Himalayan Adventures Pt 2 - Larkya La!!

The Manaslu circuit itself.

Mt Manaslu - the morning we left from Samagoan to Samdo

The second part of our trek was the Manaslu circuit, here we ventured higher up and around Mount Manaslu, a rather nice snow capped number that sits at about 8156m.

We spent several days climbing higher, through some very medieval looking villages! We met a large number of Yak (I particularly liked the long haired mountain variety!), the occasional trekker and even more impressive views. There wasn't a morning we did not wake up to an impressive mountain vista!

Most days we would be up for breakfast - (usually porridge... occasionally pancakes!) at about 7pm..so a standard 6.30 wake up call from our guide became the norm! What most people may find hard to believe is that my new routine also found me headed to bed by 8pm at the latest!! This was for a number of reasons.. sometimes to escape the cold dark evenings, but mostly because trekking all day is really quite tiring!

The highest section of the trek is also the longest day, here we trekked from Dharmasala a small place 4600m up  accross the Larkya Pass and then down to Bimtang. Day 14 saw us head to bed earlier than usual, it was dark, exceptionally cold and snowing! Our little room was did not seem to be much warmer than outside and  the altitude did not really allow for sleep... so it was a little less than refreshed we heard the 4am wake up call! The snow had stopped and the clouds cleared to leave a million stars! Following breakfast - a challenge at that time and altitude, I donned my head torch and we set out to cross the pass...

The path was quite rocky and it took a fair bit of concentration to pick my way through, but as dawn arrived and the mountains caught the first rays of sunshine it all seemed more than worthwhile!

Daybreak in the mountains

The pass itself was incredibly challenging, the effects of altitude..headache, shortness of breath..feeling sick.. were all a joy!

Larkya La - 5213m - That's really quite high!

We did however make it :) and having crossed the pass we headed down about -- m to Bimtang! It was very cloudy by the time we arrived, but the following morning we discovered it was rather a special place, with spectacular views!

From here we spent a few days heading ever downwards, back to the land of jeeps and tourists and pizza... our trek was an amazing experience and a real adventure!!

Me, our guide Purno and Sharon - Bimtang