Back to Nepal

With the trip to Ecuador and later Mexico in November being botched I considered saving my vacation days for some time next year, maybe combining them with Easter giving an even longer time off opening up for several possibilities to go on a long trip. But I had mentally prepared to go now in November and suddenly not having anything made it feel disappointingly empty.

So I had to find a remedy for that. How? By finding another trip!

Looking at climbs I realized that there were no real realistic alternatives for me that I hadn't already done so I started looking into treks instead. My attention quickly went to Nepal where I for some time have wanted to return since the Everest Base Camp trek back in 2012, and luckily there was a departure that perfectly fit my schedule. And one free spot left. Lucky me!

6th - 7th of November

Flight out from Copenhagen via Doha to Kathmandu. At least Doha has gotten a new airport since my last layover so the stay will be a bit less dull than the last time I was here.

8th of November

We will drive to Besi Shahar from where we will go on a short trek to Jagat and passing by beautiful hot springs on the way.

9th - 22nd of November

The itinerary is fairly limited on information other than "walk from [here] to [there]" so splitting the description on in a day-to-day basis as I usually do feels like a waste of time. Basically we will be walking almost two weeks along the Annapurna range in the western part of Nepal home of several summits, among them Annapurna I, II, III and IV (the imagination needed to name them!). Annapurna I is the only 8000m summit (8091m) in the range and is the 8000m summit with the highest fatality rate of app. 32%.

We will be having a couple of rest days on the way but most days we will be walking 6-8 hours bringing us through valleys, along mountains and over passes in some beautiful terrain and see amazing views. Hopefully the latter will apply, too, and the weather won't be acting up.

The highest point we will be reaching on the trek will be Thorung Pass of 5416m but normally we will be walking in the area of 2000-4500m.

For those of you who actually do know the geographical layout of western Nepal here's the route we will be following: Jagat - Bagarchhap, Bagarchhap - Chame, Chame - Pisang, Pisang - Manang, Manang rest day, Manang - Yakkharka, Yakkharka - Phedi, Phedi - Muktinath, Muktinath rest day, Muktinath - Kalopani, Kalopani - Tatopani, Tatopani - Sikha, Sikha - Ghorepani, Ghorepani - Pokhara. My spell checker is going into overdrive.

23rd of November

Drive back from Pokhara to Kathmandu where we will be spending the last night together.

24th - 25th of November

Flight back home, again via Doha. Extra happy with the new airport as I will be spending around 8 hours there this time. Nope, no better connections.