November 2004 - The Annapurna Circuit - Day 7

Sunday 7 November
Kodo to Pisang
Itinerary: DAY 7 Pisang (3,185m) A short walk brings us to Chame (2,713m), the administrative headquarter of Manang District, which is relatively a wealthy village. We cross the Marsyangdi and following the north bank we continue to move westward through pine forest and arrive at an apple orchard village of Bhratang (2,919m), a former settlement of Khampas (Tibetan refugee warriors). From here our trail goes through a cut in the cliff high above the river. Then while ascending we suddenly reach a clearing that reveals a huge rock slab of about 1,500m high. Again after crossing the Marsyangdi to the south bank we steeply ascend through fir forest to a wider valley. Then an easy walk along the valley takes us to camp just before lower Pisang at the foot of Pisang Peak towards the north and Lamjung Himal and Annapurna II to the south. (5 - 6 hours walk).

[Diarist: Martin]
6 am wake up call with tea from Sagar. Cool this morning with a light ground frost. Washing water soon arrived. Usual packing and ablutions before breakfast at 7 am. Rice porridge with nuts in it, then omelette and toast (a bit cold). 

Diamox was taken by Sue and me; I had no pins and needles after effect, just a diuretic reaction - six pee stops by the 11 am tea shop stop! 

7:45 departure from the 'Superb View Hotel' (it was), then a pleasant forest stroll to Chame, where army and police check our permits and get us to sign two registers. We speed through. Sangeev says he recognised from a name badge that one of the men was of his family name - that helped.

Arriving at Chame

View to Lamsung

Sue with Lamsung, from Chame

Mani wall at Chame

The sun is up by 8:45 and those who set off in full winter gear divest their down jackets. Lindy was cold last night so buys two more tops.

Entrance gate to Chame

Chorten at Chame

We continue on a delightful forest path. Quite busy. Mani walls and chortens before we leave Chame after lots of prayer wheels. We walk at roughly the same pace as our one-eyed, flipflopped, coughing table man. 

The woodpecker like bird in the pine trees maybe a 'Babbler'.

Pine forest above Chame

A flat section takes us to a nice tea shop at Bhratang - 2900 metres, 18C (it was 20C at yesterday's tea shop). The mountain mix takes a bashing and is washed down by lemon tea for everyone.

Mani wall at Bhratang, with Manaslu in view

Mani stone and ripe apples after Bhratang

Mule train

Pine forest stop, with Annapurna 11

Superb views en route - back to Manaslu, with Lamjung high on the left, and we have glimpses of Annapurna II ahead. 11:15 to 11:45.

Orchard beyond Bhratang

The blasted path to Pisang

Lunch by a river crossing at 3060 metres, 12:10. Sunny, but the blue tarpaulin is in a rough patch in shade. 13C. En route, a section where the rock has been blasted - like a giant via ferrata path. This is a path shown on our newer map, but not on the older version supplied by Sanjeev. Two other groups have their blue tarpaulins nearby (in better positions, they must have got here first!).

Blue gentians

Lunch on the path to Pisang, and (below) two views from the lunch spot

The juice arrives quickly but the veg is still being chopped when we arrive. Sanjeev claims there is a climbing hut high above. It looks like a rock. (It is a rock.) The place is overlooked by the huge face of Paungda Danda - a sheet of curving rock scraped clean of vegetation and towering more than 1500 metres above the Marsyangdi River. 

Lunch is fried luncheon meat, vegetables fried in butter, chips, vegetable chapattis, followed by fresh pineapple. It was excellent. We sat in the sun (not on the blue tarpaulin) until 1:55, making it our longest lunch break yet.

Very pleasant. Then a 2-hour stroll up to our camp at Lower Pisang (3185 metres) via pine forests as far as a place called Dhukurpokhari, with a couple of tea shops, then down to and along an arid area to the left of a tarn, with stunted pine trees.

View to Upper Pisang

View from 3200 metres

Camp is on dusty earth, which the team are watering to make it more acceptable. Up at Dhukurpokhari we had a first view of Chulu West, and Annapurna II was prominent, high above to the left. 

Towards Pisang, Pisang Peak (6091 metres) came into view. Apparently it is a trekking peak via a snow plod, but our view is so foreshortened that this looks impossible from here. 

4 pm, and the sun has gone down and we have lost our superb views of Upper Pisang, a Tibetan type village a bit above us to the south. Children have found us and chatter outside. 

5 pm: hot washing water.
5:30: tea and biscuits
6:30: chicken soup and huge excellent croutons; spaghetti and tuna with egg on top; potato cake; lady's fingers; aubergine fritters; buffalo and vegetables - fried. 

Then a chat with Sanjeev before another round of Uno - Mark won. Bedtime as usual at 9 pm. A cool evening - we all (except Mark) wore our down jackets tonight, and Sue and my Canadian boots were great for keeping our feet warm. 

Altimeter notes:
Andrew and I have decided to rely on the 10-minute reading interval as the 1-minute interval may give rise to movements during our long stops due to 'hunting', with the meter frequently changing up and down 5 metres while we are stationary. So we now think the following is a best estimate of our journey to date:

	4 Nov	5 Nov	6 Nov	7 Nov
Start (m)	800	1105	1705	2610
Ascent (m)	545	785	1050	710
Descent (m)	-240	-185	-145	-115
Finish (m)	1105	1705	2610	3205
Time (hrs)	8.00	7.75	9.00	8.25
Stops (hrs)	2.50	2.50	1.50	2.75
Walking Time (hrs)	5.50	5.25	7.50	5.50

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