Programs

• Around Annapurna Trek
• Chulu Far East Trek
• Narphu Valley Trek

The trek around the Annapurna Massif is one of the finest in the Himalaya .

The sheer diversity of the mountain scape, the exhilaration of crossing a high mountain pass, and the unsurpassed views of the Annapurna , Dhaulagiri and Manaslu Ranges are the essentials of this outstanding trek.

Trekking north, we acclimatize at the important trading village of Manang (3351m), before crossing the Thorong La (5380m). As you reach the pass, line after line of snow ridges stretch before you, while far below lies the sub-tropical Kali Gandaki Gorge.

From the heights of the pass we descend to Muktinath and its scared Buddhist and Hindu Shrines. Further south, the contrasts of the Nepal Himalaya become even more apparent, as high windswept passes are replaced by forests, or mandarin and banana groves.

For those who love Nepal , its landscape and people, here is a little known trekking peak leading to a wonderful viewpoint facing the Annapurna Great Barrier.

Chulu Massif rises north of the Marshyangdi Khola in the Manang region and form part of the Manang Himal, which is quite rightly included in the larger Damodar Himal. This remote upland area lies to the north of and in a rain shadow formed by the main Annapurna Himal. Huge glacial moraines abound etched deeply by wind erosion into fantastic pillars.

Chulu Far East ascent is not difficult and we will settle an high camp near the col. From that col we follow the long South-West ridge on snow and ice.

Hidden by swirls of mountain mist ahead of us, from Kangla pass at 5200m the magnificent panorama view of Annapurna massif appears remote and forbidding.

Our sturdy mountain ponies every few steps, their steaming sweat-soaked bodies heaving. Behind us Hongde airport, which we left behind early in the morning, is a tiny speck. Our destination is the Nar-Phu valley, above the tree line on the upper limits of cultivation, in the very north of Manang district. It takes five hours reaching the pass that links Nar with Manang and three other Bhotia village in the Nyershang down valley.

Nowadays, Nar Phu the population about 300 inhabitants who depend on livestock, unlike most Bhotia people, whose trading patterns changed drastically after the Nepali Government closed borders with Tibet, the people of Nar and Phu valley were least affected by this change. The tortuous path leading from the valley into Tibet had never made them dependent on the salt trade, and till today yak herding is the basis of their livelihood.

Besides the Kangla linking Nar to the Nyeshang valley , the most direct route from Kathmandu to Nar and Phu is along the Marshyangdi River . Travellers trek through the Himalayan foothills and round the eastern end of the Annapurna before they arrive at Qupar, a police check post half and hour before Chame, Manang's district headquarters. From here a long and steep trail winds up to Nar and Phu whose villagers, laden with goods purchased in Chame and even lower down in Besishhar, the end of the roadhead leading to Manang, often camp at Dharmashala, a rudimentary wooden hut built by the people from the two villages.