Your browser has disabled scripting - some functions of this album will not be available. Please check your browser configuration and security settings for this site

Mountains Of Travel Photos

Home | Annapurna Main | Annapurna References | Contact

Annapurna North Base Camp Photo Gallery - Lete to Thulo Bugin with excellent views of Dhaulagiri and Tukuche Peak, Annapurna and Fang.

Annapurna North Base Camp Photo Gallery from October 2002

101 Crew Leaving Lete With Dhaualagiri Behind We left Lete at 7:40 and started our trek to Annapurna North Base Camp. Dhaulagiri shone in the early morning sun behind us.

101 Crew Leaving Lete With Dhaualagiri Behind

102 Crew At Choya With Dhaulagiri Jerome Ryan, Gyan Tamang We walked through a pine forest, and then to Choya (2630m), the last village we would see, with a magnificent sweeping view of Dhaulagiri to Tukuche Peak (6920m). Here is my crew in Choya with Dhaulagiri behind: cook Ang Phuri Sherpa; porters Dhansing, Dhan Bahadur Tamang, and Ram Bahadar Tamang; and guide Gyan Tamang. I noticed that the local people were drinking heavily, just like in 1950. “The sounds of laughter, singing and general hilarity led me to suspect that chang - rice-alcohol - was being generously distributed” (Maurice Herzog, Annapurna).

102 Crew At Choya With Dhaulagiri Jerome Ryan, Gyan Tamang

103 Dhaulagiri Close Up From Choya The massive Dhaulagiri South Face shines in the mid-morning sun from Choya. “An immense ice pyramid, glittering in the sun like a crystal, rose up more than 23,000 feet above us. The south face, shining blue through the morning mists, was unbelievably lofty, out of this world” (Maurice Herzog, Annapurna).

103 Dhaulagiri Close Up From Choya

104 Dhaulagiri South Face Close Up From Choya Here is a close up of the massive Dhaulagiri South shines in the mid-morning sun from Choya.

104 Dhaulagiri South Face Close Up From Choya

105 Trekking From Choya To Tangdung Khola UL Initially we hiked through some beautiful fields of fresh, beautiful buckwheat. UR The porters moved quickly under their heavy baskets, and then rested often. LL “It was quite impossible to make out the slightest vestige of a track on the other side, where a stretch of thick and apparently impenetrable jungle seemed to run far up the mountain side” (Maurice Herzog, Annapurna). LR A beautiful waterfall came down one of the side hills.

105 Trekking From Choya To Tangdung Khola

106 Lunch At Tangdung Khola We arrived at our lunch spot next to the Tangdung Khola (2450m) at 10:40, 3 hours from Lete. “We now took a path along the side of the cliff and after a steep descent found ourselves suddenly beside the Chadziou Khola” (Maurice Herzog, Annapurna). The porters rolled out a tent sleeping bag sheet on the ground out of the sun, and I rested as they busily made lunch: hot orange Tang, French fries, coleslaw, yak cheese and puri (bloated deep fried bread). What did the boys have, you ask? Why dhal bhat of course. They have it twice a day - lunch and dinner. Lunch was over at 12:15.

106 Lunch At Tangdung Khola

107 Jerome Ryan And Crew Climbing Thru Steep Forest To Shepherds Kharka “In places it was so steep that it virtually amounted to climbing through semi-vertical jungle.” (Lionel Terray, Conquistadors of the Useless).I could tell it was very steep when the porters even went on all fours to climb thru extra steep parts of the loose, muddy trail.

107 Jerome Ryan And Crew Climbing Thru Steep Forest To Shepherds Kharka

108 My Tent At Shepherds Kharka With Dhaulagiri and Tukuche Peak We arrived in stands of evergreen trees in a grassy hillock called Shephard’s Kharka (3760m) at 15:40 after climbing 1220m in three and a half hours, I looked across the deepest gorge in the world at Dhaulagiri and Tukuche Peak (6920m). The porters quickly set up my tent, and I crawled in to rest and read. A half hour later, they brought me milk tea and biscuits for my afternoon snack. Now, this is living! The porters had walk for half an hour each way to get water for dinner and breakfast.

108 My Tent At Shepherds Kharka With Dhaulagiri and Tukuche Peak

109 Chaulagiri And Tukuche Peak At Sunset From Shepherds Kharka Dhaulagiri and Tukuche Peak at sunset from Shepherd’s Kharka (3760m) on the way to Annapurna North Base Camp.

109 Chaulagiri And Tukuche Peak At Sunset From Shepherds Kharka

110 Dhaulagiri Sunset From Shepherds Kharka Dhaulagiri close up from Shepherd’s Kharka (3760m) at sunset on the way to Annapurna North Base Camp.

110 Dhaulagiri Sunset From Shepherds Kharka

111 Dhaulagiri Sunset From Shepherds Kharka Dhaulagiri close up from Shepherd’s Kharka (3760m) at sunset on the way to Annapurna North Base Camp.

111 Dhaulagiri Sunset From Shepherds Kharka

201 Dhaulagiri Just Before Sunrise Dhaulagiri close up in the rose coloured light just before sunrise from Shepherd’s Kharka (3760m) on the way to Annapurna North Base Camp.

201 Dhaulagiri Just Before Sunrise

202 Dhaulagiri and Tukuche Peak At Sunrise From Shepherds Kharka The sun slowly came down Dhaulagiri and Tukuche Peak at sunrise from Shepherd’s Kharka (3760m) on the way to Annapurna North Base Camp.

202 Dhaulagiri and Tukuche Peak At Sunrise From Shepherds Kharka

203 Dhaulagiri Sunrise From Shepherds Kharka The light at sunrise changed quickly from yellow to bright white on Dhaulagiri from Shepherd’s Kharka (3760m) on the way to Annapurna North Base Camp.

203 Dhaulagiri Sunrise From Shepherds Kharka

204 Dhaulagiri and Tukuche Peak After Sunrise From Shepherds Kharka Dhaulagiri and Tukuche Peak early morning from Shepherd’s Kharka (3760m) on the way to Annapurna North Base Camp. “Behind us, as we climbed today, we could see the full extent of the size of Dhaulagiri. It must have one of the largest reliefs in the world from the river valley at about 6,000 feet to the summit at 26,000 feet - 20,000-vertical feet within about seven miles horizontal distance” (Maurice Herzog, Annapurna).

204 Dhaulagiri and Tukuche Peak After Sunrise From Shepherds Kharka

205 Trail From Shepherds Kharka To Thulo Bugin “We left ... at about 7 o'clock in the morning and we climbed rather steeply and quickly to a pass which was at about 14,500 feet [4400m]” (Maurice Herzog, Annapurna). The trail from Shepherd’s Kharka to Thulo Bugin started out gently but became very steep and dangerous, with Nilgiri South ahead.

205 Trail From Shepherds Kharka To Thulo Bugin

206 French Pass Of April 27 1950 ”The day following another five- or six-thousand foot drag brought us to a tiny notch on a secondary ridge of the Nilgiri massif. This pass, so insignificantly-seeming among the vastness of the mountains, proved to be one of the most important in the history of the Himalayan mountaineering, for it was here that on 26th [actually 27th] April 1950, Couzy, Oudot and Schatz discovered the amazing traverse of the walls of the Miristi gorge, without which Annapurna would never have been climbed” (Lionel Terray, Conquistadors of the Useless). This is the famed Pass Of April 27 (4310m).

206 French Pass Of April 27 1950

207 Jerome Ryan Happy After Arriving At Thulo Bugin With Dhaulagiri Jerome Ryan was very happy to arrive at the large grassy field called Thulo Bugin after two hours of hard trekking from Shepherd’s Kharka. We stopped briefly at Thulo Bugin to rest and snack.

207 Jerome Ryan Happy After Arriving At Thulo Bugin With Dhaulagiri

208 Dhaulagiri Close Up From Thulo Bugin The Dhaulagiri Southeast face shines in the mid-morning sun from the large grassy field called Thulo Bugin on the way to Annapurna North Base Camp.

208 Dhaulagiri Close Up From Thulo Bugin

209 Thulo Bugin With Nilgiri South We left Thulo Bugin at 10:00 and climbed gradually to Top Ridge (4570m), with Nilgiri South ahead.

209 Thulo Bugin With Nilgiri South

301 First View Of Annapurna North Side After Thulo Bugin “As we were cresting the final pass at 14,500 feet, we were suddenly rewarded with this amazing view of the north side of Annapurna - it was stunning” (Maurice Herzog, Annapurna).

301 First View Of Annapurna North Side After Thulo Bugin

302 First View Of Annapurna North Side And Fang After Thulo Bugin The north side of Annapurna, including Fang, were straight ahead from the grassy fields after Thulo Bugin. “And after climbing up-over the pass, we then did a gradual descending traverse along grassy, rolling slopes and we're now camped on a grassy ridge looking at some peaks, which are directly behind us and Annapurna looms in the distance. It's an amazingly large mountain” (Maurice Herzog, Annapurna).

302 First View Of Annapurna North Side And Fang After Thulo Bugin

303 Camp On Top Of The Ridge We stopped at 11:00 for a lunch of bread, yak cheese and cold potatoes, and left again at 11:30. We continued our rolling descent, arriving at our camp spot (4500m) at 13:00. The temperature dropped below freezing, and it snowed. When I went to bed at 19:20 the snow had stopped and the weather was clear.

303 Camp On Top Of The Ridge