230321 Thorung High Camp-Kagbeni. 9ª Etapa Annapurna Circuit
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 16.02 mi
- Elevation gain
- 2,300 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Difficult
- Elevation loss
- 8,924 ft
- Max elevation
- 17,430 ft
- TrailRank
- 59
- Min elevation
- 9,339 ft
- Trail type
- One Way
- Time
- 9 hours 43 minutes
- Coordinates
- 2412
- Uploaded
- April 8, 2023
- Recorded
- March 2023
near Thorang Phedee, Gandaki Pradesh (Nepal)
Viewed 122 times, downloaded 9 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
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Ninth Stage of the Annapurna Circuit.
One of the emblematic days of the tour arrives, the crossing of Thorung La at 5416 m.
The preliminaries couldn't be worse: 23 degrees below zero at Thorung High Camp and all afternoon and part of the night it was snowing heavily.
The locals recommended that I start walking at 6, so I had breakfast at 05:30 and a few minutes before 6 I started the climb. The truth is that between the snow, which was quite deep, the altitude and the slope, I was aware that it was going to be very hard, and, perhaps for that reason, it was much less heavy than I expected. The reality is that you only have to climb 540 m in a reduced distance of 3.12 km; total that the slope is not strong and the step becomes very bearable. Those who started from Thorung Phedi had it much worse, because they had to add two hours to climb the wall and when you arrive at High Camp you have already given yourself a good tute to start. I was so glad I did it the day before.
Throughout the ascent I overtook many who had started to climb too early or that their strength was not enough (for the modest price of $100 the Nepalis would get you on horseback). Total that when I got to the pass it was still a virgin.
The day did not accompany and was covered throughout the tour. Only at the pass, around 8 in the morning, something cleared up and I was able to take some good photos of the place. On the hill there is a small Tea House (there is another more or less halfway) with which you can warm up and have a tea if you arrive regularly.
From there, I began to descend through virgin snow between 25 cm (above the boot) and 70 (between the knee and the hip), fortunately, the entire path was marked out with poles and also the track I had was very precise and followed faithfully the route of the posts. I missed wearing some spikes, it would have made it much easier for me to grip (there was ice under the snow), the descent and the occasional slip and scour in the snow that didn't go well.
The normal journey is to start in Thorung Phedi and end in Muktinath, but I didn't feel like staying in a quasi-city, so I decided to continue to Jhong. The problem is that neither Jhong's nor Puthak's guest houses were open, so I had no choice but to continue to Kagbeni, which made the day a bit long (almost 10 hours and 27 km) with the consequent final fatigue (in addition, the route drops more than 2,700 m), for all this, I have described it as difficult.
The pass gives entrance to the Kingdom of Mustang, numerous Buddhist manifestations are found again along the route, with a landscape of stone and sand, more typical of a desert, which gives way to the Ghandaki Khola valley.
When I got to Kagbeni, I didn't really want to look for accommodation, in the first one I entered, they asked for 150 USD (American pain) (I thought they were wrong, but no) and in the second one (which I stayed in) it was the most shabby of the ones I was on the whole tour.
In the following link (only links on the computer, not on the mobile app) you can find the complete route and, from there, link to each day:
·🚶♂️All Anapurnas: Circuit - Khopra Ridge - ABC
One of the emblematic days of the tour arrives, the crossing of Thorung La at 5416 m.
The preliminaries couldn't be worse: 23 degrees below zero at Thorung High Camp and all afternoon and part of the night it was snowing heavily.
The locals recommended that I start walking at 6, so I had breakfast at 05:30 and a few minutes before 6 I started the climb. The truth is that between the snow, which was quite deep, the altitude and the slope, I was aware that it was going to be very hard, and, perhaps for that reason, it was much less heavy than I expected. The reality is that you only have to climb 540 m in a reduced distance of 3.12 km; total that the slope is not strong and the step becomes very bearable. Those who started from Thorung Phedi had it much worse, because they had to add two hours to climb the wall and when you arrive at High Camp you have already given yourself a good tute to start. I was so glad I did it the day before.
Throughout the ascent I overtook many who had started to climb too early or that their strength was not enough (for the modest price of $100 the Nepalis would get you on horseback). Total that when I got to the pass it was still a virgin.
The day did not accompany and was covered throughout the tour. Only at the pass, around 8 in the morning, something cleared up and I was able to take some good photos of the place. On the hill there is a small Tea House (there is another more or less halfway) with which you can warm up and have a tea if you arrive regularly.
From there, I began to descend through virgin snow between 25 cm (above the boot) and 70 (between the knee and the hip), fortunately, the entire path was marked out with poles and also the track I had was very precise and followed faithfully the route of the posts. I missed wearing some spikes, it would have made it much easier for me to grip (there was ice under the snow), the descent and the occasional slip and scour in the snow that didn't go well.
The normal journey is to start in Thorung Phedi and end in Muktinath, but I didn't feel like staying in a quasi-city, so I decided to continue to Jhong. The problem is that neither Jhong's nor Puthak's guest houses were open, so I had no choice but to continue to Kagbeni, which made the day a bit long (almost 10 hours and 27 km) with the consequent final fatigue (in addition, the route drops more than 2,700 m), for all this, I have described it as difficult.
The pass gives entrance to the Kingdom of Mustang, numerous Buddhist manifestations are found again along the route, with a landscape of stone and sand, more typical of a desert, which gives way to the Ghandaki Khola valley.
When I got to Kagbeni, I didn't really want to look for accommodation, in the first one I entered, they asked for 150 USD (American pain) (I thought they were wrong, but no) and in the second one (which I stayed in) it was the most shabby of the ones I was on the whole tour.
In the following link (only links on the computer, not on the mobile app) you can find the complete route and, from there, link to each day:
·🚶♂️All Anapurnas: Circuit - Khopra Ridge - ABC
Waypoints
Mountain hut
15,781 ft
Mountain pass
Castle
Intersection
Bridge
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