The teahouse is what makes trekking in Nepal different from almost anywhere else in the high mountains. On the main trails of the Everest, Annapurna, Langtang and Manaslu regions, a family-run lodge stands every hour or two along the path, which means you can walk for three weeks carrying nothing heavier than a day pack. … Read more
The Annapurna Sanctuary is a natural amphitheatre, a glacial basin about 4,000 m high enclosed almost completely by a ring of peaks. The only way in is a narrow gorge between Hiunchuli and Machapuchare, and the trail up that gorge ends at Annapurna Base Camp, 4,130 m, with the south face of Annapurna I, 8,091 … Read more
There is no other trek quite like the walk up the Baltoro Glacier to Concordia and K2 Base Camp. In about two weeks of walking from the last village, the trail passes beneath four of the fourteen peaks above 8,000 m and a dozen of the most dramatic granite towers on earth, and it does … Read more
Kyrgyzstan is a country of mountains. More than 90 percent of its territory lies above 1,500 m, and the Tian Shan, the “celestial mountains”, run through it from the Chinese border in the east to the Fergana Valley in the west. For trekkers, the range that has drawn the most attention is the Terskey Ala-Too, … Read more
Almost everything that reaches a Himalayan village above the roadhead arrives on a human back, and most trekkers who walk those valleys depend on the same backs to carry their duffel. The relationship between a visitor and the person carrying their kit is the most important one on the trail, and also the one most … Read more
