## Side trip to Tilicho (3/11 -- 5/11)

A very popular trek, the Annapurna circuit, crosses the Thorong La [Pass] from Manang to Jomson. The guide books mention that a more interesting and difficult crossing can be made near Tilicho Peak, but for many years the route had been closed (it provides too good a view of an army camp). In Jomson, we learned that the route is now open, and so Thulo, Tarjang, thefastestporter, and I set off up to the pass. The first day we climbed to campsite at about 4200m.

View across the valley to Dhaulagiri I.

The next morning, when we set off for the pass, Thulo (unlike me) gave his extra clothing etc. to Tarjan to carry. Then he set off very fast, perhaps with the hope of finally leaving me behind. If so, he was disappointed, and, after a stop, Tarjan and I left him behind. Next Thulo insisted that the obvious trail was not the correct one (he had been to the pass before). When Tarjan and I eventually refused to follow him, he went on ahead, and shouted down that he had found a good trail, which, when we joined him, we saw he hadn't. Finally (mercifully) he returned to the camp leaving Tarjan and me to climb to pass alone.

Tilicho Lake and Tilicho Peak from the pass.

On the descent, Tarjan surprised me by showing signs of fatigue for the first time on the trip. According to the other Tamangs, he is only fast going up hill; going down, he is nothing special.

We spent the night at the campsite, and returned to Jomson in the morning to rejoin Gunjaman and the other two porters. In the afternoon we walked down the Kali Gandaki to Tukuche. Since by then the usual unpleasant wind was blowing up the valley, and I was weary, the afternoon walk was the only one of the whole trip I didn't enjoy.

The Kali Gandaki [river] rises in Tibet and flows through the Himalayas to the Indian plains. In the night the high dry Tibetan plateau gets very cold. When the morning sun warms the rocks, they heat the air, which rises and pulls a strong wind up the Kali Gandaki. Attempts have been made to harness it to produce electricity.

Continue.