Annapurna, the Long Way Round

• Marsyangdi valley, near Dharapani
• 08:40
• 9°C, clear, cold in the shade

The first days are river days. You cross the Marsyangdi and cross it back, and each bridge is a little higher and a little colder than the last. I tell clients to enjoy the green while it lasts. Above Chame the pines take over, and above the pines there is nothing soft at all.

• Manang
• 15:30
• 4°C, afternoon cloud building

Everyone rests two nights in Manang because the body needs it, and Manang knows it. Bakeries, a cinema running the same three mountain films, and Annapurna III standing over the stupas checking on everybody. I sent the clients up the viewpoint and back. Climb high, sleep low, eat cake.

• Yak Kharka
• 18:45
• -2°C

Dal bhat twice a day above Manang, no exceptions in my group. It is not superstition, it is logistics: rice for the legs, dal for the morning, seconds for free. The kitchen at Yak Kharka had fresh greens carried up that week. At 4000 metres that is not a side dish, that is news.

dal bhat power, twenty-four hour

• Yak Kharka
• 07:20
• -4°C, clear, hard wind above

The sign says 4018. Above here the grass gives up and the wind starts working night shifts. This is where I watch clients properly: how they eat, how they sleep, whether their jokes get worse. Headache at Yak Kharka is information. Headache at Phedi is a decision.