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Thorung La is literally the pinnacle of the Annapurna Circuit trek. La means Pass, and the Thorung Pass at 5460m is said to be one of the highest points one can get to without needing mountaineering and climbing skills. It’s 2 and a half times the height of Mt Kosciusko, and is higher than Mont Blanc!!

You feel as though everything is leading up to the massive effort needed to cross the Pass. All trekkers talk about it, especially as we get closer to it, and Thorung La virgins like we were spend a lot of time wondering what exactly it will be like. When preparing for the trek you hear so much about the Pass and how dangerous it could be (frostbite, Acute Mountain sickness etc) and sometimes a bit of doubt comes in and you wonder if you will be successful or if you will be one of those who have to turn back.

The difficulty of crossing the Pass is that it is quite a hefty ascent (1000m) at a very high altitude, and it is usually partly covered with snow, which adds to the danger. Plus it can get very cold, and if there is a blizzard it is obviously very dangerous. It is also a very long day, as after you get over the Pass you still have another 6 hours of descent to go.

Along the way you meet lots of trekkers who tend to stay at the same places as you, and then everyone stays at the one lodge the eve before crossing the Pass. There’s a certain excitement and anticipation in the air. You all go to bed early, and wake up at about 3:45am the next day so as to leave by about 4:30 or 5am. It was such a bizarre experience to sit bleary eyed in the dining room at 4:30am having breakfast and seeing everyone don their Goretex jackets and beanies etc.

It snowed lightly that morning but fortunately was a fine and sunny day after that. We were very lucky with the weather. It took us 4 hours to get up to the Pass. The first hour was spent climbing up a steep hill to “High Camp” at 4700m. Then we walked over a snow covered trail along a narrow ridge along a steep cliff…. This was nerve wracking stuff!! We made it safely across (the snow is hard packed and comes up to your knees with a natural sort of barrier so it’s not as dangerous as it sounds really) and then climbed slowly up to 5000m where we stopped to have a cup of tea!! The next two hours was strange - the air was really thin (50% less oxygen than at sea level) and I felt a bit spaced out and disoriented. Now I felt like I was 150 years old! But with one step after another, and another, just plodding along - we reached the Pass before we knew it! It was such a celebration at the top - people were congratulating each other, taking photos, having whisky…! We stayed there for about half an hour, and I had my highest pee stop ever!!

There were stupendous views along the way, if you actually stopped to look while you were toiling up that rocky slope! We seemed to be ascending higher and higher into the heavens, and all around us were magnificent snowy peaks and clouds in the early morning sun.

After the exhilaration of making it up to the Pass came the agony of descending 1600m down the other side. Oh my god I never want to go through this again. The trail was terrible - slippery gravel steep slopes all the way. It just kept going on for ever and ever and my knees got very sore after a few hours. Add to this the fact that we didn’t have any food on us apart from a few chocolate bars and a cinammon roll, it was a very trying time. We finally reached a teashop 8 hours after we first started off up to the Pass. After lunch I felt a bit more human, which was lucky as there was still another 1.5hours to go.

All in all, getting up to the Pass wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, though conditions were quite good for us that day and there wasn’t too much snow. The descent was truly unpleasant, and the whole day required a certain endurance that surpasses even that of doing a marathon (or two!) The views from the top, and the sense of achievement once you make it over, made it worth it.