Nepal: Thorung Phedi (4450m)> Thorung La (5416m)> Rainipauwa (3700m) - Annapurna Circuit and Sanctuary (14)

Leaving Thorung Phedi
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When I wakened up at 5am I looked outside to see two inches of fresh snow. The cloud was thick and low and I wondered if we would be able to make it across the pass. There had been the noise of people moving about since before 4am and when I went for a walk outside I saw a steady line of people heading up the pass.

Everyone else was reluctant to get up and breakfast was a little late. By the time we started walking it was 6:30, thirty minutes later than intended. By now the sun was beginning to come out. It was a lovely cool morning and the sun was glistening off the snow.

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There was a lot of snow glare and my glasses were too small to protect the sides of my eyes. I ended up improvising by hanging the edges of a cotton handkerchief down from under my hat. I'm sure I looked quite ridiculous but it was surprisingly effective. Stuart K ended up doing something similar with toilet paper.

I had started the climb feeling great but within 5 minutes I was puffing. While I don't seem to suffer from most of the symptoms of altitude sickness I do find everything much more strenuous than normal.

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Kathryn on the other hand sometimes gets headaches and has trouble sleeping due to breathlessness but seems to be able to walk at closer to her normal pace. Kathryn therefore led the way. She was soon catching and passing people, smugly thinking to herself that they should have spent more time acclimatising.

Lynne seemed to be barely moving at all but she was able to keep moving without stopping. Stuart K was somewhere between Kathryn and myself.

After an hour we reached high camp (4800m) where we stopped for 30 minutes for a cup of tea. It had been hard work so far but not as bad as expected. When you read or hear about Thorung La the emphasis is always on the danger, the altitude and the exertion. None of us expected the route up to the pass to be so beautiful. Everything was covered in snow and the mountains looked stunning.

One of our many tea stops
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Things continued in the same way to Yakawakang tea house (5115m) where we stopped for another 20-30 minutes and another cup of tea. This time it was an extra large mug that cost us Rs105 each compared with Rs15 in Kagbeni. I went to use the toilet but changed my mind when I discovered that the toilet was simply a small shed filled with a big pile of shit.

It was now the final push to the top of the pass. As we climbed we entered the cloud. We were passing lots of people who had started hours before us. Stuart K and Kathryn reached the summit tea house just in front of me at 10:15.

Celebrating our arrival at the top
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Stuart wanted a picture from the small mound just behind the tea house. He started running up the hill and I followed. I caught up with him and goaded him by saying "Is that as fast as you can run". As a result the two of us went racing up the hill. To start with it felt easy but 5 metres from the top we both came close to collapsing and felt as though we were suffocating as our bodies ran out of oxygen.

It took a while to recover and by this point Kathryn had joined us for the photos. We went back to the tea house and got a cup of tea which made Kathryn and I feel queasy. Loss of appetite is a symptom of altitude sickness and up to now I have had a voracious appetite. The sudden rush up the pass was obviously enough to make a difference.

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By this point Lynne still hadn't arrived so I went looking for her. She showed up eventually but she was feeling a bit nauseous and wanted to head down. Others were a lot worse however. On the way up I saw someone had written in the snow "Happy Birthday Rachel". We found out that Rachel was the girl throwing up outside the tea house.

There were also a couple with two very young children who were very obviously suffering. The father was carrying one girl of around 2 or 3 and a porter the other who was about 5 or 6. They looked far too young to be taken up to such a high altitude and their parents didn't seem to be very well prepared. They were also doing things the more difficult way, from Ranipauwa to Thorung Phedi.

On our way down the other side
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From the top it's downhill all the way for 1700m. There wasn't much snow on this side but it was steep, loose and awkward. There was a short section of gentle slope where we were able to jog down but most of it was painfully slow and very hard on the knees.

At 1pm we reached the first tea house on the Mustang side of the pass at Chabru. All the way down at 4070m. We had tea and sandwiches with moldy bread. Working our way down the hill we came in sight of the Muktinath temple complex and Ranipauwa. The brightly coloured temple roofs made me think that I had arrived at Disney Land.

Green fields and villages come into view
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The town was large and busy with a few motor bikes running up and down and so different from Thorung Phedi. It was like arriving in a new country. The town was also full of Indian pilgrims heading to the temples. Their different clothes and appearance added to the effect.

From Chabru it took about an hour to reach Ranipauwa. We checked into the North Pole Hotel. It was almost empty when we arrived. the hotel is run by a very nice family, the showers are hot and there is a full set of clean bedding so no need to use our sleeping bags.

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We had a very leisurely afternoon but I took a short walk to the South end of town where there is a great view over Jharkot and the mountain behind. I sat for a while watching the sun slowly drop.