Another cool video from Nicola, shot during Unipal, the Himalaya’s Unicycle Tour.
Yes, we really do pedal that quickly!
Posts Tagged ‘Annapurna’
Unipal: Day 10 Chame to Tal
Apr 15th, 15
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It would be another tough day or riding, without any of our scheduled rest days, as we had to head to Tal, which was slightly beyond our starting point of Bagarchap. However, being downhill, it was also incredibly fun. We had lunch at our first guesthouse in Bagarchap- then followed the river all the way to Tal. There was a large swingbridge to cross, followed by an incredible sets of rock steps carved into the side of the cliff.
We arrived in Tal, which is a village in a secluded little valley by the river. It was time to say goodbye to our Porters and their leader Mingma Sherpa. They had been an incredible team, never complaining whilst each carrying 30kg of gear, not to mention evacuating Bruce in the middle of the night during a snowstorm.
It was Nepalese New Year, and the locals in the village partied well into the night, with loud music that resonated through the whole valley.
Unipal: Day 9 Manang to Chame
Apr 14th, 15
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It would be mostly downhill today, but we were heading straight to Chame, which was two villages prior to Manang on the way up. Because of this, we got up extra early for a 6.30am start.
It was a beautiful ride with much of the hillsides covered in snow, quite different to how they looked on the way up. We had lunch in Pisang, where we stayed a few days previously, and then continued downhill. There was a massive landslide in the middle of the track, with large bulldozers at work clearing the fallen trees. They allowed our group to proceed over the slippery logs, but it was not was no easy feat with dozens of fallen trees and unstable rock underfoot.
When we got in to Chame, we had hot food, and for many of us, hot showers for the first time in 3 days. Bliss!
Bruce had been discharged from the local clinic and looked very bright considering his medical emergency only a couple days prior.
Unipal: Day 8 Yak Kharka, back to Manang!!!
Apr 13th, 15
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What turned out to be a pleasant sprinkling of snow the day before, turned out to be about 20cm of snow the next day! We woke up, looking forward to heading to the last stop before Thorung La pass, our highest point of the tour. Instead, we were greeted by a white landscape completely blanketed in snow.
It was unseasonably cold and snowing (this is normally the time when climbers summit the peak because of good weather). Unfortunately this meant that our attempt to cross the pass would be too dangerous. If we waited out our rest day at Yak Kharka, we risked being snowed in completely and unable to descend. Either way, it meant that we had to abandon the pass and head back down to Manang.
Despite the disappointment among the riders, we still had some good riding ahead of us- DOWNHILL!
The singletrack that we climbed up the day before was now covered in snow, which allowed many of us to practice our snow unicycling skills. It made quite a different experience compared to the day before. Eric shows off his crazy Canadian temperature regulation by stripping off to ride in the snow (it’s warm and sunny!)
There were also many Yaks on the trail, who were befuddled by these weird one wheeled creatures riding in the snow.
Unipal: Day 7 Manang to Yak Kharka 4000m
Apr 12th, 15
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Todays ride would take us up to 4000m, which is higher than most people in the group had been to before. We started by weaking through the backstreets of the old village in Manang, with many alleyways, before heading up the hill towards Yak Kharka. There were several ‘Stupa’ stops, where we had a chance to take in the views.
We stopped a beautiful teahouse that looked out at the mountains, before proceeding along the trail. It was all singletrack riding from Manang, which was not overly technical but a lot of fun riding. We crossed one of the longest swing bridges on the tour so far, which was slightly disconcerting on a unicycle.
When we arrived in Yak Kharka we took huddled into the teahouse with hot soup, lemon tea and other beverages. It started snowing when we arrived, but an intrepid group decided to go for a walk up the hill with our guide Dawa.
Later in the evening, one our group members, Bruce, developed quite severe acute mountain sickness, so we had to send him down with 6 porters taking turns carrying him to Manang in the middle of the night (whilst it was snowing!).
Unipal: Day 6 Manang rest day
Apr 11th, 15
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It was great day for sleeping in, washing clothes, doing some shopping, except for those of us who were sick! Several of our party, including myself (Ken) come down with a tummy bug.
After breakfast, a small group went for a 3-4 hour hike up to an old glacier. The others explored the village, which was a good place for buying clothes, shoes, hats and other trekking supplies.
In the afternoon we headed to see a movie at the local theatre, which was showing “Seven Years in Tibet”. It was a cosy little theatre complete with fireplace and popcorn!
Some of the medically inclined went to a lecture by the Himalayan Rescue Association, which covered aspects of mountain medicine including altitude sickness, gastro-illness, frostbite and other general health issues in the mountains. It was a very interesting talk presented by the US doctors who were working there at the time.
Unipal: Day 5 Pisang to Manang 3540m
Apr 10th, 15
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Another beautiful days riding…the track was relatively smooth ‘Nepali Flat’, framed by gorgeous Himalayan peaks.
We stopped for a break at Humbe, which has one of the highest airports in the world.
Manang is a bustling village complete with it’s own movie theatres, plenty of trekking shops, hotels, and a medical centre. Those of us who arrived early were busy tucking into chocolate cake, apple pies and other delicious fare at the hotel tea shop.
We were pleasantly surprised to bump into unicyclist Steve Colligan, who, unbeknownst to us, was in Nepal with his family!
Unipal: Day 4 Chame to Pisang 3300m
Apr 9th, 15
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After a hearty breakfast we were very much looking forward to todays ride. It was described by our guide Dawa as ‘Nepali flat’, which roughly translates to hilly, with ups and downs, but probably more up than down.
Many of us had found yesterdays riding a little challenging, with a lot of hiking up steep sections. Todays ride, in contrast, was on much smoother trail. Notwithstanding that it was ‘Nepali flat’, it was also much more rideable.
There was some snow on the road as we crossed some forests along a little valley, and various swing bridges to cross. We arrived in Pisang just before 3pm, which gave us plenty of time to explore the village before dinner. We were staying in lower Pisang, but upper Pisang was across the river and up a very steep mountain overlooking the valley.
A group of us made the hike up to upper Pisang, with it’s gorgeous views of the village and river below. When we arrived at the monastery perched at the top, we were offered hot lemon tea by the monks…absolute bliss!