Annapurna Trek 2000

"Scott and Dan's Fluff Adventure"

In 2000, I returned to Nepal with two friends, Christal and Dan. I met Dan on my climbing trip in Bolivia in 1998, and had also met him in California to climb Mt. Shasta in 1999. This trip was a celebration of my 40th birthday, which took place in Manang. It also was to include a climb of Chulu East, so we had a climbing guide and camping and mountaineering equipment. Christal, who was not along for the climbing part, called it "Scott and Dan's Fluff Adventure" our first night out, because of the large support group and all the camping gear. We hiked the circuit in "reverse", crossing Thorung La clockwise to aid in acclimitization for the 6500 m peak. We had a happy birthday celebration with singing and chocolate cake in the holy city of Mukhtinath. However, heavy snows fell as we crossed Thorung La, closing it for a week and canceling our climbing plans. We did get to experience much of the circuit under a magical cover of snow, and our climbing boots were useful for several days along the snow-covered trekking route. Here are a few pictures from the trek. Click the links to open them.

Lal Man Trekking	My guide Lal from my previous trek now operated his own trekking company with this office in Thamel.
Lal Man in Office	Lal Man poses with his phone in the office of his trekking company. He now owns the trekking company and was no longer guiding so often when I visited this time. He arranged this trek for me, but I had a mountain guide, a Sherpa named Ang Dawa, since I was planning a peak climb. Lal flew up to meet me in Jomsom and accompany me on part of the trek, celebrating my 40th birthday in the holy city of Mukhtinath.
Camp at Deorali	This is our second camp, at Deorali, near Ghorepani and Poon Hill. The tents are new ones belonging to Lal Man Trekking and Expedition. The logo on each tent includes the address of this web site. Yesterday's hike from Birethanti had been somewhat excessive (with a net elevation gain of 6000 ft in around 10 miles, but much more up and down). Christal told me what she thought of my planning this morning.
Rhododendron	An advantage of visiting the Annapurnas in the springtime is the large number of blooming rhododendron trees, which have brilliantly colored flowers. These were seen on the way to Tatopani. In Tatopani, I heard about it more about my planning, because Christal discovered that we could have bypassed the whole hill. We added a rest day at Tatopani, with a hot spring, for recovery.
Woman Spinning Wool	This woman was spinning wool near our lunch stop near Rhupse Chhahara between Tatopani and Ghasa, our third stop on the trek. Our lunch stops were long, because our cooking staff would set up the whole kitchen and produce a complete meal. Today's stop was particularly long, and we were served some type of deep-fried sandwiches.
Houses in Marpha	A view of houses in Marpha on the way to Jomsom. Most of the buildings in this area have a boxy stone construction. There had been some drizzly weather on the way up the valley, but it was clearing up now. The route crossed a mostly dry river bed, where we found some fossils.
Birthday Cake	Celebrating my 40th birthday in Mukhtinath with Christal. Our cooking staff made this chocolate birthday cake. We had several similar cakes along the trek. They tended to be very dense, and not very sweet. The celebration was accompanied by music and dancing by my rather large crew. We had music and dancing a number of nights. Earlier that afternoon, Dan and I had some rope practice with our climbing guide, Ang Dawa. The next day, we would camp high on the route to the Thorung La Pass. Christal did not adapt well to the altitude, and went back to Pokhara with Lal after our lunch break. She had some interesting times with a group of female trekking guides, the Chhetri sisters, Lucky, Dicky and Nicky. She met one of them on the walk back, and really liked them. She stayed at their lodge in Pokhara before Lal led her up the other end of the trek to meet Dan and me on the way down.
Yak Karka	A heavy snowstorm began just before we crossed Thorung La pass, and continued the next day on our trek from Thorung Phedi to Manang. Typical conditions are seen here in Yak Kharka, where we stopped to have lunch and get warm. One of our porters refused to wear his sun glasses, saying they were for "old people", and became snow-blind. He was being led by a trekking pole today. We were crossing the pass in the opposite direction from most people, who more often do the trek in a counter-clockwise direction.
Manang Lake	This is a view of a lake near Manang. I walked to it during a free day in Manang where we rested after the heavy snows of the previous days. Dan did some rather extensive walks in this general direction as well.
Upper Manang	This is a view of Upper Manang from a hike in the hills above Lower Manang following the big snow-storm while we crossed the pass. The snow storm was so big that no more groups crossed the pass for a long time.
Manang Monastery	This is an old, snow-covered monastery in the hills above lower Manang. We hiked up past it until the snow became too deep to continue.
Avalanche near Manang	We saw the large cloud of snow coming down the valley toward lower Manang while hiking in the snow-covered hills across the valley. No damage was done.
Pisang	This is a view toward Pisang from the high trail overlooking the valley.
Nepali Child	This is a child seen in front of an inn where we stopped for a break along the trekking route.
Child with Mandal	This child in Chame has a mandal, a drum popular in Nepal.
Flowers and Waterfall	This is a beautiful view of a waterfall behind flowering trees. This was the next to last day of our trek. Christal had recently met me coming the other way. Dan went on ahead at a faster pace, deciding he would like to have some time in Chitwan. He was planning to fly out the day we would go to Chitwan.
Rhino on Elephant Safari	After the trek, we traveled to Chitwan to see the wildlife. Elephant safaris in Chitwan National Park are an excellent way to see rhinos and other wildlife. We also did a walking safari, which did not go too far into the woods. I did a long wildlife drive as well, during which I actually touched a young rhino whose mother appeared to be across the river.

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