 |
|
 |
 |
| Banthanti and Tadapani Day 6 |
| Banthanti 8850ft 18-DEC-00 N28 23 39.8 E83 44 57.3 At Chitre we had to make a major decision as to whether to hike up to 16,000 ft along a ridge with little to no view or to hike along the more trekked trails and visit the towns. Due to the cold (almost freezing at 6000 ft) and the limited view of the originally planned trip, we decided to do something that would be more scenic and pleasant for everyone (especially the shoppers in the group). We hiked up from Chitre to Banthanti. This was 2000 ft back up to the ridge we descended from yesterday. Using the GPS I figured that Nolan and I were ascending at the rate of 100 ft every 4 minutes. Not to bad a rate. In the picture at the left you can Andrea and Anne shopping. |
| Tadapani 8868 TADAPANI-DEC-00 N28 23 47.8 E83 45 56.6 This was a long day....2000 ft up to Banthanti. 1500 ft down, 2000 ft up again to Tadapani. Good news is that it had some beautiful views. That is Machepuchare in the background. We ate in the restaurant on the second floor. There were a lot of vendors in this town and a fair number of (empty) hotels. The tourist traffic was down to 10 percent of normal due to the hijacking of last year. Didn't stop us! |
| Here is where we were set up with tents. Enlarge the picture and you will see us standing before the tents. Two steps backwards was a 12 foot drop to the next terrace below. We had to be very careful getting in and out of the tents. Flat land is hard to come by. We are still 20,000 feet below the summit of Annapurna I. Another way of thinking about it is that Annapurna I is still 4 miles higher than we are. The pictures don't really capture the scale of the mountains. There are many places were the mind has a hard time grasping the enormous perspectives. One other place I am familiar with is the Grand Canyon. When we woke up in the morning it was solid fog. You could only see about 10 feet in front of you. However, it quickly burned off. |
 |
|