Himalayas Annapurna Base Camp

Annapurna Sanctuary, Nepal · Nepal

Moderate7 daysAsia~£900 est.

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Overview

The trail into the Annapurna Sanctuary threads the Modi Khola gorge so tightly that the mountains stay hidden - then at Machhapuchhre Base Camp the walls fall back and you are standing inside a ring of giants. Base Camp proper, at 4,130m, sits beneath the South Face of Annapurna I: three vertical kilometres of rock and hanging serac on the deadliest of all the 8,000ers. At dawn the amphitheatre ignites peak by peak - Annapurna South, Fang, Machhapuchhre's fishtail - and you understand why the Gurungs held this basin sacred. It is teahouse trekking all the way, through Chhomrong's stone staircases and bamboo forest alive with langurs, with dal bhat and a warm blanket every night. The avalanche corridor between Deurali and MBC is the serious variable: it loads after any heavy snowfall and has killed trekkers, so cross it early in the day and heed lodge advice without ego. Seven days works from the Siwai jeep road with sensible acclimatisation; carry the ACAP and TIMS permits from Pokhara. Around £900 covers permits, lodges, meals and a porter shared between two. October-November gives glassy air; March-April trades a little haze for rhododendron forest in full scarlet bloom.