Stage 7 Thorong Pedi High camp - Thorong la pass - Muktinath. Annapurna circuit. Nepal

Trek summary:


Day 1: Chame – Upper Pissang
Day 2: Upper Pissang – Manang
Day 3: Manang – Khangsar
Day 4.1: Khangsar - Tilicho BC
Day 4.2: Tilicho BC – Tilicho Lake
Day 5: Tilicho BC – Yak Kharka
Day 6: Yak Kharka - Thorong Pedi High Camp
---> Day 7: Thorong Pedi High Camp - Thorong La Pass - Muktinath


Highlights
- Snow and landslide area
- It is not necessary the use of crampons but it is mandatory to use goretex boots and clothes
- It is recommendable to reach Thoron La Pass early in the morning, and start the climbing in the night, then carry a frontal light is a must

We got up really early in the morning to take breakfast at 3h30 AM. The water I had in my room was frozen because during the night the temperature decreased until -20ºC. The toilets were also frozen and to enter in was really dangerous the floor was as an ice skating rink. After breakfast we took all our belongings and protected ourselves with our best clothes. We started the last stage of the trekking and the most dangerous one around 4h15AM. This stage is the most popular one and all the people start from 4 AM in order to reach Thorong La Pass earlier than 9 AM and avoid weather problems, like snow storms or avalanches.
The dark night forced us to use a frontal light. The beginning of this stage is a landslide snow and ice area. You have to be really cautious because in your rigth there is a huge cliff and walking in the night there is no natural light and you can only see the really close area illuminated by your frontal light. It is really nice to look all the little lights procession produced by the frontal lights of the mountaineers. This is the most crowed stage and you have to wait sometimes because there is only one path to follow and sometimes there is no place for more than one person at the same level.
You can stop for a while in a small tea house placed between the high camp and Thorong La Pass. We decided not to stop there. The experience in Tilicho lake marked us really deeply and we were really conscious about the important of avoid midday hours in the windy areas. We continued walking during the night. The feeling was really good for all of us and we were really happy. We managed to reach Thorong La Pass really early (around 8h20 AM) and we even stop for a while in the Tea House to take hot water because our water was frozen again 
The weather was really good the sun was shining strongly and there were no clouds at all. We began descending after take some pictures and rest for a while in the tea house. The path down was quite complicated because of the snow and ice areas. You have to be careful in order to avoid falls. One fall with complications could be really dangerous in this aera. There was also a lot of snow in the mountains crest, which could cause avalanches. The best option is to cross the pass as soon as possible. One of the mountaineers that walked with us, found a boot that seemed lost in the snow and just when he cleaned the snow around the boot, he found that there was not only a boot, there was a frozen dead body. He cleaned more area and he also found another dead body. We called the army team and they come to the area the day after in order to recover the dead bodies; one local and the other foreign.
Last month a catastrophe arrived to that Annapurna area. On 14 October 2014 a snowstorm and avalanches occurred from Cyclone Hudhud and was one of the worst ever registered with almost 1.8 metres of snow falling within 12 hours. The storms resulted in 400 people rescued, up to 50 people missing, 175 severe injured, and at least 45 people death.
Nepal Annapurna: Trekking disaster toll reaches 39
Death toll in Nepal's worst trekking disaster reaches 43
We descended as quickly as possible during all the snowy area avoiding extra stops. We arrive to the tea houses closed to Muktinath around 13h00 and then we had lunch there. The last part of this stage was really easy and we did it really calm. Finally we arrived to Muktinath, and to the village of Ranipauwa where you can see a very famous Hinduism and Buddhists temple called Mukti Kshetra