Day 146: On Top of the World

3:45am. The alarm woke us up, though I don't think Beth or I slept much last night. I can't really explain it - I was pretty calm about the trek up to ABC, knowing 99% that the kids would be fine and accomplish their goal - sleep just never came easily, and that's pretty unusual for me.

At one point last night, the four of us were out for a pee - I was out front of the hotel and looked up and saw a million stars and the silver outline of the mountains to the west and east.... It was breathtaking. I caught Robin on the way back from the toilet and encouraged her to look - she was too scared, which was cute, but curiosity got the better of her and she looked and her jaw dropped open. Abby and Beth declined a gaze, hustling into the room and the cozy warmth of the bed instead.
We didn't have much to do to get ready - we put on whatever we needed, scarfed back a chocolate bar to kickstart the system, and we were ready to go.

4:00am. We started our final uphill trek, shuffling into the dark along an unseen trail. We were stopped by some very cautious sheep dogs who made quite a scene making sure we were not there to poach their flock of sheep, rams and lambs.

We all had headlamps, though Abby's failed early. The guys didn't have lights, though they easily led the way. Pretty quickly, I was paired with Abby at the front, and Beth was with Robin about twenty meters back. Abby was getting a pretty serious cramp.

That kid has unbelievable pain tolerance.

I remember when we were in Barbados when she was two, and we asked her if she wanted ice cream for a treat and she said no..... Knowing her, alarm bells went off. We rushed her to a doctor, and it turned out she had a double ear infection and respiratory tract infection. The doctor practically balled us out, not believing there were no signs of pain before that day. Ever since then, we take Abby's reports of pain and double it. For Robin, we tend to take the reports and halve it....

Abby was really having a tough time - her cramp was bad and she wasn't able to walk upright very easily. I suspected it was has - the altitude can do strange things to the body for sure. We were about an hour into the climb. The path was relatively smooth, but sloping up and winding through low grass and rocks. I think.... We couldn't see much at all.


I tried to make Abby stretch a bit, and squat up and down to get some "movement" - it helped a bit, but it really looked like she was in labour. At one point, Beth and Robin caught up and Rob was crying.... She had a bad headache and apparently Suresh had already volunteered to take her back to MBC. Beth asked her how bad it was on a a scale of one to ten (the being the worst pain) and she said two.... Ok, so that was a real one.... I would hang back with Robin and talk her through it.

Robin said she didn't want to quit and wanted to make it to ABC so bad, so I told her to make it happen. We tried picking goals spots, but in the dark it was more of an imaginary game. About ten minutes later, she took off her headlamp and said "oh, I think my headlamp was too tight... My head doesn't hurt anymore." Lol... Crisis averted.


We soon passed Beth and Abby, and I could barely keep Robin from rushing ahead towards our goal which we now saw in the distance - a collection of tiny lights that indicated Annapurna Base Camp. I was amazed how well she was doing with the altitude, and her mental state was certainly giving her a boost.

Beth, in the back, was peeling stuff off for Abby - scarf, gloves.... Anything to keep her warm as she was moving too slowly to generate any heat. She was looking pretty pale.


6:00am. Exactly on projected paced, we arrived at ABC as the mountains were starting to light up with the predawn light from the sky. The sun hadn't hit the peaks yet, but already it was beautiful.

I was so proud of the kids, and the looks on their faces were of total joy, relief and amazement as they looked around and saw ice monsters jutting into the sky. The four day tease was over - the heart of the Annapurna Sanctuary was ours.

Abby headed for the toilet and seemed much better minutes later. Robin and I headed a little farther up from the guest houses, to the main "viewing area" surrounded by prayer flags and memorials for climbers who had died tackling Annapurna I, one of the few 8000 plus meter mountains in the world.

Just then, the sun caught the tip of the nearest mountain, and it lit up like fire. Moments later, it caught Annapurna South. We watched as the sun moved quickly to light up the whole range of mountains in a matter of fifteen minutes. What a high.

We had breakfast in one of the guest houses. We met the Israeli father son duo and their crazy guide, as well as some other people we'd run into along the way. Our time so far, people wise, had been a bit like an all-inclusive resort - we kept running into the same people over and over, extending conversations that had ended by circumstance the day before. Of course at this resort, nothing was included and we were losing weight and wearing layers, but you get the idea.

7:25am. We said goodbye to ABC, ensuring we had plenty of digital memories for years to come, and we headed back down the trail to MBC. The going was easy.... So easy. Every couple of minutes, I forced myself to turn around and take in the awe inspiring view. The blue above the mountains was the bluest sky I had ever seen - a rich, dark, solid blue that was completely unbroken until it met the beautiful white jagged peaks.

8:20am. Two hours up, fifty five minutes down with plenty of stops to take it in. What a difference a direction can make. We were breathing easy and full of confidence as we made it back to MBC.

The girls were on a big high, and we were too. Just before hitting the guest house, we passed through the flock of sheep just staring at us, looking like they were wondering just what the hell we were doing so early in the morning.

We quickly packed and changed - I was back to shorts and a t-shirt... I was ready to move down the valley.

9:00am. We left MBC, taking one last look at the mountains - it would be the last look at Annapurna South and Annapurna I that we would have, for a while anyway. The boys donned the heavy packs again, and we were off.

10:15am. While it took two and half hours up to MBC from Deurali, we made it back to Argen's guest house in half the time without breaking a sweat. I don't think we took more than twenty steps up the whole way down. We were all smiles. That section of the walk is really beautiful, as we were next to and at the same level as the beautiful Modi Khola the whole way.

We had some tea and snacks and the girls took off a couple of layers. We also grabbed our laundry that was still on the line from two nights before. Surprisingly, nothing had blown away. I donated one of my shirts to Argen's son, who was big by Nepalese standards.

10:55am. Saying goodbye to Deurali, we continued motoring down the valley. We had to climb up to the cave, and that got the heart pumping for sure. All too quickly, I remembered how crap it was to climb and craved the bone jarring feeling of the descent.

11:55am. It was lunch time in the village of Himalaya. We actually couldn't really tell if we were hungry or not - we all felt kind of bloated, and I was a bit dehydrated. When we got the food, however, it all disappears, so I guess we were. We ran into a French couple who had to leave their sick friend struggle a little more slowly down the hill behind them with their guide. She had developed a bad fever and it was best to split up. You need to go your own pace, and sometimes splitting up in the scenario is the best idea. They looked worried for their friend. We'd seen her in Deurali and she didn't look so hot. Beth was furiously knocking on wood under the table...

12:50pm. It was time to push on to our last stop of the day. Everyone was in a good mood - it was hard to believe we'd been working since four that morning. The trail was pretty easy, with some achy technical sections where you really had to control your descent to find good places to step.

The boys started singing a famous Nepali song behind us that gave everybody chills and smiles at the same time. It was nice - we were hiking in the same Himalayas, halfway around the world, eighteen years ago where we first conceived and talked about this crazy plan of ours to travel with our then potential kids!

1:45pm. Dovan was a breeze. We had trekked six hours and five minutes (and Beth reports over 32,000 steps) making it our longest day by time, but my legs felt pretty good and it wasn't until the heat from the last hour got to me and I finally broke a sweat.

We hopped in to piping hot showers and reconfigured our packs to the warmer weather ahead. Though by body felt good, I was mentally exhausted. I crawled into bed, soon joined by Beth, and we had a good long nap. I have no idea where the kids get their energy - they stayed up, socialized with another group who had arrived and hung out together.

Around dinner time, we played some more cards with Suresh and Keshab. As soon as we got dinner, we wolfed it down and for ready for bed.

7:00pm. The big American college group is staying at our hotel. I'm not sure what college they go to, but it could be the sister school of Hogwarts - these kids are nerds... Running around with bamboo swords and quite possibly playing quidditch...

For old times sake, I had one episode of Fear the Walking Dead that Probir had uploaded for me and we snuggled into our bed and watched it. It's amazing how this little trip within a trip has provided so many unique bonding experiences for the family. We are in nirvana in the Himalayas.