Mardi Himal Trek | Nepal | March 23-30 2020

HIGHLIGHTS
The Mardi Himal is a relatively new route in the foothills of Annapurna and has developed into a full scale trekking route in the last few years. It now has a series of lodges at different camps and for a short five day trek rivals the traditional Ghandrung-Poon Hill loop. It has great views reaching almost to the bottom of the Fishtail Mountain Macchapucchare along with Annapurna South, Huinchuli and Gangapurna.

Suitability: A good choice for most  walkers, reasonable level of fitness required.

Walking times: average 5 to 7 hours walking per day

Altitude: up to 3550m at High Camp.

Terrain: for most of time following well-travelled trails, there will be daily ascent and descent on steps which are part of any Nepal trek.

 Remoteness: usually not too remote and often there is a reasonable level of infrastructure such as lodge accommodation and cell/ mobile phone reception and wifi reception every day at the lodges.

Kangchenjunga White House | Khambachen Nepal

Nupu Sherpa who runs the lodge

A South Col group trekked the Kangchenjunga North Base Camp in November 2019. One of the nicest lodges we stayed in was the Kangchenjunga White House run by Nupu Sherpa. The lodge has some very nice clean cottage rooms, a sunny and warm dining area and  is a good base to visit Jannu Base Camp and the surrounding valleys. We stayed for two nights which is also useful for acclimatisation but a third night maybe on the way back is also an option if you have days to spare.

Ghandrung - Ghorepani - Poon Hill Trek | Updates December 2019

A South Col team trekked the Annapurna foothills in the last week of December 2019. Our route was Pokhara-Kande- Australian Camp- Pothana- Tolka- Landrung-Ghandrung- Tadapani- Ghorepani- Poon Hill- Banthanti-Ulleri-Hillay-Birethanti-Pokhara.

Some useful updates from the trek.

• The road from Pokhara to Nayapul and Birethanti has now been pushed up beyond Ulleri to lower Banthanti. Though we did not see any jeeps on the road we were told by the locals that the road is ready and jeeps can be hired from Pokhara to drive up to Banthanti. We fear that the road will reach Ghorepani in the next one/two years thereby ending another beautful trek. Many would not want to continue to climb or descend the 3280 steps.