Completed our second 4300m ascent goal, now it’s all downhill!
Nov 3…
Yesterday (Nov 2) we watched a beautiful Himalayan sunrise over Rest Camp and headed off after breakfast up through the forest and more stairs and trails gaining another approx 1000m in elevation and about 8 kms distance mostly up. It was nice to be under tree cover for most of the day as it was another very bright blue sky day, but the temps cooled as we gained elevation. We followed a pack train a good part of the way, mules loaded with fuel tanks, food and supplies destined for the guesthouses up the trail. Took a lunch break at Badal Danda (translates as “Cloud Hill”- seems to funnel clouds up both sides of the ridge it is perched on). The trail basically follows the main ridge up to the Mardi Himal and Fishtail (Machhapuchhre) peaks. We arrived at High Camp (3600m) in the afternoon in time for a rest and a lovely view of the peaks and afternoon/evening clouds blowing up the from the valley below. Much colder at this elevation so we stayed a bit longer in the dining area after dinner to keep warm before putting on the layers and gloves and climbing into our sleeping bags.
Today we started with another amazing sunrise to beautiful clear skies and cold temps (frozen puddles in the courtyard). And after breakfast made the final what seemed long 4 kms up the ridgeline trail (and steps) to the Mardi Himal viewpoint which sits at about 4300m. Other trekkers continued on past to climb further to the Mardi Himal Base Camp, but the trail seemed to narrow along the ridge top and we decided to stay within our comfort zone and conclude our ascent there. The views are spectacular. We could look down into the steep sided Modi valley to the West and pick out where we had walked on our way over the pass from Ghorepani to Tadapani, to Chhomrong and Upper Sinewa; we could barely make out the roof of Machhapuchhre Base Camp way way to the North where we had turned West to the Annapurna Base Camp. Fun to see how far we’ve come in 18 days of walking.
After lunch back at High Camp we packed up and headed back down the trail and are staying tonight at a nice guest house at Badal Danda owned by friends of Bharat’s. Tomorrow we’ll keep descending to Forest Camp for the night.
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