Photo: We made it! Suzanna Hui (centre) and friends Gitu (USA) and Kerry (South Africa) at Annapurna Base Camp on Saturday, 13 April 2024

Earlier this year I joined with friends for an adventure — trekking to Annapurna Base Camp in Nepal. Climbing to an altitude of 4130 metres, it is popularly known as the ABC Trek.

Preparation

Training for the trip was essential. As well as my weekly U3A walk and long local walks with a loaded backpack, I did the 1000 Steps Walk in Ferntree Gully once a week for several weeks before the trek.

Setting Off

We set off on 8 April, which was a sunny morning in Kathmandu. We took the local tourist bus to Pokhara with Nabin, our guide, and Mani, one of the porters. It was a long 8-hour bumpy ride. In the evening, we met the other porters who made up our trekking team. Next morning, we hopped in the jeeps for a road trip to Ghandruk, the starting point of our 8-day trek to ABC.

The Trek

Our trekking route took us through many villages, with 6 to 7 hours of hiking each day. Our ascent was from Ghandruk → Jhinu Danda → Chhomrong → Upper Sinuwa → Bamboo → Dovan → Himalaya → Deurali → Machapuchre Base Camp (MBC) → Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) at 4130 metres. The descent was the same route in reverse.

The trek follows winding trails along forested slopes and beside rushing rivers. It is an amazing walk through diverse terrain, landscapes and culture, with stunning mountain vistas, terraced wheatfields, and quaint Gurung villages. We crossed several suspension bridges, one of which was a whopping 287 metres long and 135 metres above the ground, making it the longest and tallest suspension bridge in the Kaski district.

On the way up, we hiked through mountainside forests of bamboo and rhododendrons via a series of steep ascents and descents on stone steps. Then we detoured around the avalanche-risk zone, crossed the Modi river twice, and put on our crampons to trek across the glacier and snow-covered mountainside. All the while, craggy peaks and graceful summits soared over our heads, providing majestic views of Annapurna South (7219 metres), Himchuli (6441 metres) and Machapuchre (6993 metres).

Trekking over the snow-covered mountainside

We reached Annapurna Base Camp via Machapuchre Base Camp. Machapuchre is also known as The Fish Tail Mountain. It is revered by the locals as particularly sacred to the god Shiva, protector of the region, and hence it is off limits to climbing.

Accommodation and Food

We stayed in village teahouses each night, with dormitory-style accommodation in unheated rooms. The beds were not the most comfortable in the world. There were options for showers in some stops; however, some days we kept clean by using baby wipes.

Dhal Battis the most popular meal to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner on the trek: it’s rice and daal served with curry, pickles, and seasonal vegetables. We did not have access to bottled drinking water. Instead, we purchased boiled water at the teahouses and added an aqua purification tablet to it as an extra sanitation precaution!Annapurna Base Camp is a challenging trek; it is physically demanding and one must be mentally prepared. In the high altitude and thin air, for me, every step was a huge effort.

Despite the challenges, the ABC Trek is rewarding…and it was good to see my friends again. More adventure is knocking…

Sunrise at Annapurna Base Camp

Suzanna Hui

Member, Walking for Fitness – Advanced