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Read More About Nepal on GoNOMAD
When I was seven years old, I read Annapurna, the now classic book by Maurice Herzog about his 1950 French climbing expedition that became the first to summit a mountain over 8000 meters. This was a heroic if harrowing tale of the conquest of Annapurna I, a 26,545-foot-high Himalayan peak. I never forgot the grainy photographs of men crossing the wild Kali Gandaki River, sun-dazzled mountains looming over clouds, and visions of climbers risking lives with crampons, ice picks and dark goggles. I knew even then that I had to see this place for myself. So it was that at 51, I reread Annapurna and booked myself on a month-long 200-mile trek through the Himalayas, first traversing the Langtang wilderness and then circuiting the Annapurna Sanctuary, one of the world’s great walks. I timed my trip in March and April when the rhododendron trees of Poon Hill were in full bloom, and when the threat of avalanches in high passes like 5416-meter Thorong-La had receded until the next monsoon season. Read more... Hiking to the Base of Mt. Everest
When you hop off the little two-engine plane in Lukla, you’re surrounded by glaciated peaks and would-be porters. Hire a porter. Spend a measly $100 to save your back for eleven or so days, a nice contribution to the local economy, providing a job to a porter that will support his family for six months. Then instead of toting a pack your energy can be expended taking photos National Geographic Magazine would be proud to feature on the cover. I found a porter named Raz through Porters’ Progress, a nonprofit repository of clothing and shoes for otherwise ill-clad porters such as Raz. Raz was a fit-looking twenty-three year old quite nice kid and to look at him you wouldn’t think any mountain could impede his progress, contrary to later reality. You see many porters carrying over fifty kilos (110 lbs) wearing flip-flops up near vertical trails with snow blowing in their faces. Read more...
Read more GoNOMAD stories about Nepal: Nepal's Annapurna Circuit: Hiking Across the Roof of the World Learning to Chill in a Nepali Monastery Overland Touring through Nepal, India and Pakistan Eco-Success in Nepal’s Annapurna: The ACAP Helps Sustain Nepal Keeping Nepal Informed: The Kathmandu Environmental Education Project From Chico to Nepal: Volunteering in a Tibetan Refugee Village Giving Back: A Traveler Finds A Way to Help in Nepal Pringles, Coke, and Mount Everest: Family Trekking in Nepal
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