I never had thought to go to the snowy trails during the winter. Our journey to travel to Annapurna Base Camp was filled with memories to cherish. This trek was a. Snowy yet Joyful b. disappointing yet satisfying c. Surreal yet beautiful d. Unfinished yet complete journey.
In the month of January, I was super busy with my schedules during the end of the month, however, my friends were planning to go for a trek to Annapurna Base Camp. Although it was winter, people usually avoid trekking during winter because it would be certain that it would be full of snow. Despite the uncertain weather forecast, my friends had been planning for it.
I had no thoughts about joining them, but at the same time, they were also convincing me to go as I can finish my assignments a bit early and join them. Even though I could finish the assignment, I had to think about my mother too. As I go there, I must leave her alone at home. I had shared the plans with other family members too but no one suggested that I take risks during winter, being aware that it can be extreme and might take life too. However, there was my super mother, who has till now believed in me and never stopped me from taking any kind of adventurous journey. So, ignoring all the other people, I finished my assignment and chose to travel with my friends.
I never had thought to go to the snowy trails during the winter. The Annapurna base camp was full of a ride, with adventures, and lots of snow the trail was too difficult because of the heavy snow, and the trek remained unfinished.
We were a team of four and we met seven others too including a guide. Two were Nepali, two were Chinese including their guide and two were Hong Kong people.
On the evening of 1st February 2022, we took the bus and went to Pokhara.
Day 2
The next day, early in the morning, we reached Hari Chowk, had some breakfast, and booked the jeep. We saw the majestic views of Machapuchare aka Fishtail from the jeep ride. The jeep driver left us at Matke, the crossing point after Ghandruk. From there we start to walk the trails. I was super excited and a little worried too, as I hadn’t taken much care of my fitness before coming for this trek. I had difficulty sleeping, therefore, my neck was hurting too bad.
As we were going through, we met some people who came back from trekking. We asked about them and most of them said that we require crampons to complete the trek and it was sure that there would be full of snow, which would bring obstacles to not even being able to find the trails.
I knew that this was going to happen, and we definitely needed to get the crampons but none of us were ready to buy them as they would be too expensive on the higher trails.
So, as we were walking, we reached the never-ending hanging bridge. In the backdrop, we got to see the lovely view of Samrung hills, which was absolutely beautiful.
Then there were the never-ending stairs up to Chomrong, I was already tired and suffered a little from the pain. We took some snacks on the way, and I exchanged the bag with my friend. His bag was also heavy, although he tried to remove some of the weights, however, they were sort of compact which gave me better back support.
As we reached Chomrong, We had dal bhat and regained the energy to continue our journey. The interesting and difficult thing is now it was downhill instead of uphill. After lots of hardship, we finally reached Sinuwa. It was raining there and the weather started to get so cold there. We chose to stay that night in Sinuwa and planned for the next day.
In the lodge, there was a woman who had been running the lodge alone as her helper went home. We chatted with her, while she was preparing food for us by herself. During that time, We fried some sausages and enjoyed talking with each other. During bedtime, we played musical games. Where the team has to guess the overall song by playing the beginning music of the song.
Day 3
The next day, we had our breakfast and started the day early. I had been practicing some spirituality at the same time, listening to the chanting for an hour. The voices I played from my phone was reverberating in the trails, making us so relaxed and calm and focused on balancing our breathing while walking through the trails. It felt like I was meditating.
We used to get impatient when we had to walk downhill again as I had to walk up against the downhill. As we reach bamboo, we drank coffee. The interesting part of any trekking is that we are always accompanied by dogs. There were 3 dogs whom we had met on the first day of the trek and they accompanied us throughout our journey until we reach down again. We used to call them and they were patiently waiting for us if someone lags behind while walking together. We used to give biscuits to them and they would get more excited to join us.
As we walked further, there was the sign of rain, and a brother who was at his tea house offered me his raincoat. We were walking uphill and as we reach dovan, suddenly it started snowing.
It was an absolutely breathtaking moment for me. I had never walked in the snowfall before and was super excited. I really had the real moment of my life. On the way, we met two Hongkong friends. There was a two-way direction but together we chose the shortest direction to move ahead. They asked whether we had crampons and we nodded no. They were a source of courage, where they say that we can stick with each other together so we don’t have to lose hope. As it was about to get dark, instead of moving ahead, we chose to stay at Himalaya. We play card games which were really fun. There were other 4 people who said that they came back from ABC, and were explaining their situation that there was too much snow and only 4, 2 completed the path. We believed in them and gained the courage to go further the next day. We had our lunch we sat meditation for an hour. It went well and during bedtime, we sang songs together and finally slept.
Day 4
The next day, we knew that we had to make our own path because it was still snowing. One of our friends had better skills to find trails and he helped us to find the trail amidst the heavy snow. It was a little tiresome, however, as we were 6 people walking together, watching the avalanches and entertaining each other helped us to move ahead. After walking for 2 hours in heavy snow, we reached Deurali and we saw 3 men, two were Chinese including their Nepali guide. Both planned to stay that day at Deurali and return back home the next day. The workers in the tea house were there with limited stock, they were not able to go down because of heavy snow. They didn’t suggest moving ahead, saying that the Malaysian troops are still stranded for the last 5 days.
We planned to stay at the tea house of Deurali and all of a sudden, there were 13 porters who came from the stranded area. The first word they said was I need to smoke. They were people who had been stranded with a limited stock of food and they were so happy and shared with us their near-to-death experience. They came back down, along the cliff facing the risk of an avalanche, and luckily with no casualties. There were divisions of opinions. One of the troops suggested we move ahead on the same trail where there is a chance of an avalanche. However, the other troops were not fully positive about us moving further to the trails however, they gave us an idea to take another path besides the one which has less chance of having avalanches, but in the early morning. Some of them were so happy that they gave us their crampons and gaiters, making sure we still want to continue the journey.
We discussed this with our team and chose to stay for that day and take another path early in the morning. During bed time, everyone was feeling anxious and thought of not continuing the trail further ahead. I was the only one speaking against their idea while some stayed neutral too, knowing that the team decision has to be an individual decision.
Day 5
The next day in the morning, I and my other friend had a drive to at least attempt the journey until we face the difficulties. However, the others were not agreeing with our wishes. We tried to convince the Hongkong friends and two other friends to continue the journey, showing both the risk and the satisfaction we can gain if we at least attempt it.
Finally, we came to a decision that we must at least attempt it. We planned to go to Macchapuchre base camp. It would take us two hours, if it was not snowing, however, we weren’t even halfway to MBC.
As we reach the scariest bridges ever and as we move further, we couldn’t find the trails. We started to get stuck in the thickest snow areas and helped each other to come out. After multiple attempts to find trails, we failed to get the way and we finally agreed to come down and assured each other that we at least tried but failed and that is the biggest achievement too.
We promised each other to come back again for the next trip to ABC and returned back downhill way home.
