Sun break in the Himalayas

That sublime moment when the sun rises at Annapurna Base Camp makes the cold, grime and exhaustion of the trek worthwhile

In the lexicon of great Himalayan treks in Nepal, ABC comes before EBC in the alphabetic sense. Not surprisingly though, the iconic Everest Base Camp trek is at the top of everyon e’s wish list. This doesn’t mean that the Annapurna Base Camp trek is without attractions and charms. Sure, it is shorter in length (five days versus nine days) and less demanding in altitude gain (4,100m vs 5,500m). But, it has an equally stupendous view at journey’s end.

A magnificent sunrise over Annapurna South is what awaits you at the end of your journey

Adventurers are ageless and so it is that my group of close friends, all senior citizens who first got hooked on trekking while at St. Stephen’s College in the 1970s, still continue with this fine passion. Two trekkers who passed me on the way down when I was within sight of the ABC had told me, “You are very brave, sir!” To be honest, I don’t know that I feel very brave, but I do know that you have to be very determin ed an d driven to go on a deman ding mountain adventure.

Up the airy mountains

Annapurna I (8,091m) was the first 8,000m peak ever to be climbed. This was accomplished by legendary mountaineer Maurice Herzog and his French team on June 3, 1950, three years before Everest was summited. The peak, of which there are four sisters linked in one giant massif, is named for the Hindu goddess of food and nourishment who is said to reside there. Annapurna has the reputation of being the most dangerous mountain in the world, with a fatality rate of nearly one-third, meaning that of every three people who have summitted it, one has never returned. By comparison, Everest, which has by far the greatest amount of ascents at over 4,000, has a fatality rate of less than six per cent.

The trek to ABC used to start at the village of Phedi, but in recent years the road has pushed further up the valley of the Modi Khola which drains the Annapurna Sanctuary, cutting out a day-and-a-half’s walk. On a rainy misty morning we found ourselves on a trek organised by South Col expeditions. We crossed the tributary Kimrong Khola over a long metal suspension bridge and passed through the picturesque village of Jhinu Danda (known for its hot springs) before our first serious climb to the larger hamlet of Chomrong, which controls the entrance to the sanctuary. But the weather was still socked in and of the great mountains ahead of us, there was as yet no sign.

The next morning we stopped briefly to have our permits for the Annapurna Conservation Area checked. (What we pay for the permits goes back into the development of the villages.)

some lodges even had hot water showers and Wi-fi available. This is definitely a trail that a lone trekker can attempt without a guide or porter, and we saw many young Nepali students making their way up. What they lacked in equipment and technique, they made up for in spirit and enthusiasm, the unique double redand-blue triangles of the Nepali flag fluttering gaily from their backpacks.

There is always on e day on a trek when things go badly wrong. On Day three, the plan was to walk from Bamboo to Deorali with our maximum daily height gain of 800m and an expected time of four-five hours. I was prepared for a tough day’s climb but, initially, there was absolutely no sense of that and I began to relax. Maybe the trek notes were wrong, I thought. The trail wound gently up through a thick bamboo forest. It was a lovely, picturesque walk, with glittering waterfalls plunging down from