I was asked, “Why Nepal?” I said, “I so wanted to see the mountains that buttress the sky!” It was a most unusual trip: 10-kilometer hikes and thousands of steps, breathtaking scenery and new acquaintances. But first things first.
After reviewing the list of necessary for the trip, we realized that we have nothing 🙂 We bought everything from scratch. It turned out that in Poland all camping equipment is 30% cheaper than in Ukraine. We bought some of it in Krakow, where I was staying with my sister. The remaining part was bought in Dnepr in a store partner “Kuluar”, which provided a 10% discount.
A very important point about trekking shoes – buy them 1-1.5 sizes larger. In order to avoid resting your toes on the descents you will keep your nails in one piece. We bought them that way and we did not regret it.
We chose everything with the expectation that we would go hiking more than once!
We were 3 months away from trekking to the Annapurna Base Camp, when we started serious physical training.
Since we were going to reach the altitude of 4160 m, we systematized our physical training: crossfit 3 times/week with a trainer + I ran 3-4 km 3 times a week. I want to say that the exercise went well – almost the whole trek we went at the head of the group, and in the Annapurna Base Camp my husband was the first to enter!
I was really inspired by the idea of taking a beautiful dress on a hike. I had a dance background, where every look had to have a matching outfit. I drew up a sketch, bought fabric, and sewed the perfect dress for the photo shoot: long, light on top, with heavy flowing pleats underneath. I made dreadlocks before the trip – I wanted to change the image. You can see what I got in the photo 🙂 .
Our plane tried to land in Kathmandu twice, but failed. The first time because of fog, and the second time because of wind. After making three circles over the city we flew to… India. After waiting there for 2 hours on the plane, we repeated (this time successfully) landing in Kathmandu.
Then almost 3.5 hours at the airport (visa registration, visa payment, visa receipt – 3 different queues!), and finally, baggage check and, hello, city!
It was 4:30 p.m. and I ate only an apple that morning, and Max ate half a carrot. We thought we were going to arrive as planned at 9:00 am… After refreshing ourselves outside the hotel, we rested comfortably. The next day was a long drive and the beginning of the Nepalese trek to Annapurna 8,000m.
We started the first day by climbing the mountain. We started at 1430m, where we had been driven from Kathmandu. In the evening we reached 2830m and slept overnight near Gorepani.
Despite the sunny day, the first day of the trek was remembered by a tropical downpour with hail, which took us almost an hour to reach our lodging. Even our “waterproof jackets” got wet. ?
It was terribly interesting))
I don’t like waking up early in the morning. Especially at 3 in the morning. But the sunrise at Poon Hill was worth it. Dressed and armed with headlamps, we lightly set out on our first radial – climbing from the village of Gorepani 2874m – up Mount Poonhill 3210m. It has a beautiful view of several eight-thousanders at once, including the Annapurna Horseshoe. On the mountain we drank hot ginger tea and breathed in the frosty morning air. This is where hats and mittens came in handy for the first time.
It was the most exciting day. My husband was worried if any of us would get mountain sickness. After all, neither he nor I had ever climbed so high. For the assault we got up at 2:50. We packed our backpacks. We drank some boiling water from a thermos in the dark. On our trekking boots we put on “crampons” (rubber with spikes), so as not to slide on the glacier. We walked monotonously. A step – inhale, a step – exhale. We tried not to speak – it was hard to recover breath.
Here, in the distance a small house appeared. It was our conditional goal. The light was only in it. The rest of the Annapurna Base Camp structures were swept away by this year’s avalanche.
1 hour 45 minutes, we had overcome 430 m of altitude and 1.5 km of route. And here is the mark of 4130 m. It was lightening at the same time. We had come into the Annapurna Horseshoe – the mountain range of 7-8 thousand meters. Our Ukrainian-Russian team unfurled the Ukrainian flag.
Absolutely! And we’ll pull our children up, too. Already 3 months after Nepal, I with my 9-year-old son and 56-year-old father climbed the highest mountain in Ukraine – Hoverla. And this fall we are planning with “Kuluar” trekking in Cyprus. We will go together with my husband and son. Three-year daughter also asks. But we say to her: “When you grow up a little bit, and we MUST take you!
