Annapurna Circuit trek with Tilicho lake during the winter
Annapurna Circuit trek with Tilicho Lake during winter. January 2018. Andrew and I had agreed to discuss a second trek on which he could go after his family trek on our communications. We decided to go on the Annapurna Circuit with Tilicho Lake. It met his requirements of relatively easy accessibility, which could be done within two weeks, visiting a glacial lake and going over 5000 meters. We decided to start on the 8th of January, two days after his family left for Hong Kong. While Andrew was in Pokhara and Chitwan with his family, I returned to Kathmandu to get the necessary permits, the needed information, etcetera. The Drive to Besishar. We had agreed to hire a car from Besisahar to a blacktopped road; from Besisahar, we had to hire a local Indian jeep. My local transporter in Besisahar advised me to start from Kathmandu early as a small section of the road freezes in the late afternoon. Andrew and I agreed to leave Kathmandu at 5 am with some packed breakfast and coffee to avoid the frozen section of the fair-weather road to Chame – our destination for the first night. I went to pick up Andrew with a slight delay as the designated driver’s mother-in-law turned ill, and he had to be replaced by another person. We managed to get out of Kathmandu valley smoothly as it was still early. Driving into or out of Kathmandu can be nightmarish, with delays as long as 3-4 hours. We had clear views of the Manaslu and Annapurna range on the drive to Besisahar. We reached Besishar on schedule after 5 hours of driving. Besisahar to Chame Drive. 2600m. We changed vehicles and were driven off after showing the permits to the registrar. Andrew and I had booked a whole jeep – Mahendra Bolero for us. I asked the driver to call a restaurant to make dal bhat (Nepalese staple diet) in advance to save time. The road was rough with huge rocks making it very bumpy for the first half. We stopped for a quick lunch, which was ordered in advance. We picked up a few hitchhikers, including a goat with difficulty walking. The road became less bumpy once we entered the district of Manang. We managed to get through several icy parts of the way with no trouble and arrived at Chame at 5 pm, 11 hours since we left Kathmandu. The views of the mountains from the Manaslu range to the east and Lamjung Himal to the south were unobstructed all day long, despite nearly 30 years of trekking I had never experienced. We checked into a lovely lodge with cottages and had the whole place to ourselves. We went to our cabins to sort everything for the night before gathering in the dining room, where pleasant warmth from the heater welcomed us. We had some Rakshi (locally distilled drink). We checked out the weather forecast on the Internet, and the predictions for Manang village, 3500meters, were -18 minimum and -9 maximum. We were getting there in two days. The temperature for Throung La past the 16th of January was forecasted to be -11 maximum and -24 minimum. This raised some concerns for me. We went to bed early after Andrew roughly ground the coffee beans he had brought to get the well-needed rest. We woke up at 7 am, packed our backpacks, and met in the dining room for fresh coffee, which Andrew had ground the previous evening. The weather app on our devices showed the temperature to be -9 degrees Celsius; I was wearing a pair of socks and my slippers – my feet did not feel cold or uncomfortable. I shared this with Andrew and mentioned this felt odd, but the lack of discomfort was welcome at the same time. However, the water in the bucket inside the toilet was frozen solid, while the toilet floor was icy with the spilt water. The Trek to Upper Pisang 3200m. This was a short day of five hours of trekking amidst beautiful scenery. We decided to take our time to absorb the surrounding beauty and took many photographs. We passed through a series of Mani walls. We arrived at the apple orchards at Brathang and stopped at the farmhouse for some hot lemon drinks. We were down to our T-shirts by this time, which was a pleasant surprise, having been at supposedly -9 degrees Celsius just a few hours ago. We had to climb a moderate hill after crossing a bridge; we went through Juniper, Pine, and Fir forests. The valley began to broaden, and Pisang Peak 6091m stood in front of us, while in the back were the impressively broad rock walls the locals call “Heaven’s gate.” We stopped at Dhikur Pokhari for lunch. We had a short walk to Upper Pisang after lunch. While walking on the fair-weather road track, Andrew slipped on ice camouflaged by dirt. It quickly reminded us that we were, after all, trekking in the Himalayas during winter. We saw less than ten trekkers on this day. We stayed at Tukuche lodge at Upper Pisang, and there were two backpackers there; one Swedish and the other one from South Korea. Trek to Manang Village. There are two options to get to Manang – the shorter lower route or, the more extended but more scenic Upper route. We opted for the more beautiful and higher way, which also helps with acclimatization to high altitudes. We started around 8.30 am and were in the sun after thirty minutes of hiking. We walked above a picturesque lake to our left. We walked on a reasonably level path through scrubland before coming across a long Prayer wall, descended a little to cross a stream on a suspension bridge, and began a strenuous climb with switchbacks to the village Ghyaru 3673m. We were greeted by Lamjung Himal’s views, Annapurna II, IV, III, Gangapurna, and Mount Tilicho. We had a short stop to rehydrate and
