Annapurna Base Camp Oct 20 and 21

We had the most extraordinary time on the way up to and down from Annapurna Base Camp or ABC as everyone calls it. We had a long day trekking here from Deurali @ 3230 metres. It took us two hours to reach Machupucahre Base Camp (or MBC). We got there around 10 am and it was heaven - blue sky all around and spectacular views of the peaks. 31 years ago we stayed here in a dormitory and froze. Now MBC had three very nice looking lodges. It wa s a cold start from Deurali in the morning- we started with our hats and fleece jackets - other people were wearing down jackets and pants. We had a cup of tea at MBC and pressed onto ABC. It was another tough climb from 3120 metres to 4130 metres. We arrived around 1 pm and the clouds started to set in so that by the time we got there we really couldn't see any peaks. There are around 4 lodges here - all relatively new (5 years) needless to say there was nothing here 31 years ago. We had lunch with a Spaniard, 2 Norwegian medical students here in Nepal working on their theses; a British lawyer; two World
Vision staffers based in Jordan and Kathmandu and two American teachers here from their international school in Bangkok. After lunch Anne and I went in search of our erratic rock where we had taken a picture 31 years ago.  That turned out to be a futile effort as the sanctuary was littered with erratics! There were also many memorials to climbers who had perished climbing Annapurna and lots of stupas (they looked very similar to inukshuks). We walked along the edge of the receding glacier - it was very dramatic. Inspired by the many stupas, I decided that this was the spot to scatter my folks ashes. We built a small stupa on a high flat rock that had a lovely view of Machupuchare and Annapurna, scattered their ashes and wrapped the stupa in a prayer flag from Bhutan.  We were lucky to have clear skies for sunset on Machupuchare - apparently this is a rarity. Dinner was lovely and had such a great vibe with all our new friends. We all went to bed by 8 pm and no one had a good sleep due to the altitude. We were up by 5 am and outside by 5:30 to catch the sunrise. It also happened to be Anne's birthday and what a fantastic way to celebrate. It was so worth the 9 days it took us to get here. the sunrise was breathtaking-first the very tips of the mountain peaks started to glow and slowly the light descended so that by 7 am the mountains were fully illuminated. It was so hard to leave but by 9:30 am we began our descent. It started to rain around 1 pm and we were still a good two hours from our destination. Much to our disappointment there were no rooms in Dovan and we had to press on. Our porter Lal ran ahead and secured the last room in Bamboo. We were so grateful! Turned out it was the room normally used by the guides and porters and was right next to the kitchen. We didn't care - we were just happy to be out of the rain and in a bed. It is peak festival season here in Nepal and school break in Europe so it is a very busy time. We had quite a shock when we came back to our room after dinner and discovered that something had eaten 2 Advils, 1 Naproxen, Anne's ear plug and nibbled on her Chapstick. Needless to say we zipped everything up and hoped the visitor wouldn't return! And we finally got the Canadian election news -  Liberal majority! We were stunned. An extraordinary finish to our extraordinary couple of days in the sanctuary.

Our Stupa to Bob and Mary

Sunrise on Annapurna