Trek to Annapurna Circuit and Tilicho Lake, Nepal - Dec 2023

Thorong La Pass 5416 mts (17,769 ft)

Prologue

On the way to Tilicho Lake from
Tilicho base camp.

Its been a tradition since last 10 years of Trekking in Himalayas during the second half of the year. Most of the times, its easy to decide on the Trek, but this year was different.

Initial plan and decision was todo Gokyo Lakes in Everest region. We had decided and finalised the trek organiser too. At the last minute, while reviewing the Gokyo lake video and pictures, lakes were frozen and the dream of seeing turquoise waters wouldn't be possible.

Started to figure out what was the alternative and decided on Annapurna Circuit Trek. During trek to Khopra Ridge, our guide had described the mesmerising lake called Tikicho lake in Annapurna Conservation area.  Combined both Annapurna Circuit and Tilicho lake to take advantage being in the area. 

Decided to go with known Trek organiser as we wanted customised itinerary and reduce risk of winter trek. Have Trekked with Prem Dai  in the past to Annapurna Base Camp Trek (India Hikes: Prem was guide) in 2018 and Khopra Ridge Trek in 2021. Trust me, cost is not a big deal but Prem gave the best cost for our Trek and we are all set for a Wintery Adventure. 

Thorong La Pass. 
Trek team with guide Raju Panda

We were 4 Trekkers, 1 guide and 2 porters. 

Ravi Thakre: Have been partner in crime since 5 years starting EBC. All the trek since has been with Ravi. 

Aditya Shreyas: Colleague at my previous company and now at the current company, Second trek for him after 'almost successful' first trek to Bali Pass in Oct, 2023.

Madhusudhan (Madhu): Ex-Colleague. Second trek for him as well. Last trek was in Dec 2022 to Markah Valley at Ladakh.

Succinct (Annapurna Circuit and Tilicho Lake)

Annapurna Circuit with Tilicho Lake Trek, Nepal

Day 0: 15th Dec 2023 Saturday 

All set for the trek and got a call from Ravi  that his passport has expired and all we have  24 hours before trek started.  Had to call to airport and confirm that for Nepal, India voter id is enough for travel via airline. Oops what a relief. 

Day 1:16th Dec 2023 Saturday 

Thamel, Kathmandu. 1400 m (4600 ft). 

Temp 2.5 °C

Mumbai Airport. Flights queued up.

Started very early in the morning and  reached Bangalore airport on time and of course 080 lounge as usual had a great breakfas. Without much hassle reached Kathmandu via Bombay but just an hour late due to congestion in Mumbai airspace.

No one to receive us and had to call guide and he told us to reach hotel and will meet us in the evening - worried a little!

Reached Buddha hotel in Thamel.  it’s a decent hotel with basic amenities. Freshned up and visited Pashupatinath temple. Temple closes at around 6: 30 pm and we were just in time! 

Rudraksha shopping 

Eka Mukhi Rudraksha, Kathmandu

Aditya wanted to buy Eka mukhi Rudraksha (Rudraksha bead with one face), visited multiple shops near temple and settled at Tirupati Agarwal stores. He explained that eka mukhi, is not from India or nepal but from Indonesia.  Bought it for ₹750 INR and also Ravi bought  necklace/mala with 108 original beads for NPR ₹ 2000. 

Wondering what’s  genuine? it costs INR ₹20,000 for Eka Mukhi in  India and it costs so less and on a personal note, I feel Eka Muki or other, as long as you are focussed you will get some spiritual energy.

Khada Ceremony

Khada Ceremony,
Kathmandu

When we retuned from Temple, Trek organizer (Prem) was a the hotel and apologised for not receiving us at airport. He introduced our guide Raj Panda and formally welcomed with a 'Khada'. Its a traditional ceremonial scarf in Tibetan Buddhism. It is widely used by the Tibetan, Nepali, Hindustani Gorkha at various occasions

Day 2:17th Dec 2023 Sunday 

From: Thamel, Kathmandu. 1400 m (4600 ft) to Chame 2650 m (8695 ft)

Started at 8:45 AM and Reached at 10:00 PM (13h 15m)

Distance 238 kms (Road/Vehicle)

Stayed at Marshyangdi Mandala Hotel (Basic Amenities, Average)

Temp 0.8 °C

Chame to Pisang

After hot water bath (Don't know when again) and hot breakfast we were ready to board the vehicle. Our baga were loaded and were told that porters would join mid way in our journey. Porters were from Pokhara and would join at the place where we would stop for lunch.

Reached Dumre, a small town by 1 pm and for the first time had the Nepali Traditional Lunch - Dal Bhat (Rice, Lentils and Veggies in platter).

Porters (Tilak and Sujan) joined us and now the vehicle had full capacity and ready to roll. Road from Dumre is extremely bad and could hardly go at 30 km/hour speed. Strongly recommend to start from Kathmandu as early as 5 or 6 am to reach Chame by Evening. 

Day 3:18th Dec 2023 Monday 

From: Chame 2650 m (8695 ft) to Upper Pisang 3275 m (10,745 ft)

Started at 9:15 AM and Reached at 4:50 PM (7h 36m)

Distance 15.18 km (Easy Trek on motorable road/trail).

Stayed at Hotel Norbulingka & Restaurant (Decent, Recommend to stay)

Temp 1 °C

Swarg Dwari 
On the way from Chame to Pisang.

Woke up with the beautiful view of Lamjhung  (6983 m). After a hot breakfast, real trek started on motorable road. Stopped for lunch around 3 pm and could see beautiful snow clad mountain and a small path between rocks called Swargadwari (Swarg: Heaven Dwari: Door). 

We ordered Ginger lemon tea before lunch and Aditya, Madhu became fan of the drink and said, would order now onwards at every break! lets see.

Day 4:19th Dec 2023 Tuesday 

From: Upper Pisang 3275 m (10,745 ft) to Manang 3535 m (11,600 ft)

Started at 8:22 AM and Reached at 4:51 PM (8h 28m)

Distance 17.56 km (Snow and black ice till Humde, Easy Trek after that).

Stayed at Hotel Himalayan Singi (Good, Hot water, Recommend to stay)

Temp -2.5 °C

Green Lake 
On the way from Pisang to Manang

On the way stopped at green lake, a small lake with crystal clear water and reflection of mountains. Don't miss this. Better stay at Upper Pisang so that you can take trail directly leading to green lake without descending to Lower Pisang.

As we moved could see clear view of Annapurna 2 and pisang peak. Most of the way till airport the road was filled with snow and ice .  Often times slippery.  Fell 2 times and both times, hurt elbow but not too bad. Aditya also fell and not much impact. Be careful walking on this trial, watch out for black ice.

Pisang to Manag
Before Humde airport

Lunch plan was at tea house close to village near Humde airport but all hotels were closed. Just one was open next to airport and we were lucky to have lunch as whole village was shutdown.

After Humde, road is very good all the way till Manang and many times concrete road. Manang is nice place with many hotels but most closed in December. 

Met few trekkers from Hong Kong ,  Finland and Amsterdam. Guess the only hotel that had guests was Himalyan Singi. Hats off to solo trekkers and trekkers who can afford to take 2 months break from work and trek in Nepal.

Night saga 

Aditya had heavy chest at woke up at 11:30 and complained of high heart rate. Checked again and he wanted take Diamox. I thought its good for him to take Diamox and gave him. Situation did not improve, by 4 am we called our guide Raju bhai, he showed up immediately and suggested to drink more water and it’s not a sign of altitude sickness. 

Per Trek Guide, reason for the situation was smoking and strictly adviced to stop from then on. Also told that it was not a good idea to start Diamox and since started, Aditya has to take Diamox till end of trek. By morning, Aditya was ok and ready for the acclimatisation trek.

Day 5: 20th Dec 2023 Wednesday - Acclimatisation day 

From: Manang 3535 m (11,600 ft) to View point 3860 m (12,665 ft)

Started at 9:30 AM and Reached at 3:05 PM (5h 35m)

Distance 9.95 km (Difficult:Steep Incline after the Monastery)

Stayed at Hotel Himalayan Singi (Good, Hot water, Recommend to stay)

Temp -2.5 °C 

Bhraka Sangag  Samling monastery
Manang

Original plan was trek to Milerpa cave or Ice lake, but guide said ice lake would take about 10 hours and not to trek a lot after night saga. 

Decided to visit Bhraka Sangag  Samling monastery and view point (for good views of Gangapurna, Tilicho and other mountains of Annapurna range).

Monastery is beautiful and was told the main monk would be there only on summer days. Inner temple on has idols of monks all around and at the entrance  Watch out for Tamding idol at the entrance of the Monastery. Tamding is like Bhairava in India.The Monastery incharge blessed all of us with sacred thread.

View Point, Pisang and Gangapurna Peak
Manang

Acclimatisation trek was tiring with steep trial and slippery due to dry sand. We ended out ascent after first view point. Per guide, we could have walked another 45 minutes for the second and the best view point.

Day 6: 21st Dec 2023 Thursday 

From: Manang 3535 m (11,600 ft) to Shree Karka 4062 m (13,325 ft)

Started at 9:00 AM and Reached at 2:05 PM (5h 5m)

Distance 9.77 km (Moderate: Steady incline all the way, Steep incline last 1 km)

Stayed at Hotel Econo Lodge (Bad,Smoke filled Dining, Avoid)

Temp -3.5 °C

Tilicho Peak 
On the way to Shree Kharka

Steady ascent all the way to about a km to Shree Karla and steep for a km till the tea house.

On the way we were contemplating to go ahead to Tilicho base camp but decided as not to once we reached hotel, so that not to strain ourselves. Once we reached hotel weather was awesome and infact warm, around 4:45 temp started dipping dramatically and extreme cold

Stayed at eco lodge. Had a horrible heater and fill smoke in the dining room. Since it was the only hotel room we had no other go but to stay there. 

Finally found 2 trekkers from India at the hotel, all these days found only non Indian trekkers and was very disappointed out of 1.2 billion Indians hardly anyone trekking here.

Some trekkers who came from Tilicho lake said about great views of the lake and it took them anywhere between 2:45 to 4:00 hours from base camp to Tilicho lake. Some also said that there is black ice on the way and to be careful.

Day 7: 22nd Dec 2023 Friday 

From: Shree Karka 4062 m (13,325 ft) to Tilicho Base Camp 4150 m (13,615 ft)

Started at 9:17 AM and Reached at 12:48 PM (3h 30m)

Distance 6.94 km (Difficult: 2 kms of Landslide area. Slippery and Risky)

Stayed at Hotel New Tilicho & Restaurant (Decent, Basic Amenities)

Temp -5 °C

Rock Fall and Slippery Trail
On the way to Tilicho Base camp

First 3 kms was easy trek with slight increase in altitude. Post a small tea house, things changed dramatically. It’s the start of rock fall area and very very slippery to walk.  Just 2 feet width of trail and dep Valley on one side . Strongly recommend to go with guide or teammates  and not solo.

Weather was great with bright sun and most of the trail is on sunny side. 

Day 8: 23rd Dec 2023 Saturday 

From: Tilicho Base Camp 4150 m (13,615 ft) to Tilicho Lake 4933 m (16,186 ft) back to Tilicho Base Camp. Max altitude 5021 m (16,400 ft)

Started at 6:05 AM and Reached Tilicho lake at 10:55 AM (4h 50m)

                 12:20 PM and Reached Tilicho base camp at 15:20 PM (3h 0m)

Distance 13.85 km (Difficult: Steep incline, Baaees Gumti (22 Turns) Zig Zag trail)

Stayed at Hotel New Tilicho & Restaurant (Decent, Basic Amenities)

Temp -9 °C

Tilicho Lake

Trail was very steep and many places with snow and black ice. Started at dark with head lamp and first hour was walk on snow for about 2 kms to the lake.

About a km to lake, it started snowing and very heavy winds. Once we reached lake weather gods blessed us and became sunny.  Temp near lake was -4 degrees

Lake is beautiful and was frozen completely. There are idols of Buddha and Shiva in front of lake. This is supposed to be the highest glacier lake in the world till a few months back a new lake was discovered at Kajin Sara which is few meters high at 5010 m.

Tilicho Lake

Two Trekkers from Bangalore had got Karadantu, north Karnataka delicacy and we exchanged Obattu (popular Karnataka sweet) with them. Can’t believe we could savour our home state sweets at ~16,000ft.

On the way back found 3 blue sheep were grazing close to trail. 

Day 9: 24th Dec 2023 Sunday 

From: Tilicho Base Camp 4150 m (13,615 ft) to Yak Karka 4256 m (13,963 ft)

Started at 8:30 AM and Reached Yak Karka at 7:00 PM (10h 30m)

Distance 19.00 km (Flat trial but rock fall area till Shree karka, Too much snow and ice on trial after about 2 kms from Sree karka. Difficult Descent)

Stayed at Thorong Peak Hotel (Decent, Basic Amenities, Great food)

Temp -5 °C

On the way to Yak Kharka

Started from Tilicho Base Camp at 8:30 am reached Shree Kharka by 11:55. We could manage difficult patches well as it was ascent in the difficult patches. 

From Sree Kharka we started by 1 pm and reached Yak Kharka by 7 pm. On the way we passed upper  khangsar, an abandoned village and were lucky to see a herd of blue sheep, almost they were posing for us to take pictures.

Blue Sheep, Upper Khangsar

Ascent half way and descent another half, ascent was easy and descent was dangerous because of black ice and made very difficult. By the time we were done with snow patches it had turned dark and we took almost 1.5 hours with headlamp. View of the tea house was vibrant with lot of people and food was delicious at Yak Karka.

We met an interesting person from Bangalore, India who was a solo traveler and daring. He told his story of travelling from Lucknow and taking bus, 3 wheeler to reach Pokhara.  Unfortunately he had severe headache due to high altitude and low spo2. We gave him confidence and also Diamox to recover and restart after a day.

Day 10: 25th Dec 2023 Monday 

From: Yak Karka 4256 m (13,963 ft) to Thorong Phedi 4528 m (14,855 ft)

Started at 10:10 AM and Reached Thorong Phedi at 2:20 PM (4h 20m)

Distance 7.81 km (Steady ascent. Only challenge was to cross thick ice on falls before a wooden bridge to cross valley)

Stayed at Thorong Peak Hotel (Decent, Basic Amenities, Great food)

Temp -5 °C 

Plan was to reach Thorong high cam but as all of us were tired, Decided to stay at Thorong Phedi and goto high camp next day and day after cross Thorong La pass.

Bridge to Thorong Phedi

Most of the way was good but there was a place to cross the river which had a thick patch of solid ice to cross a wooden bridge. It was a high risk act and thank our guide and porter, they did a phenomenal job of helping us to cross the ice patch. It took us about 45 minutes to cross ice patch of just 10 mts.

There are 3 bridges on our cross to other side of the river. First one is simple and suggested. Second is the Woden bridge which we took and third will take all the way to Thorong Phedi. Third path is very dangerous as it  has to cross above land slide area. 

Day 11: 26th Dec 2023 Tuesday 

From: Thorong Phedi 4528 m (14,855 ft) to Thorong High Camp 4871 m (15,980 ft)

Started at 10:05 AM and Reached Thorong Phedi at 11:25 PM (1h 20m)

Distance 1.29 km (Steady ascent)

Stayed at Thorong High camp Hotel and Restaurant (Decent, Basic Amenities, Power and wifi are not free)

Temp -5 °C 

Thorong High Camp, View point 4900m

As we are supposed to take a day break at high camp, we started late and all the way it’s steep hike with 300 meters altitude gain.

Once we reached high camp saw view point and hiked further to reach 4933 mts 

16000ft. It was too windy at the view point but with spectacular views of Chuli peak, Tilichu peak.

After lunch relaxed for the rest of the day and temperature dropped drastically as the tea house is  in shadow region. Charing your mobile will cost NPR 200 and Wifi will cost NPR 300.

Day 12: 27th Dec 2023 Wednesday 

From: Thorong High Camp 4871 m (15,980 ft) to Thorong La Pass 5416 m (17,769 ft) 

           Thorong La Pass 5416 m (17,769 ft) to Muktinath 3668 m(12,034 ft)

Started at 5:18 AM and Reached Thorong Pass at 8:37 PM (3h 19m)

                  9:56 AM and Reached Muktinath at 3:00 PM (5h 04m)

Distance 5.41 + 11 km (Steady ascent all the way till pass. Heavy winds at the pass)

Stayed at Hotel Best Step Inn (Decent, Basic Amenities, Hot water)

Temp -9 °C 

On the way to Thorong La Pass

Started early morning after breakfast in pitch dark, it was very cold and all over night we could hear high winds and it continued through the day. Mostly ascend with very few patches of snow and black ice.

Within 20 minutes, we reached a wooden bridge and out guide told that, it was at this place where many trekkers died in 2014 due to blizzard. RIP the brave trekkers.

All the exhaustion was gone once we reached the pass and was super excited. We all celebrated at the pass and was super happy for Aditya and Madhu to achieve highest elevation and personal best. 

Thorong La Pass 5416 m (17,769 ft)

In the frenzy, forgot to hoist India national flag and take pictures. All we could get was about 20 minutes at the pass.

Found shelters at 4800 and 4000 meters. High winds subsided around 4800 mets. Met trekker hiking from opposite side. Trial was good to descend and about 200 mts of black ice below 4800 mts.

Day 13: 28th Dec 2023 Thursday 

From: Muktinath 3668 m(12,034 ft) to Pokhara 820 m (2,690 ft)

Started at 12:00 and reached Pokhara at 10:00 pm

Distance 165 km (Good road after Tatopani)

Stayed at Hotel Peninsula (Very good)

Temp 18 °C 

Muktinath Temple, Mastang

Visited Muktinath temple and had a great darshan. There were hardly any people as it was winter and not many visitors. Highly powerful and spiritual place and must visit.

In our previous trek, we had stayed at Dhaulagiri Lodge and Restaurant and the Mexican food over there was excellent. Its close to hot spring at Tatopani. We stopped there again for Lunch and reached Pokhara late in night.

Day 14: 29th Dec 2023 Friday

From: Pokhara 820 m (2,690 ft)

Stayed at Hotel Peninsula (Very good)

Temp 18 °C 

Stupa built by Japanese, Pokhara

It was a relaxing day and visited the Stupa built by Japanese and Gupteshwar temple in the morning.

In the evening, visited the most beautiful restaurant in front of lake "Annapurna Garden" with live music. Great Ambience, lovely band and fabulous company.

Day 15: 30th Dec 2023 Saturday

From: Pokhara 820 m (2,690 ft) to Kathmandu 1400 m (4,600 ft)

Started at 3:00 PM and reached at 11:00 PM

Distance: 200 kms (9 Hrs)

Temp 22 °C

Pokhara culture festival

Bad road conditions all the way from Pokhara to Kathmandu. Couldn't go faster than 30 km/hour and really exhausted when we reached Kathmandu. 

Day 16: 31st Dec 2023 Sunday

From: Kathmandu 1400 m (4,600 ft) to Bangalore, India.

After an excellent trek, reached Bangalore at 9:30 PM and reached home few hours before New Year.

Things we carried for the Trek

Things to carry for Annapurna Circuit and Tilicho lake Trek.