Mardi Himal Trek Nepal December 2021 | Route and Timings

 

A South Col team walked to Mardi Himal in December 2021 in perfect weather. Here is the detailed description of the route and the timings. 

December 6th 2021 Pokhara to Kande by road and walk to Pitam Deorali 

We left Kathmandu for Pokhara by the 8 30 am flight - luckily for us the weather was good this morning and we reached Pokhara by 10 am - a micro bus was waiting for us and we drove upto   Kande in a hour - the road was very good upto Kande and had been newly resurfaced. We started out from Kande at 11 15 am and climbed steeply for the first 45 minutes mainly on steps; there were very few trekkers on the route - we got to Australian camp in an hour and 15 min - the clouds had come in by noon and the famous view from there  we did not see this time.  We  took a short break and then walked down to Pothana in 25 minutes through a beautiful forested section. We stopped for lunch at Heaven’s Gate, our usual lodge, in the sunshine.  From Pothana the trail to Pitam Deorali had large sections where a new road is being built and there are signs in yellow pointing the trekker to the forest trail which criss-crosses the road - on the way soon after Pothana a new lodge was being built in the forest sadly cutting a number of trees - a lodge so close to Pothana did not make sense as Pothana has a number of good lodges.  Again just before Pitam Deorali there is a new lodge which has been built in a clearing again by cutting down part of the forest. The weather was breaking when we reached Deorali and in the evening there was a heavy thunderstorm with lightning and thunder and rain for around two hours which would have deposited a lot of snow in the higher altitudes around Mardi High camp - in the evening after the rain we could see all the lights of Pokhara valley and on the other side across the valley the lights of Ghandrung as well - the stars were just coming out in the sky and clouds studded across the rapidly clearing sky.

 Kande to Australian Camp  2050m  28 18 13N 83 49 40E  1 hr 15 min to 30 min Australian Camp to Pothana 25 min 1950m 28 18 47 N 83 49 49E
Pothana to Pitam Deorali 1 hour 2140m 28 19 48N 83 49 47E 2100 metres

Annapurna Foothills Trek | The Photographs

Approaching Landrung

South Col Expeditions completed another Annapurna Foothills Trek from December 23-30 2017 amidst speactacular winter weather with clear blue skies and warm sunshine. Some photographs from the trek are below:

Sunrise Ghorepani

The beautiful dining room of Gurung Cottage Ghandrung

Ferns in the forest near Tadapani

On the ridge between Deorali and Ghorepani with Dhaulagiri behind

Tadapani lodges with Annapurna South, Huinchuli and Machhapuchhare behind

Annapurna Foothills Trek | Poon Hill and Ghandrung 2016

The village of Landrung with Annapurna south and Huinchuli

South Col Expeditions did the beautiful five days Annapurna Foothills Trek in the last week of December 2016. The weather was perfect and so were the views Some photographs from this trek are below:

Evening Poon Hill view - Annapurna I, South, Huinchuli and Machhapuchare on the right

Dhaulagiri and Tukuche from the Superview lodge Ghorepani

Sunset at Poon Hill

Annapurna South from the forest between Deorali and Ghorepani

Descending from Landrung - the right fork goes to New bridge and Chomrong while the left
leads to the river and then up to Ghandrung

The group at Ghorepani

To do this trek with us in 2017 do visit  http://www.southcol.com/treks-nepal/annapurna-foothills-trek-december-17th-to-23rd-2017/

Nepal Himalaya | A Journey Through Time | Book Launch New Delhi

Nepal Himalaya - A Journey Through Time will be launched in New Delhi on Sunday December 4th 2016 at the India Habitat Centre, Gulmohar Hall at 7 pm. On that occasion, a presentation through photographs titled The Lure of Everest will be made. All are welcome. The details are below:

The Annapurna Range from the North and South

The south side of the Annapurnas on top as photographed from a flight above Pokhara town and the north side below photographed from the Kang La Pass (5320 metres) - click to enlarge

On my last trek to the valleys of Nar and Phu in Nepal, I crossed the Kang la Pass ( 5320 metres) and descended into the Manang valley to join the famed Annapurna circuit route. On that sunny morning, I had a dress circle view of the Annapurna peaks from the northern side. I shot a panorama of the view and later on compared it to the view from the south which most of us are familiar with. The two views are given above for comparison.

The post below covers some of these great mountains and their first ascents. The data is courtesy the data base of Elizabeth Hawley.

1960 Dhaulagiri 8167m / 26,795ft

Expedition: Swiss / International

Leaders: Eiselin & Forrer

Summiteers: Dienberger, Diener, Schelbert, Vaucher, Weber, Sherpas ND & ND

Dhaulagiri Poon Hill View

1964 Annapurna South 7219m / 23,684ft

Expedition: Japanese

Leaders: Higuchi & Uyeo

Summiteers: Sherpa MT

1950 Annapurna I 8091m / 26,545ft

Expedition: French

Leaders: Herzog

Summiteers: Herzog, Lachenal

Annapurna I from the south - this was not the route climbed by Herzog in 1950 but by Bonington's team  in 1970

1962 Mardi Himal 5587m / 18,330ft

Expedition: British

Leaders: JOM Roberts

Summiteers: Sherpas AT, TN

1964 Machhapuchhare 6993m / 22,943ft

Expedition: British

JOM Roberts, attempt. Did not summit, got to within 20m of summit and turned back. Mountain now closed to expeditions.

Machhapuchhare from the Annapurna south base camp

1965 Gangapurna 7455m / 24,459ft

Expedition: West German

Leaders: Hauser & Greissl

Summiteers: Ehlers, Ekkerlein, Kollensperger, Reismueller, Seibold,

Wuensche, Sherpas - AT, PN & PD

1961 Annapurna III 7555m / 24,787ft

Expedition: Indian

Leaders: Kohli

Summiteers: Gyatso & Sherpa GS

 1955 Annapurna IV 7525m / 24,688ft

Expedition: West German

Leaders: Steinmetz

Summiteers: Biller & Wellenkamp

1960 Annapurna II 7937m / 26,041ft

Expedition: British

Leaders: JOM Roberts

Summiteers: Bonnington, Grant & Sherpa AN

1974 Lamjung Himal 6983m / 22,910ft

Expedition: British

Leaders: Burgess

Summiteers: Chamberlain, Isherwood, Neame & Scott

View 300 metres below Kang La including Dhaulagiri and the Chulu peaks - click to enlarge

1956 Manaslu 8163m / 26,781ft

Expedition: Japanese

Leaders: Maki

Summiteers: Higeta, Imanishi, Kato & Sherpa GN

1960 Himalchuli 7893m / 25,896ft

Expedition: Japanese

Leaders: Yamada & Miyashita

Summiteers: Harada, Nakazawa & Tanabe

1960 Baudha 6672m / 21,890ft

Expedition: Japanese

Leaders: Iso

Summiteers: Kobayashi & Shibata

South Col Expeditions treks every year in the Annapurna Hmal. Join us!

Nar Phu Trek | Video from Kang La Pass (5320m)

This is a  short video shot from just below the pass of Kang La which links the valley of Nar to the Annapurna circuit in Nepal.

South Col Expeditions trekked this route in October 2015.



The list of peaks from Kangla is given in this screenshot below:



For the detailed route of the Nar Phu trek do visit
 http://sujoyrdas.blogspot.in/2015/12/the-nar-phu-valleys-of-nepal-i.html

For photographs of the region do visit
http://www.sujoydas.com/Nepal-Himalaya/Nar-and-Phu-Valleys-of-Nepal/

Annapurna Sanctuary: Don Whillans and the Yeti

About one and a half hours walk from the south base camp of Annapurna I, lies the base camp of Machapuchare, the fish tail mountain. Nowadays, more than twenty five thousand trekkers make their way every year to the Base Camp popularly known as "ABC".   In a hurry to reach their final destination many of them walk from Deorali in the valley to ABC in one day.  I have watched many of them speeding past the avalanche prone Bagar, climbing up to Machapuchare Base Camp (MBC) for a quick cup of tea and then onto ABC by nightfall. On every occasion that I have been to ABC, I have stayed the night at the Machapuchare Base Camp and each and every time I have ruminated over the happenings there one March evening in the year 1970. 

Around that time most of the great walls of the Himalaya were unclimbed. The British under the leadership of Chris Bonington mounted an expedition to attempt the enormous south face of Annapurna I. Bonington had with him a crack team of British climbers including Don Whillans, his comrade-in-arms from the Eigerwand days. Whillans had been sent up ahead along with Mike Thompson to reconnoitre the face as Bonnington was anxious to know if "it would go", a mountaineering phrase meaning “it could be climbed".


In 1970 there were no lodges at MBC or ABC and Whillans and his team had pitched a camp at MBC for the night.   Around five o clock in the evening as Whillans was about to pitch his tent one of his Sherpas Pemba Tharkey said in a matter of fact way, “Yeti coming".  Whillans turned around but was able to see only a shadow disappearing behind a ridge. 

The next day Mike Thompson and Whillans on a reconnaissance trip spotted a set of tracks around the same spot where Whillans had seen the "creature" drop down behind the ridge. Thompson dismissed the tracks saying “It’s a bear” but Whillans was not so sure. 

Thompson left MBC that evening to meet the main party further down the valley but Whillans remained up at MBC with his sherpas.  It was one of those bright moonlit nights in the Himalaya when it is possible to read a book outside. Whillans comments that “it was fantastically cold" even in two sleeping bags. Across the valley he could clearly see the snow slope and the ridge where the creature had been spotted the previous evening.  Despite the cold, Whillans kept putting his head outside the tent right through the evening to scan the hillside from time to time. One can well imagine the excitement and tension on that cold winter's night below the shadow of unclimbed Machapuchare lit up in the moonlight.  Suddenly, Whillans could clearly see a powerful animal which he described as an ape or ape like creature “bounding along on all fours”. From the shadowy portion of the hillside it came out into the moonlight “bounding very quickly across the snow, heading for the shelter of the cliffs.”

As Whillans watched this incredible sight, the creature disappeared into the shadows and was gone.  Whillans never saw it again.


The next morning Whillans walked up the hillside where he saw the tracks in the snow. Interestingly the two sherpas who were with him just ignored the tracks and pretended that they did not exist!


Whillans was convinced that he had seen the Yeti but the mystery still remained unresolved. 


On one occasion in autumn, on a  similar moonlit night, I stood outside a lodge at MBC and scanned the  opposite hillside for quite some time.   I could imagine Whillan's tent in the snow very close to where the lodges are situated. It was still and silent.  Nothing stirred or moved. With the cold getting to me I went inside to my warm sleeping bag. The Annapurna Sanctuary held on to it's secrets.  


Reference Reading:

• Annapurna South Face by Chris Bonington
• High in the Cold Thin Air by Ed Hillary and Desmond Doig
• My  Quest for the Yeti by Reinhold Messner 

Landscapes Himalayas: Annapurna South and Huinchuli

It was a very clear winter night at Landrung on the trail to the Annapurna Base Camp when I shot this photograph of Annapurna South and Huinchuli.