March 29th – Welcome to the suck
I woke up this morning to try to get some good panoramas of Upper Pisang and the surrounding mountains. Annapurna II played peekboo through the clouds and I don’t think that my pictures turned out that well. The food once again this morning was wonderful. It’s such a wonderful thing to start the day off with tasty food. It puts you in a good mood for the day and makes it easy to fill your belly with energy for later in the day. After breakfast, I bought 3 tubes of Pringles for further motivation while hiking.
After everyone was packed, we set out for our hike. We had decided to take the upper road to Manang to help with the acclimatization and altitude that we would face as we got closer to the pass. The hike was relatively flat for the first hour until we got to the base of a large mountain side. The next hour was spent tackling an ascent of 1,200 feet. The going was hot and dusty and the dirt was very loose which occasionally sent rocks down to whoever was hiking below at the time - it sucked. Andrea knocked off a rock the size of a loaf of bread that came hurtling down the mountain side and split the difference between our porter Anish and I with a cushion of only three feet from total disaster.
Once we got to the top of the mountain side, we stopped at the edge of a small village to take pictures with the incredible backdrop of the mountains behind us. While we took pictures, we also met a nice couple from Australia who we chatted with and took pictures for. The wind was really blowing hard and cut to the bone. I had been lightly clothed for the hot hike up, but the terrible wind forced me to put on my windbreaker to keep warm. Despite this, Michael the animal / ox was still clothed in shorts and a T-shirt. He did don a long sleeve shirt for our photo together though.
We hiked on further for an hour and then stopped for lunch. Our meal was hastened by an incoming storm that was forecast by our guide. To me, the sky just looked cloudy, but Raj could sense something else was afoot. We made for the town of Bryaga on a 1,000 foot descent that proved to be tough on the knees. Almost the entire hike down was on the side of exposed mountain trails which made for very cold and windy going. My windbreaker was a lifesaver here.
As we got closer, it got windier and the snow rolled in. I ran out of water about an hour out of the town and it was a thirsty final hike until we could get all the rest of the way there. We arrived at the Hotel New Yak in the middle of what felt like a blizzard. The snow was wet and slick and it’s danger was revealed when a Frenchman took a tumble right down the steps at the New Yak in front of us as we arrived.
The Hotel New Yak is quite wonderful. The rooms are nice and large, built out of stone. We also had our own private squatter which was nice. I also had a chance to pick my way through the snow for a hot shower after a long days hike, although I almost bought the farm as I tried to traverse the snow upstairs in my sandals. Since there was no power in the shower, I did my best to shower by flashlight – the ability to improvise while out trekking is key.
After getting cleaned up, we had dinner, and oh man was it delicious. It was definitely the best food we had on the trip so far. I had chicken soup, garlic toast and spaghetti. For dessert, I had apple pie which was also quite fantastic. Despite this welcome end to the day, a serious issue did arise. Our porter is totally unprepared for further hiking. He doesn’t have proper clothing or boots – something that Raj was supposed to make sure that he had. We need to figure out what we will do to get him proper gear.