Dispatch Eleven: April 4th, 2010 |
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Annapurna Expedition 2010 |
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Day Eleven: Trek from Phulkharka (4200m) to Miristi Khola (3500m) Today we woke up again at 6:30am, had breakfast, broke down camp, and started the trek toward Miristi Khola. The trek began traversing the slope up to another pass at 4500m. At this point, the route started downhill and continued at a steep angle down until we reached Miristi Khola (the river that cuts the gorge between Nilgiri and Annapurna). We lost nearly 700 meters of elevation and it wasn’t easy on our knees. We arrived around 12pm and waited for some time by the river for the porters to arrive. We used this time to get a bit cleaned up in the icy river (literally fed by the glaciers on Annapurna just a few hundred meters up). Since the majority of the day was spent descending, the porters arrived quite quickly, and we were able to get camp set up before 2pm. We settled into our tents and read while the cook prepared tea and dinner. A lightning and hail storm closed in late in the afternoon, made quite dramatic by the reverberation off of the 6000 to 8000 meter slopes surrounding us. We were quite thankful that the porters and all of our equipment had made it to camp while it was still warm and dry. Tomorrow, we will be heading up to Annapurna North Base Camp at 4,190 meters, gaining back the altitude we lost today. At this point, we will pay the porters and bid them farewell, have a puja ceremony, and attempt to establish Camp I while we wait for the remainder of our equipment to arrive by helicopter on the 6th or 7th. Photos: Left: Porter arriving to the high point of the day at 4500 meters before the steep descent into the gorge; Right: Annapurna |
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