Dispatch Nine: April 2nd, 2010 |
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Annapurna Expedition 2010 |
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Day Nine: Trek from Lete (2,480m) to Jungle Camp (3,400m) Today, we woke up at 6:30am, had a quick breakfast, and headed out to sort out which bags were to go with us on the trek and which we would send by helicopter directly to base camp. One complication… we won’t receive the bags in base camp by helicopter until the 7th at the earliest, so we decided to bring two bags along on the trek; one with our trekking gear, and a second with the equipment we would need to climb to and establish Camp I on Annapurna. This way we wouldn’t be sitting idly in base camp waiting around for our equipment. Once this was done, we headed out past Chhyo and Chhoya Deurali (pictured above) and continued along the side of Nimek Danda (a 3900 meter mountain) on a small footpath. As soon as we crossed the Tangtung Khola (khola = river) the terrain became considerably steeper; imagine walking up close to 1000 vertical meters on a stair-master with no breaks. The bamboo jungle got thicker and thicker and we could hear the calls of monkeys all around us as we ascended the steep mountainside. We finally reached the windy col known as Jungle Camp (also known as Shepherd’s Kharka). None of the porters had arrived yet, so we hunkered down in the rapidly deteriorating weather and waited a few hours for the loads with the tents to arrive. FINALLY, they did, and we promptly pitched them and went inside. Water is a major problem at this camp site as well, and we had to send a porter down a few hours to collect it from the river below (we found it strange that a camp would be established here without at least a creek nearby). It wasn’t till after 6:00pm that the last of the porters arrived, and we were finally able to settle in and have dinner. Photos: Left: The village of Chhoya Deurali with Dhaulagiri in the background; Right: Nick trekking through the bamboo forest enroute to Jungle Camp |
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