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PREFACE

It is impossible for any thinking man to look down from a hill on to a crowded plain and not ponder over the relative importance of things.

The Mountain Top, Frank S Smythe

Annapurna is the goddess of abundance, a divine deity watching over her devotees with a benevolent smile. Rising from Pokhara or Mustang, the towering massif almost touches the heavens. Only the wildest dreams of nature could have sculpted such grandeur.

The Annapurna giants are sublime in all their moods – whether cast as beckoning temptresses, fiery demons at sunset, shimmering in the starry moonlight, or bathed in the soft light of dawn. They float like benign ghosts above fluffy clouds or appear as a vision of serenity reflected in the cool blue waters of a lake. Sometimes they are darkened by thunderous storms. Superlatives struggle to do justice to the sensational vistas and contrasting landscapes. It’s no wonder that trekkers and mountaineers are drawn, as if hypnotised, to these majestic peaks and their icy bastions.

For centuries Nepal was an isolated and forbidden land. What the early explorers found was paradise on earth, a lush and plentiful kingdom where the rhythms of life unfolded in daily rituals, tinged with strong religious beliefs. Today people are drawn to Nepal for many reasons: to seek the solitude of the wild, to scale the Himalayan giants, to seek out the elusive wildlife, or to look for a spiritual renaissance. For many the main attraction is the sheer beauty and variety of the mystical Himalayan landscapes. Others are content to delve into its historic byways, discovering the hidden shrines of the long-fabled Kathmandu Valley.

Today Nepal has become easily accessible and welcomes thousands of travellers each year. Few of them will return to their daily routines unchanged; exploring the country is challenging, both physically and mentally. The sights, sounds and smells of Nepal live on in the memory, and the trails of the Annapurnas are rightly the most popular trekking routes in this very special place.

The aim of this guide is to inspire adventure-seeking trekkers to go beyond the famil-iar, to explore the most mesmerising mountains in the world.

Siân Pritchard-Jones and Bob Gibbons

Porters on the Kimrong hillsides