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| Yessi Ye testing Green Giant and TuTwo gear at about 5000 meters approaching Thorang La Pass on the Annapurna Circuit |
Today is like Christmas. Not because it's a snowy winter wonderland outside and not because Christmas is in a couple days, but because I can't wait to get up and get going. Yessi probably would have stayed in bed longer but I'm so excited to get up to the pass I can't stand it!
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| dbBrad near Thorang La Pass, Nepal |
Even though we were both at the dining hall by 700 am, it was a while before we had hot water and even longer for food. Because of last week's fire they have a make shift kitchen. In America we wouldn't even call it a kitchen. No counters, no fridge, no cutting boards, no stove. Just a fire in the middle of a dirt floor surrounded by walls and a big blue bucket of water. Some bags of ingredients line one of the walls.
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| dbBrad and Yessi feeling on top of the world at 5416 meters (17,769 feet) . The two mountains we passed between were Putrun Himal and Khatang Kang, each over 6400m tall and way above us! Often there are several hundred people per day during peak season that go over the pass, but today it was just the TuTwo of us! |
We finished our meal around 8:00 and it was still cold and dark outside. The sun looked to be another hour or more away before we would be out of the shade. We almost went back to bed. After coffee (thanks to my MSR reactor stove I had the good sense to bring), we rallied and got out the door by 8:30.
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| Yessi Ye ascending Thorung La Pass in Nepal. It's i\Interesting that the trail is the only place where there's snow!! |
The first 22 steps were level taking us by the burned area of the village. Every other step for the next 4 hours were up. Even though we were currently at 4200 m, we still had 1200 meters of elevation gain, which is a lot.
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| dbBrad and Yessi Ye, the TuTwo hikers! |
After about an hour of hiking we came to Base Camp. A small cluster of buildings seemingly vacant and locked up. A little exploration took us around the corner to a set of doors that were not locked and inside was a man working; a dining room full of sunshine; and the best views I've ever seen from inside a building. The 4 people in the next room were sleeping. Apparently they were ill from the altitude.
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| Yessi coming up to Base Camp, a small settlement an hour above Thorung Phedi. Last chance for Tea and water before going over Thorung La Pass. |
We ordered coffee and tea which never came. We sat in the sun getting warm and enjoying the view and the natural high that comes with oxygen deprivation. At some point I busted out my stove and made us hot water and tea and then we were off again.
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| dbBrad at Base Camp on the Annapurna Circuit. |
It was now 11:00, we had been at the Base Camp dining room for an hour. It is amazing how fast time goes when you're physically tired. It's so easy to say 'let's take a 10 minute break' and then have half an hour pass. Poof, just like that!
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| dbBrad Freestyle on top of the world, Nepal. |
Hiking up and up for the next three and a half hours, at 2:30 we finally reached the summit. Saying it's a summit is incorrect because even though it's the highest part of our trip, it's the lowest point along this ridge of mountains. Without the natural gap in Thorung La Pass, these mountains would be uncrossable.
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| TuTwo mascot and outdoor adventurist Yessi Ye on another amazing trek high in the Himalayan mountains of Nepal. dbBrad not included. |
At the top, I took some time to build a rock heart for my HOTT fundraiser (Heart On The Trail) but I must say it was a bit anti climatic. We were at almost 18,000 feet and both of us had headaches again. We were both tired and hungry, the wind was blowing and it was cold. Stunningly beautiful but not a place to sit down and have a drink. All in all we spent less than half an hour at the pass before heading on.
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| dbBrad and Yessi. Annapurna Circuit 2012 |
To think we'd spent the last 9 days hiking to get here. This point, one of the highest trails in the world surrounded by the highest mountains in the world, figuratively half way around the Annapurna Circuit. We made it, we were here, and now what? Go down? It just didn't seem right, but that's what we did. That's what everyone does I suspect, get there, take your pictures and go down the other side.
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| Taking a quick break from the relentless climb. |
Of coarse there are other ways as it turns out to get up here. In the village where we slept last night, Thorung Phedi, rents horses. Many people, it seems, get this far and just don't have the strength, confidence or lung power to make it over the pass. But they don't want to turn back either.
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| Yessi modeling TuTwo and Green Giant gear in Nepal. |
So, for a very pretty penny, you can rent a horse or a mule and they will carry you up to the top. Not a bad option for someone who really wants to do the hike but can't. Although, if you can't do the hike to get there, you probably shouldn't be there.
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| Thorung La Pass, Nepal, 5416 meters or 17,769 feet above sea level. |
Heading down the mountain is never as easy as one would think. While you don't have to step up, you still have to watch your footing and slow yourself down. Hiking poles for me are more important going down hill than going up hill. They allow me to absorb forward momentum with my arms which helps me keep from slipping and sliding and greatly reduces impact on my feet which in turn bothers my knees. If I was young I'd have run down the trail like I used to, though that's probably why I have bad knees now. Also, Yessi was less sure footed than I and with the loose sand and rocks and the snow and ice, it was pretty tricky foot work heading down.
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| dbBrad and Yessi. Most days hundreds of people go across Thorung La Pass, but today it was just the TuTwo of us. |
According to the map, the first town on the decending West from Thorung La Pass is Muktinath. There is, however a small settlement about 2 hours below the pass called Charabu. We arrived about 4:30 fairly tired and it looked like Muktinath was another hour so we decided to stay. If we could find a place.
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| Yessi Ye at 5400 meters, the highest part of the Annapurna Circuit holding a TuTwo 图途（厦门）户外用品有限公司 flag and demonstrating how to use the gear they sell. |
There were about a dozen buildings in this village and every building was the same. Each one had one of these odd solar ovens in the yard. They were parallel and evenly spaced and seemed to be all in similar repair. It looked just like any Federal Housing Project in the states Why is there such a discontinuity between Federal projects and Good design? I just don't know.
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| dbBrad finalizing the rock placement for my grandest and highest heart ever. Fossilized rock shaped into a heart at 5400 m above sea level, all for my HeartOnTheTrail fundraiser. |
We checked each building, all closed with locks on the doors. We found one without a lock and considered if we could camp in this little dumpy shack. We kept walking to the end and every building was closed up tight with a little padlock on the door.
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| Looking down on the town of Charabu. The shiny objects in the yard areas are solar ovens. Not a one has been used. I actually saw more ovens further down the valley and while the idea is good, these things were ridiculous They could each hold about a gallon vessel of water in the middle and you were supposed to heat your water that way. I'll bet money they don't work and that the metal can cools off faster than solar insulation can heat it up. Heat of the Sun 阳光灿烂的日子 |
We knew we weren't going down to Muktinath at this point so we turned around heading back to the shack and Yessi noticed a door that didn't have a lock with a hiking pole against the wall. We knocked and sure enough, there were 3 other trampers sitting on a bench under blankets and a local woman in the kitchen doing what they do. She took one look at us, realized we had just been over the top and that it was late and grabbed Yessi's hand and led us back to our room and immediately brought us warm tea. All is well that ends well and this hardest day of the trip was going to end well!
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