Great trekking experience & nice fellow trekkers met on the way - JFDI !
Did the trek with a good friend of mine in March / April 2017.
So far the best trekking experience combined with a great social experience. The people trekking Annapurna are the kind of good vibes tourist you want to meet. With some of them, we are still in contact.
We were very lucky with the weather (only blue skies) and the timing – a week before we arrived at Thorung La Pass it was still closed because of massive snow.
Amazing scenery and views on the way up to the pass, different climate zones, just stunning. Best views were from ice lake – a must-do side trek (starting near Manang) also in order to acclimatize well.
After the pass still nice scenery, but less good vibes.
Jomsom is a real s***hole – stay there only if you have to – really bad atmosphere in this town. Apart from a nice shop at the beginning of the town where they sell very nice photographed postcards made by two local artists 🙂
Also I do not recommend Poon Hill – even if the view from there is incredible, you share the viewing point with a couple of hundreds people all yelling around with their suppa duppa tele-objective cameras.
A horrible experience and definitely not worth waking up at 4:30 for that.
There is actually a viewing point a couple of km later on the trek with very similar views….
One advice I can give: remember to take enough cash on the trek. We didn’t manage to withdraw enough in Kathmandu – saturdays are holiday in Nepal and most ATMs were almost empty. Fortunatley I had some euros that we were able to exchange in Manang.
Great thanks to the lovely and welcoming local people especially in the valley up to the pass!
Gear
Recommended Gear
- Backpack, Down Jacket, Headlamp, Hiking Boots, Hiking Poles, Sleeping Bag, Sunglasses