3/10/2010 Friday Day 14 Ghorepani to Chhomrong

We got up at 5:30am for a fast climb up to Poon Hill, to watch the sun rise over the Annapurna range.  Unfortunately for us there were at least 200 other people doing the same thing; no wonder I woke up at 4am to rockery of people going about their stuff. We arrived at the top five minutes before the sun rose, perfect timing.

After doing the stereotypical tourist thing of franticly trying to push the shutter release button as fast as possible we headed down to get some breakfast from our beautiful positioned hotel.  A bowl of porridge with honey, Tibetan bread with our notorious mix of jam and peanut butter and we were off again on our journey. 

We first climbed for 40minutes or so then we got some downhill action. I wish I could have ridden all of it, but there were some pretty nasty drops involving roots and rocks, and I didn’t want to take a greater risk than I had too. Ollie with his mad skills managed to ride a fair bit of it, but mostly we had to carry our bikes over the nugget descents.

We spent the day largely climbing and descending through the rainforest. We descended down to Ban Thanti, then climbed to Tadapani and dropped downwards Kimrongkholagaon. Half way down we came across a nice hotel and had the usual fried potatoes for lunch.  Ollie demonstrated some of his bike tricks to the hotel family and we were on our way dropping down the steep valley. Once down at the bottom the track climb steeply back up again. This proved to be a tiring climb, as we were still mainly in bush and the temperature was high.  I had to stop often to cool off and drink from my camel pack.

When I finally arrived at Chhomrong Ollie had all readied called it and found a hotel where we could keep our bikes at for the next two days, whilst we hiked to ABC. The hotel was currently installing a new water tank for their shower, so we had to wait a few hours before they finally got it going. Despite having the infrastructure for a gas hot shower, the gas bottle was empty. I ended up having a cold shower which was nice and refreshing.  We had a generous serving of Dhalbut for dinner and a really good cup of lemon tea. Two English and another European also stayed at the same hotel, the English were complaining about everything, from the hot shower not working to the size and cost of their meals. We were simply grateful we got seconds with our Dhalbuts.       

2/10/2010 Thursday Day 13 Tatopani to Ghorepani

The Nilgiri breakfast view

We ate breakfast with a magnificent view up to Nilgiri, which was quite fitting as we had the Nilgiri breakfast of fried potatoes, eggs and porridge. We then departed at a lazier time of after 8am.  We quickly descended down to the bridge at Gharkhola and we began our arduous 1700m climb up to Ghorepani.  The scenery wasn’t as nice today, the day turned from blue clear skies to an overcast of orographic cumulus cloud. 

The first part of the climb was by far the hottest, I was soaked, my helmet and shirt were dripping with sweat, but onwards and upwards up the never ending stairs. At one stage I counted 375 steps in more or less a single flight of stairs.

We passed many locals going about their ways, children would often chase after us as we rode up the hill.  Every now and then there would exist a small downhill section that would help cool us down as sped down it.

Mountain Pedaler eating a Mountain Man bar

We ended up having lunch at Chitre. It took an age before my fried potatoes and Tibetan bread to arrive. I was rude and got stuck into it quickly while Ollie patiently waited for his meal to arrive.  I finished mine off and Ollie’s still had not arrived. Ollie’s patience finally gave out and went to investigate, only to find that it had not been ordered.  So another 20 minutes later he finally got his lunch.  We then pressed on and broke into our climbing sweats. Ollie powered off ahead and I went on at my pace.  We got to Ghorepani an hour later and found a nice hotel for 200Ru a night. I enjoyed one of the best showers I’ve had on the trip and waited for dinner.  Tonight I again went with the Dhalbut as last night’s serving was very delicious. 

Almost there

Statistics: travel time 5hours 30 minutes, 1700m climb

1/10/2010 Wednesday Day 12 Muktinath to Tatopani

Woke up to a beautiful morning that revealed stunning views of the valley below, the Himalayan peaks were mightily piercing the morning clouds.  Last night was perhaps the best sleep I’ve had on the entire journey to date, despite my ongoing cough. My stomach was also feeling much better, although the morning brew was still on the low viscosity side. 

Breakfast was good, we again settled for the awesome deal of a set breakfast with porridge, cooked potatoes, eggs, toast, with a glass of juice and a pot of lemon tea to share.  We shared our breakfast table with a young Israeli man, whom had also done the pass.  

We settled the bill and off we went on our 2570m downhill adventure to Tatopani. The first leg involved dropping 1km to the valley floor over a distance of 10km. This contained all the ingredients for a fast blast, which finally allowed me the opportunity to set my Rohloff to 11^th gear for the day.  This meant I was pushing 72.5” for the whole day, great practice for the Single Speed worlds.  The ride down was nothing short of exhilarating, with the 29er wheels humming as they spun at speed over rugged rocky road.  The bike became a mere extension of my body as I rode through the mystical morning light that bathed me and the enchanting valley.  This seamless connection between my bike and I well reflected the spirituality of this amazing region.    

We passed a land slip on the way down that was being cleared by a front end loader, a bit further down we passed a fifty tonner clearing another slip that looked like it was being driven by 12 year old. We sneaked under it and were off again at pace descending the to the valley floor.

The environment was largely desert with small oases next to the villages.  After following the road for an hour we reached Jomson the largest town in the Mustang region.  This town boasted a fully sealed runway, from which the majority of tourist enter and exit the area, and ATM machines that didn’t read our cards.   At the check point Ollie got us signed out of the ACA, whilst I talked to a trekker from down under about our efforts.  He soon began to lecture me about AMS. 

We passed thousands of goats that were being herded for a sacrificial festival.

The trekker also mentioned that it was a 7 hour jeep ride to Tatopani, well we will see about that.

On the road down the valley, shortly after Jomson

With the aim of getting to the infamous hot pools at Tatopani we were off, with only a cloud of dust to show our presence. The 29er wheels once again proved themselves over the rough terrain.  The constant river crossings combined with the clouds of dust gave our chains the workout of their lives. The track down the valley was made all the more pleasant by the rapidly changing vegetation, from the sparseness of the alpine desert the pine trees slowly began to emerge until the rugged mountain sides were one extensive forest.

Giving the folks a call at lunch, typically got their answer machine.

We stopped for lunch at Kalopani and feasted on Nepal’s version of the cheese burger. This was followed by an apple pie and crumbly for desert. We than carried on the remaining 40% of the leg down Tatopani.  With still 1400m of elevation to lose, things were looking blurry in a good way. We passed plenty of tractors, trucks and buses on the bumpy road down proving that mountain bikes are definitely the vehicle of choice.

Ollie riding through the world's deepest gorge

The amazing views just keep coming, around every bend another vista would present itself. We passed waterfalls that seemed to pour from the clouds themselves.

 We arrived in Tatopani and found a place to stay for 100Ru a night.  We quickly unpacked and headed down to the long awaited hot pools. For another mere price of 50Ru we were setting in what we both agreed to be some of the best hot pools we have ever been in.  The sparsely crowded pools had a neat addition of a cold water hose that you could use to cool off under once overcome by heat of the steaming pools.  What a simple and refreshing idea. 

We cleaned our clothes in the hot pool runoff and headed back for our traditional afternoon nap.

Tonight we are both trying the dalhbut, a Nepalese dish that keeps on giving, quite literally as the dish is normally refilled once finished.  So as long as tomorrows diary entry doesn’t consist of sudden vomiting, diarrhoea and ‘oh the pain, can you pull the 1000 anger monkeys out of my stomach’ we will assume that the dalhbut was pretty good. 

1700m climb up to 2860m to Ghorepani tomorrow.  Apparently takes 7 hours so we will see how we get on.            

30/09/2010 Tuesday Day 11 Thorung Phedi to Muktinath via Thorung La Pass 5416m

Up at 5am this morning with the sudden urge to go to toilet; diarrhoea, nice. Once again I had a restless sleep, waking every hour or so, that combined with my dysentery made for the ideal preparation for today’s climb up to Thorung La. 

High Camp

We had honey porridge for breakfast and proceed with the 900m climb up to the pass.  We got to high camp within an hour and broke out into the sunlight, which was followed by the delightful pleasures of fingers thawing. We then carried on for another hour and a half and were able ride small portions in between the pushes. 

Ollie riding over a bridge at over 5000m

As the summit of the pass neared I began to get excited with anticipation of finally reaching out goal although I did not physically show this.  My body was tired from the climb and bum cheeks were strained from being clamped together desperately trying to keep my stomach contents in my colon.   Never the less it was a greatly feeling riding over the prayer flag covered pass on the bike after spending so many months thinking about it.       

The views from the pass were not actually that great due to the two mountains of Yawwakang and Khafungkong both over 6000m blocking the potential views. But this was not really an issue as we were spoiled with amazing views of Annapurna III on the walk up.  We made some phone calls to our folks on my dad’s satellite phone, took some photos and eagerly ate a cake of celebratory summit chocolate.   Then it was off to test out our nerves on the 1700m descent.

 The decent began with a comfortable gradient and then progressively got steeper, oh how I wished I didn’t have to carry my dry bag that greatly prevented me getting my weight back for improved control.  We ended up playing a game of leap frog with the bikes, where one of us would ride a section whilst the other took photos and allowed their brakes to cool off.

Look at that downhill

We stopped at 4200m at a small village where again I needed the use of a bathroom.  Some momos for lunch and antibiotics to settle my stomach and we were off to Muktinath. The trail began to increase with flowyness and made for some excitingly fast riding over the never ending gnarly rock sections, which the 29er wheels simple ate up. I was disappointed that I wasn’t feeling well today as this descent was one of the highlights to date.

Muktinath

We rode into Muktinath like desperados on our trustee steeds.  We stayed at the North Pole hotel which boasted hot showers. After a short lie down we went out for a small walk around the sacred town of Muktinath and up to the monastery that had a 108 cleansing fountains.  

The 108 fountains of the Muktinath Monastery 

Back at the hotel we planned out the rest of our trip and made a new goal of a trek up to Annapurna base camp. We enjoyed our delicious dinner that also included half a pizza each before heading off to bed with food comas.

Big ride tomorrow, but with 2600m of pure sweet elevation to burn off this should be a delight.   

29/09/2010 Monday Day 10 Manang to Thorung Phedi

My cough progressed to the next level last light and kept me up hours. It seemed as soon as I fell asleep I was waking up to the beautiful Annapurna sunshine. The set breakfast of fried potatoes, eggs and our finest blend of peanut butter and jam on toast set us up for days riding to Thorung Phedi.  We settled the bill and hoped on the bikes to start our 1000m climb.

First yak on the trail

Blacky and Beardy battling it out 

Looking back down to Manang

The track was surprisingly rideable given that it went all the way up 4500m, however I still had to push my bike more often than I would of like too due to my lungs struggling with the depleting oxygen.  Ollie however seemed to dominate the tracks, his legs simply keep pedalling away like a perpetual motion machine.

I arrived at Thorung Phedi at 11:30ish.  We had a nap in our little cabin and then went and had some fried potato and vege for lunch over a game of chess.  The altitude and tiredness was getting to me as Ollie won convincingly.  Depressed from the lost I retreated to the cabin to return to dream land. I slept until sunset and then went to in search of Ollie, only to find him chatting up a Swiss girl from Australia.

Throng Phedi

The evening donkey train coming down from the pass

I took my camera out to get some sunset shots, when I noticed two mobs of blue sheep.  This revitalised my spirit and I began to stalk up to the closer mob, I got to within 30m and watched them for awhile. The mob then slowly began to descend towards me, they eventual came to within 15m of me. This was my highlight for day, being able to see the blue sheep, the highest living mammal in their natural environment. This however could have been topped by watching a rare snow leopard pounce on top of a blue sheep, or even better seeming the mystical Himalayan Yeti. 

A female Blue sheep

We had dinner with the Swiss girls, went to bed shortly after to get some sleep before tomorrow’s early start.           

Statistics: Manang to Thorung Phedi 4hr, 1000m vertical, 15km distance.

28/09/2010 Sunday Day 9 Manang Rest Day

Hurray sleep in this morning, which was greatly appreciated as my cough had worsened the night before. When we finally drag ourselves out of bed we continued the trend of wonderfully cooked breakfasts. It didn’t take much persuading to get Ollie to mix his peanut butter with the surplus jam to make an ultimate hybrid spread for his toast.  After taking a few month bites Ollie didn’t show any symptoms of power vomiting, even though the thought of this concoction was enough to turn my stomach, but like always I had to give it go and was quite surprised to find it very tasty. 

We decided to head up the side of Annapurna III, we walked up to over 3800m to a place where there were pair flags strung across the mountain side.  On the way up we passed a few locals carrying bundles of sticks down the mountain back to Manang must likely to use as fire wood. Seeing this was just another reminder how much easier we have life back in NZ.  

On the trip back down I had to stop and patch up a wee dam, whilst admiring the views of the surrounding mountains.  We went back down to Manang to find us some lunch from the Hotel next to ours. We started a game of chess, which somehow I managed to win even though Ollie was taking me apart.  I felt quite drossy after lunch, which I guess was due to a combination of my cough, altitude and lack of sleep, so we both took a short nap.

After a refreshing nap we discussed what we should do for the rest of the afternoon. Ollie was keen to walk up to cave, but after discovering it was above 4000m we decided to flag that idea and take our bikes up the track we walked up in the morning.  Without the weight of the dry bags on the bikes we were quickly able to ride and carry our bikes up the steep track. On the way up we noted all the good photo and filming spots. I began to film and take photos of Ollie descending the steep picturesque trails. This often required Ollie to carry his bike up to ride to repeat a section to make sure we got the right shot; it’s a hard job being a model, but Ollie pulled it off.   We even managed to get some helmet came footage by taping Ollies camera to his helmet.

Once back in Manage we visited our favourite bakery for some afternoon treats.  I wrote today’s diary log whilst watching the Sunset over the Annapurnas from the third story of the Yeti Hotel.  The sky turned from blue to red/orange and then to a deep pink bluish colour. The contrast of the mountains and the evening sky was as crisp as the cool mountain air. 

Onwards and upwards to Thorung Phedi at 4500m tomorrow. This requires over 1000m climbing and approximately 15km to travel, from there just a mere hop of 900m and then downhill to Muktinath. 

27/09/2010 Sunday Day 8 Timang to Manang

My cough that I inherited from Ollie a few days earlier reached a new level last night. It was persistent enough that an Israeli guy gave me a cough tablet and told me to wrap clothing around my neck, which seemed to work as I didn’t cough until morning, so we all got a good night sleep. 

We woke to a beautiful sunrise, with clear views of the surrounding snow capped peaks.  We had apple porridge and Tibetan bread for breakfast, both were large portions, I ended up having to finish of Ollie’s bread. 

Yummy Tibetan bread

Sherpas doing it hard!

We got under way at 7:45ish and were immediately spoiled by nice tracks to ride in the morning sun. We only had to do a short climb/carry before Koto, and then soon were in Chame, our goal from two days ago!  In Chame we found that the entire village of a few hundred people were watching a Vollyball tournament.  We pressed on and found that around every corner we were greeted with magnificent vistas of the mountains. 

Riding next to a 100m vertical drop

On the road to Chame

Around the corner from Bhratang we came across the Swargadwari Danda a mountain which has an almost smooth rock face, making an almost perfect giant natural wall ride. We quickly carried on another small climb of a few hundred metres and were greeted by a gently downhill to lower Pisang.

We had lunch at this beautiful village that looked up to upper Pisang and Pisang Peak.  After our lunch we carried on to Manang, we climb over a small hill called Deuralidanda, which then gave us a spectacular views of the valley leading up to Manang.  The riding up the valley was straight forward and I even got the Rohloff into gear 5 for change.  The cool tail wind made for easy riding and we made Manang around 1500ish.  Ollie called it and we stayed at the ‘Yeti Hotel’.  Our room even had an en suite with a lukewarm shower.  We cleaned ourselves up and went to explore Manang. 

Lower Pissang

Riding towards Manang

We followed our noses and found a bakery with chocolate rolls and croissants.  We strolled through town and found a local movie theatre, we chatted to manager, a 21 year old for a bit before the movie started. We also talked to Canadian from Toronto who was having difficulties with the altitude and was suffering from numbness in his face and limbs from the Dimonxia.  No problems for Ollie and me at 3540m.   We watched ‘Into the thin air’ and were glad that we were only going up to some 18000ft rather than above 2400ft. 

Just had my first bowl of fired momos for dinner, yummy.  Looking forward to bed tonight and an easy acclimatisation day tomorrow.