Annapurna: Rest day

Dec. 21, 2008

Starting out on the Annapurna Circuit, I felt robustly healthy and full of energy invigorated by the exercise and the mountain air. However, about a week in to the trek in higher altitudes and colder climate, some funky things started happening to my body.

Mainly, I was suffering from some gastrointestinal unease. This has been a recurring problem since I arrived in Asia. A little bout of food poisoning caused me to yak at the camel festival in Pushkar. I had the shittiest bus ride ever (literally) from Jaisalmir to Udaipur. I had a very nasty night in Varanasi. And now it was unhappy trails on the Annapurna Circuit.

In the village of Braga (3,460 m), my fellow trekkers and I agreed to take a rest day to better acclimatize and take a break from walking. I was popping pills for aches and pains and for my uneasy stomach and also spraying heaps of Second Skin on my heels which were blistering up from my new boots.

At the lodge in Braga, we met three other trekkers, a Brit named Tony, a French girl named Marie, and an Aussie named Christof. They all already knew Yannick because they happened to be on the same bus from Pokhara to Beshishar to start the circuit.

We were told garlic is good for treating and preventing altitude sickness, so we all scarfed down tons of it on toast. Word was floating around that the villages up at these altitudes were starting to shut down for the winter, and all the inhabitants were heading to lower, warmer places. The news put a bit of a damper on our moods because we had been talking about making a side-trip to Tilicho Lake, the highest altitude lake in the world. Rumor had it, Tilicho Base Camp was already abandoned.

During our "rest day", Alina, Yannick and I decided to visit Milerapa Cave, an alcove part of the way up Annapurna III where a monk, who was said to have the power of levitation, meditated for many years in the 11th century. Milerapa reportedly survived by eating nettles which gave a green tinge to his skin.

After climbing up to his cave decked in prayer flags, the three of us decided to ascend to the glacier line on the mountain. The climb wasn't tough technically, but it was steep and so far the highest altitude we had all reached (somewhere above 4,000 m, or more than 13,000 feet). We plodded upwards eventually coming to a space even with the dirty ice.

The mountains seen from this vantage point are sharp and brown peaked in white. A river cuts through the dry, amber valley like a sparkling sapphire necklace reflecting the brilliant sky. Above us, snow was blowing off the peak of Annapurna III. The mountain was creating its own clouds.

We saw up the peaks blue sheep, which are related to mountain goats, skittering among the rocks. Yannick found the skull of one of these horned sheep and created a little monument out of rocks placing the bone atop it.

We descended around 2:30 p.m. Though fairly early in the afternoon, it was already freezing. Once the sun goes behind Annapurna III, the valley is cast in shadow and the winds pick up. Back at the lodge around 4, I crawled into my sleeping bag to warm up. There I stayed until the next morning.