Fastpacking Annapurna’s triple crown
It's not many places in the world where you can clock up kilometres of vert gain or loss in under 20km! Ashim & I (Florence) set off on a fast-packing mission in Nepal, over three of Annapurna's most popular treks - Poon Hill, Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) and Mardi Himal.
We were pre-acclimatized due to staying in Tukche (2,600m) for 2 weeks prior, and spending a few nights with yak herders at 3,600m. Here's a recap of the mission, which we are calling Annapurna's Triple Crown! We loved it so much that we are planning to run a slightly longer version as a fastpack trip in future - to share with others too.
Camping at 3,600m as part of the Lower Mustang Cultural Experience served to acclimatize us well ahead of the fastpack mission.
Day 1: Tato Paani - Poon Hill - Deurali | 2,138m ascent, 381m descent | 19.2 km
We left Tato Paani around 11am and traversed through villages and fields. Along the way, we foraged for wild strawberries and ainselu (golden Himalayan raspberries).
Ghorepani / Poon Hill is popular and well-developed (i.e. has espresso coffee machines in most hotels!) Unfortunately the low cloud meant the mountain views were obscured. As we still had energy in the tank, we pressed on to the next village.
Thunder rolled and rain threatened as we weaved our way along the ridge. We didn't see a soul until we came across a farmer who had spent all day searching for his lost buffalo and was now cajoling it back home!
He told us he had a teahouse at Deurali, so we decided to stop there for the night - where we were served a delicious local dahl bhaat with garden-fresh produce.
Day 2: Deurali (Poon Hill) - Deurali (ABC) | 2,406m ascent, 2,278m descent | 29.6km
We rose early to check out the mountain views, but were thwarted by the weather. We had the trail to ourselves for the first 2 hours, before coming across trekking groups who started later in the day.
We ran downhill alongside probably the clearest stream I've ever seen (which is saying something given I live in Aotearoa NZ!)
Pack mules carrying loads uphill on the Annapurna Base Camp trek.
There was a slightly scary moment on the narrow trail when a small herd of (horned!) cattle with an impatient herder, a line of laden pack horses driven forwards by a sticked-bearing handler, and a local walker with a blaring boombox all converged on the narrow path with us. I backed behind Ashim, who kept the beasts at bay with his running poles. Another great reason to run with poles!
At lunch, we realised we could probably reach Deurali at ABC if we pushed. The idea of going from Deurali (Poon Hill) to Deurali (ABC) in just one day held a nice symmetry - enough motivation to spur us on up the next climb (helped on by constant sugary snacks). We saw quite a lot of wildlife along the way, including several cute pika! We reached Deurali around 6pm - feeling like we had given it all.
Day 3: Deurali - ABC - Landruk | 1,837m ascent, 3,293m descent | 36.2km
We rose early and headed up to ABC to beat the clouds. The views were stunning on the way up - Macchapuchhre, Annapurna's various peaks and Hiuchuli, Moditse, Ghangangapurna, Khangsarkang and Mardi Himal all stood snowy and magnificent.
The thin air made the ascent hard, but we reached ABC before the clouds set in. At the ABC teahouse, all I wanted to do was lie down and sleep! A hot breakfast gave me the energy needed to jog back down to Deurali, eat brekky #2, pack our bags and head back down the long descent.
Cake, coffee, fries and noodle soup powered us for the rest of the day.
Later, we crossed the swing bridge at Jhinu and left the busy ABC trail behind. We joined the original ABC trail (less used as there are more roads now). It started to pour and we got absolutely soaked. A hot shower and freshly made momo dumplings in Landruk was just what we needed!
Day 4: Landruk - Mardi High Camp | 1,956m ascent, 116m descent | 11.5km
We started in the rain and climbed up through "leech country". It was more of a dance than a hike. We inspected our shoes and ankles for leeches, and flicking them off as quickly as possible. Thankfully, as we gained altitude the leeches became less numerous so we could spend less time looking at our feet and more time admiring the cloud forest!
We continued to climb and dried out over lunch, after the sun emerged. But as we reached Deurali (yes another Deurali!), it started to pour.
We sheltered in a teahouse - taking the opportunity to lie down and drink delicious tea (with fresh yak milk) and listening to the thunder growl. Then the ground suddenly shook! An earthquake!! Luckily both the storm and the shaking stopped quickly. We pressed on to High Camp but made it no further due to low cloud, thunder, and rain on the exposed ridge ahead.
Day 5: Mardi High Camp - View Point - Phedi | 876m ascent, 3,094m descent | 31.7km
We planned to head off at 4am up the ridge to Mardi Base Camp. Unfortunately, the weather made that prospect dangerous. Ashim got up several times to check the conditions and I got to laze in bed until a luxurious 7am! We then made a dash for it up the ridge to the viewpoint. Once there, the thunder started up again, so we legged it back down off the exposed ridge.
After a satisfying breakfast and defrosting our fingers, we set off downhill.
Being prone to pure-ism, we wanted to finish off where the original ABC trail started, adding some extra distance. It was worth it - the forest sections were lovely!
The last descent from Phedi village to the main highway was incredible - a view straight down a staircase to toy-sized cars below. Sufficient to say, that descent finished off any parts of our knees not already aching. It was surreal to reach the tarmac and speeding cars, after several days gallivanting through the wilderness and the 2 weeks prior based in a small mountain village.
We were picked up by a local mini bus, unfortunately I think we disgusted the passengers we sat next to given we were drenched in sweat!
After a much-needed hot shower in Pokhara, we feasted on pizza, tofu chilly, buffalo wings, and nachos.
