month where she was learning Yoga. She was talking about her experiences in Gangotri, for which I could relate to since I had been there for a trek in past.
As soon as Vishnu arrived, I bid adieu to Daniel and continued our trek to Ghandruk. On the way, we stopped at the place where we had first stopped on our onward journey. We remembered our day 1. Who would have thought it would be such a wonderful experience given the crises we were in on the first day!
We reached Ghandruk, crossed the village and moved towards Kimche. The bus stop was on the way. The bus was ready to depart in 15 minutes. So, we boarded the bus. It was around 10:00 AM. We were expecting to reach Pokhara by 2:00 PM. It was all good until last 1 hour of the journey. There was a huge traffic jam, because the road was washed away by heavy rains. The bus was stuck for 5 hours. We had a word with the driver, he assured us that, there is a bus to Kathmandu and we can make it on time for that.
Once the jam was cleared the driver drove crazy, we reached Baglung bus stop at 7:30 PM. We bought tickets for Kathmandu and boarded the bus at 8:00 PM.
We had dinner on the way and reached Kathmandu by 5:00 AM. We got down at the stop which was near to Thamel and walked down to Zostel. We asked for a room when the guy at reception asked us to rest till morning in the common room and then he will check if there is any availability. We relaxed in the common room of Zostel. Again it started raining heavily. We had breakfast in the Zostel restaurant. Fortunately or unfortunately Zostel was booked for that day so we took 2 beds in FireFlies which is just next to Zostel.
We checked-in and set out to buy some souvenirs. We were still on a limited budget because none of our debit or credit cards were working. All cards have a disclaimer "NOT FOR FOREX IN NEPAL & BHUTAN" which we had missed to read while in India. We bought some souvenirs, had lunch and got back to FireFlies. We relaxed for some time and then in the evening went out to roam around the streets of Thamel. We went to some art stores and saw some beautiful paintings out there. We also went to the cafe with no name, had dinner and came back. We hit the bed and next morning had our breakfast at Zostel restaurant, boarded a cab to the airport.
Almost all flights were getting delayed, but luckily our Indigo flight to Delhi was on time. We reached Delhi had some food and boarded the flight to namma Bengaluru. As we were approaching Bangalore Vishnu and I was feeling so bad to come back to the Urban chaos. But we had no option but to report to work the next day!
So from Bengaluru International Airport we parted our ways!!
ABC trekking information map :
