I awoke to find my feet peeping out of the tent! The tent had been pitched on a slope, and I'd gradually slipped downwards during the night! Thankfully, the foggy haze had cleared, and the sky was a deep cornflower blue.
Over breakfast, Dawa told us that he was ill and wanted to go back to Pokhara, on the same route we had walked. I was horrified because we hadn't seen one mountain yet, only foothills. To make it worse, Corrie and Matthew had no inclination to carry on, either, so I had a blazing row with them! The thought of going back and not seeing my beloved Fishtail Mountain filled me with horror. After all, I'd travelled 6000 miles to see it!
Fortunately, Dawa had a warped sense of humour and he was only joking! I could have killed him, but it did make me realise that no matter how tough the going was, I'd still put up with it to see my mountain. We set off in the sunlight, through the forest and climbed ever upwards. After an hour of walking, we came to a clearing and directly in front of us was the huge snowcapped mound of Annapurna South (23,684 feet). It was a knobbly mountain, the entire top half covered in snow, while the lower slopes were thickly forested.
Next to Annapurna South stood Annapurna I at 26,545 feet. All of us, suddenly presented with the beautiful vista of the two mountains, stood and gazed at them for ages. The view was certainly worth the hard climb.
After we had gazed at the scenery for long enough, we turned and resumed our walk through the forest, but we were soon to see the mountains again. It was in a forest glade with the Annapurna range opposite that our female porter gave me one of her golden rings. It fitted on my little finger perfectly. I thanked her through Dawa, and then she attached the pink rhododendron flower that Corrie had given me to my hair.
We walked on through the forest, stumbling over huge tree roots. The sun shone above and dappled the fallen leaves that carpeted the ground. It was very peaceful and quiet, and I walked with Lakba, who chatted to me in hesitant English about his life in Nepal.
At midday, we reached a settlement of buffalo herders. They lived in straw huts on the side of the mountains, and the views from here were spectacular. In front of us, we could see the whole length of the Kali Gandaki valley in the dim, misty distance, and to the left, Macchapucchare towered above us in solitary splendour. The mountainsides were covered in snow, and the twisted "fish-tail" peak reached gracefully into the blue sky.
I had imagined seeing this mountain for so long that I just stood and gazed at it for ages. At 22,946 feet, Macchapucchare is relatively small, but the mountain appears larger because it stands alone and detached from the rest of the Annapurna range. Macchapucchare is a "virgin" mountain, although it was climbed to within fifty metres of its summit by Wilfrid Noyce in 1957. Out of respect to the local Gurung people, who revere the mountain as the home of their Gods, the expedition didn't set foot on the summit.
The peak stands alone and is easily viewed from Pokhara in clear weather. However, we had to trek for four days to glimpse its beauty, but the effort was definitely worth it. The photographs I took certainly don't do it justice! Everyone in the party agreed with me and even Matthew had to admit it was "rather beautiful".
We stayed at the herders' settlement long enough to make the ascent up to 12000 feet where we were to camp for the next night. The climb was the hardest yet and almost sheer. It took an hour to get up to the camp, but the view of the entire mountain (Macchapucchare) was stunning. The snow-capped peak towered over us with not a cloud to hide behind. It was - literally - breathtaking! We had lunch sitting opposite the mountain and then we prepared to walk the last 2000 feet up to 14000 feet.
We said goodbye to our female porter, which was very sad. Another porter left with her and they returned to Pokhara.
A small group of us braved the climb up to 14000 feet: Dawa, Lakba, Ninja, Matthew, Corrie and me. We also had a very old Nepalese shepherd with us who walked up the steep climb as if he were strolling about on a Sunday afternoon! We climbed the 2000 feet in less than an hour and it wasn't as tortuous as I expected.
As we got higher, the mountains became closer and larger. Huge rhododendron bushes clung to the steep sides and soon they were the only greenery growing at the high altitude. Macchapucchare loomed to the right of us, while to the left the huge toweing peaks of Annapurna South and Annapurna I stood hunched over the lower foothills. Soon we had passed the tree line and the ground was covered in coarse, long grass.
Suddenly, we heard a roaring sound like heavy thunder and Dawa pointed excitedly to the side of Macchapucchare where we could see a huge avalance of snow slippig downwards. The noise was incredible, especially as the mountain was a distance away.
We came to a ridge that led eventually to Macchapucchare and walked along it, stopping several times to admire the incredible view. The mountains seemed to be looking down at us and the effect felt rather eerie.
When we reached 14000 feet, we sat down and rested. Ahead of us, a long way in the distance, we could see Pokhara, albeit very faintly. Behind us, as we sat, was a huge valley with a few small villages clinging to the mountainsides. To the left was the majestic arena of mountains, bright against the clear blue sky.
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| Ninja and Dawa |
We lay in the grass, talking and basking in the sun. It was almost silent except for the wind rustling through the grass and the occasional call of a bird. The world below seemed far away and remote. We could go no further as the ridge above us was covered in clouds and they were also beginning to drift over the mountains. When a huge bank of cloud covered the sun, we felt chilly and made the decision to descend to the camp.
Going downhill was not so pleasant. We stumbled over rocks and tree roots and slithered over damp leaves. The descent was a mad, hectic rush and I could barely control my legs! As we sped past a beautiful rhododendron bush, Matthew stopped and picked me a red flower. It was gorgeous! We had another halt when Lakba, Dawa and Ninja spotted some wild garlic and spent half an hour picking it.
During the ascent to the camp, we lost sight of Ninja who had gone on ahead. We passed an enormous, strangely-shaped outcrop of rock. The local people had made a little altar and had placed rhododendron flowers on it. Dawa told us that the people believed their Gods lived in the rock, or that the rock itself was a God. Looking at the strange formation, I almost believed it, too.
We arrived at camp to find Ninja already there, and we sat drinking tea and eating biscuits. By now, we would fight over the last biscuit, normally breaking it up into three! I sat writing while Corrie, Matthew and Dawa made a fire with huge logs of wood that they'd found.
Dinner was eaten around the camp-fire which became very uncomfortable if the wind changed direction and the smoke drifted into your eyes! The sky grew dark and the vast silhouette of Macchapucchare kept guard over us. The porters joined us and Matthew gave us a graphic account of the film, The Fly.
The stars shone in the clear black sky and we tried to pick our well-known constellations. By 9pm, we were ready for bed and a good night's sleep!
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