After several days of downhill, yesterday we climbed again, from 1100 meters to 2800 meters in Ghorepani. It was a serious climb. After climbing for an hour, I figured we had 1500 meters uphill left to climb. I guessed I was gaining 15 cm per step uphill, so I had 10,000 uphill steps to go. I started counting. I miscalculated. I stopped counting when I got to 13,000 steps and we were just pulling into Ghorepani.
All this so we could wake up at 04:30 again, and climb to see the beautiful sunrise at Poon Hill. We climbed up in the dark, with 200 or 300 other trekkers. I felt ridiculous, I must admit, like one of a herd of cattle being led up Poon Hill by the cowboys of the Nepali Tourism Board. We arrived too early, and it was damned cold, so I bought the worst cup of coffee I've ever had: both the instant coffee crystals and milk powder were frozen and stale.
But it was all worth it. The view was absolutely amazing, and at sunrise we could look around and see all of them in stunning elegance--the peaks of the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri Ranges that had been teasing us for two weeks.
All this so we could wake up at 04:30 again, and climb to see the beautiful sunrise at Poon Hill. We climbed up in the dark, with 200 or 300 other trekkers. I felt ridiculous, I must admit, like one of a herd of cattle being led up Poon Hill by the cowboys of the Nepali Tourism Board. We arrived too early, and it was damned cold, so I bought the worst cup of coffee I've ever had: both the instant coffee crystals and milk powder were frozen and stale.
But it was all worth it. The view was absolutely amazing, and at sunrise we could look around and see all of them in stunning elegance--the peaks of the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri Ranges that had been teasing us for two weeks.
In the photo, the mountain in the background is Dhaulagiri, the 7th highest peak in the world. Jibi is obviously short of sleep.
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