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Mountains Of Travel Photos

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Annapurna Sanctuary Photo Gallery - Annapurna Sanctuary with excellent views of Annapurna South, Fang, Annapurna Main, Annapurna Central, Annapurna East, and Machapuchare.

Annapurna Sanctuary Photo Gallery from October 2002

201 Annapurna Base Camp Before Sunrise - Annapurna III, Gabelhorn, Machapuchare Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp is a collection of stone huts surrounded by mountains and glaciers at around 4130m. This was the site of Chris Bonington’s Base Camp for the 1970 British expedition that completed the first ascent of the Annapurna South Face. I was up early and walked in the -1C clear weather for ten minutes to the monument hill. Before the sun started rising, I looked back to the east of Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp to see the ridge connecting Annapurna III (7555m) to Gandharva Chuli (Gabelhorn, 6248m) to Machapuchare (6993m).

201 Annapurna Base Camp Before Sunrise - Annapurna III, Gabelhorn, Machapuchare

202 Machapuchare Close Up Before Sunrise From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp Here is a close up of Machapuchare (6993m) before sunrise from Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp. The only attempt to climb Machapuchare was in 1957 by a British team led by Jimmy Roberts. Climbers Wilfred Noyce and D. M. Cox climbed to within 50m of the summit via the north ridge, but did not complete the ascent; they had promised not to set foot on the actual summit. Since then, the mountain has been declared sacred, and it is now forbidden to climbers.

202 Machapuchare Close Up Before Sunrise From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp

203 Annapurna Main, Central, East First Rays Of Sun From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp The first rays of the sun finally hit Annapurna Main (8091m), Annapurna Central (8051m), and Annapurna East (8026m).

203 Annapurna Main, Central, East First Rays Of Sun From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp

204 Annapurna Main Close Up At Sunrise From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp It was a fantastic sunrise on Annapurna from Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp. I could clearly see the upper portion of the 1970 British ascent route. “'Hello, Dougal, this is Chris at Camp IV: Did you manage to get out today?' 'Aye, we've just climbed Annapurna'” (Chris Bonington, Annapurna South Face). Don Whillans and Dougal Haston reached the summit of Annapurna on May 27, 1970 at 2 pm.

204 Annapurna Main Close Up At Sunrise From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp

205 Annapurna South At Sunrise From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp Annapurna South was one of the first mountains to receive the rising sun at Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp. “Modi Peak [Annapurna South] from the Sanctuary looked impregnable. Steep, furrowed ice flutings led up to summit cliffs capped by bulging ice walls that threatened to engulf any midget men struggling on the lower slopes. The wall between the two mountains was ploughed with ice flutings that swept down gracefully between angular rock buttresses; its turreted crest was dominated by the Fang, well-named, for it was shaped like the tooth of a wolf and framed from forbidding black rock. There seemed no lines of weakness in the wall and certainly no line free from threat of avalanche” (Chris Bonington, Annapurna South Face).

205 Annapurna South At Sunrise From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp

206 Fang , Annapurna I, Central, East, Roc Noir At Sunrise From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp I watched the rising sun illuminate more and more of the mountains for over an hour from Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp. Here is a view from Fang to Annapurna Main (8091m), Central (8051m), and East (8026m) summits and the 7.5km long ridge to Roc Noir (7485m). In 1984, the Swiss climbers Erhard Loretan and Norbert Joos climbed the Roc Noir, crossed the east ridge to Annapurna and then down the north face. Roc Noir was first climbed on May 9, 1969 by the Germans Reinhold Obster, Pit Schubert, and Karl Winkler.

206 Fang , Annapurna I, Central, East, Roc Noir At Sunrise From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp

207 Fang Close Up At Sunrise From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp Here is a close up of Fang at sunrise from Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp.

207 Fang Close Up At Sunrise From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp

301 Annapurna Main, Annapurna Central, Annapurna East Summits At Sunrise From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp The Annapurna Main (8091m), Central (8051m) and East (8026m) summits dominate the view at sunrise from Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp.

301 Annapurna Main, Annapurna Central, Annapurna East Summits At Sunrise From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp

302 Annapurna Main Summit Close Up At Sunrise From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp Here is a close up of Annapurna Main (8091m) summit at sunrise from Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp.

302 Annapurna Main Summit Close Up At Sunrise From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp

303 Annapurna Central Summit Close Up At Sunrise From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp Here is a close up of Annapurna Central (8051m) summit at sunrise from Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp.

303 Annapurna Central Summit Close Up At Sunrise From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp

304 Annapurna East Summit Close Up At Sunrise From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp Here is a close up of Annapurna East (8026m) summit at sunrise from Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp.

304 Annapurna East Summit Close Up At Sunrise From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp

305 Annapurna Main At Sunrise From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp “[Annapurna] was like four different Alpine faces piled one on top of the other – but what a line! Hard, uncompromising, positive all the way up” (Chris Bonington, Annapurna South Face).

305 Annapurna Main At Sunrise From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp

306 Annapurna Main, Central, East Summits Just After Sunrise From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp “I scrambled up the moraine ridge and gazed for the first time at the entire South Face of Annapurna. My own reaction was the same as Don's: the first impression was one of size - it was a really huge face, one of steepness and then, as I examined each feature through the binoculars, I realized that the Face could be broken into arêtes, ridges, gullies, separate snowfields and rock walls. This was something that we could climb, and from that moment I felt confident we had a good chance” (Chris Bonington, Annapurna South Face).

306 Annapurna Main, Central, East Summits Just After Sunrise From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp

307 Annapurna South, Fang, Annapurna Main, Central, East Summits After Sunrise From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp “Our little valley pointed straight up to the Face which towered above us about three miles away. It formed a magnificent centrepiece to what must be one of the most impressive mountain cirques in the world; the ridge linking Modi Peak [Annapurna South] with our mountain was like a turreted wall linking two fortresses and never dropped below 21,000 feet” (Chris Bonington, Annapurna South Face).

307 Annapurna South, Fang, Annapurna Main, Central, East Summits After Sunrise From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp

308 Full View Of South face Of Annapurna Early Morning From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp “But the entire cirque was dominated by the bulk of the South Face. From this aspect - and, for that matter, from any other aspect - Annapurna could never be described as a beautiful mountain in the sense that Machapuchare undoubtedly can. Annapurna has no real shape or form. It is like the body of a great octopus, its tentacles of subsidiary peaks thrown higgledy-piggledy from the central mass - yet its South Face is immensely impressive. It reminded me of the North Face of the Grandes Jorasses with its three huge buttresses, but it was three times the size and very much more complex” (Chris Bonington, Annapurna South Face).

308 Full View Of South face Of Annapurna Early Morning From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp

401 Hiunchuli From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp Hiunchuli towers straight up to the south from Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp.

401 Hiunchuli From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp

402 Annapurna South Full View From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp Annapurna South close up after sunrise from Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp

402 Annapurna South Full View From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp

403 Singu Chiuli, Fluted Peak From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp Singu Chiuli (Fluted Peak, 6501m) shone brilliantly above Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp.

403 Singu Chiuli, Fluted Peak From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp

404 Tharpu Chuli, Tent Peak From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp Tharpa Chiuli (Tent Peak, 5663m) shone brilliantly above Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp.

404 Tharpu Chuli, Tent Peak From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp

405 Annapurna III From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp Annapurna III (7555m) dominates the eastern ridge of the Annapurna Sanctuary, seen from Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp.

405 Annapurna III From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp

406 Gandharva Chuli, Gabelhorn From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp Gandharva Chuli (Gabelhorn, 6248m) is north of Machapuchare on the eastern ridge of the Annapurna Sanctuary, seen from Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp

406 Gandharva Chuli, Gabelhorn From Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp

407 Monument To Anatolia Boukreev And Demetri Soublev At Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp I walked over to monument hill at Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp to have a moment's silence for Anatoli Boukreev and Demetri Soublev, who died Christmas Day, 1997 in an avalanche. Boukreev had moved into the media spotlight in the wake of the tragic Mount Everest climb of May 1996, as written in Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. Boukreev then wrote his side of the story in his book The Climb.

407 Monument To Anatolia Boukreev And Demetri Soublev At Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp

408 Ganagapurna From Annapurna Sanctuary Gangapurna (7455m) became visible on the way towards Machapuchare Base Camp.

408 Ganagapurna From Annapurna Sanctuary