Trekking in Nepal - Mardi Himal base camp trek (Day 01)

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The Mardi Himal base camp (4500 m) trek is an all in all forest trek. It is a trek with no descends at all until you reach the base camp. The first segment (Landruk at 1565 m to the Forest camp at 2550 m) was really steep and it took me two hours to complete the distance of 5 Km with an altitude gain of 1000 meters. After reaching at the Forest camp (2550 m) by 03:00 pm I decided to rest and start the rest of the hike the next day (27th October 2019). I think it was a pretty good decision to gain some height and stay at a place with no WiFi. The plan for the next day was to go till the High camp (3900 m) which is the last point where you can stay before the Mardi Himal base camp (4500 m).

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I started at around 07:00 am on the next day (27th October 2019) and I saw the first glimpse of Machapuchare (6997 m) from the Low camp (3400 m). It was also a pretty nice place to stay overnight if you start you day early.

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There are few open sections in this forest trail where you can see the valley on your right hand side coming to life as the sun rises. You could witness clouds forming and rising up as the day passes. The trail is pretty wide and open and there are enough landmarks (ribbons, paint and plastic waste) that will keep you on the trail for all times.

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I had seen the Annapurna South (7219 m) from the Poon hill, from Chhommorong and up close from the Annapurna base camp. However, I could see the South face very clearly from the Mardi Himal trail. In my opinion the Hiunchuli peak (6441 m) seems very beautiful from the Mardi Himal trek. And you hike all along the ridge keeping these beautiful big mountains to your left all the time after the Low camp (3400 m).

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I reached the High camp (3900 m) at 11:30 am after covering a distance of 11 kms and an gross elevation gain of 1100 meters in 4.5 hours. I still had 5 hours of daylight. While I was sitting and staring the Machapuchare peak from the high camp, I was constantly thinking, 'Can I go to the base camp today itself and come back before the clouds cover the ridge'? I consumed some electrolyte and scanned the sky for clouds. They were pretty low.

I was observing the Mardi Himal ridge from the Annapurna base camp trail since the last 2 days and the ridge had a thick cloud cover by 1 pm on both the days. However, there was no sign of clouds till 12:30 pm while I was at the High camp (3900 m).

I locked my room, carried the 10 litre daysack and started hiking up towards the base camp. The distance from High camp to Base camp was 12 kms (to and fro) and I planed to pace at 3.5 to 4 clicks an hour. I kept hiking up and in 2 hours I was at the base camp.

There is one small tea house at the top but the guy had closed the tea shop for the day and was returning back. I saw not more than 3-4 people on the whole trail. It was super peaceful and I enjoyed every bit of it. After sitting at the base camp for 15 minutes with no soul around I started my descend to the High camp and I was back there in an hour. It was 03:45 pm and now all I had to do was to just sit back and enjoy the sunset.

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The Machupuchare lit up during the golden hour. Mardi Himal (5587 m) is right in front of this huge Machapuchare peak. It is very hard to distinguish among the two. However, from the base camp one could easily spot Mardi Himal in all its beauty.

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Don not miss the sunset from the high camp. The dense cloud cover in the valley just reminded me of the trip to George Everest point near Mussoorie hill station in northern India.

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You will see many Yaks near the High camp and at few guest houses you could also find Yak milk. I really don't have words to express how beautiful the sunset was. There was always a confusion, one side you had Machapuchare lit in colours and on the other sides you had the clouds rising up covering the whole valley with this soft white blanket.

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I hope you would have definitely seen this image so many times on Instagram. Plan a hike to the less known and the beautiful Mardi Himal and you will love the experience.

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These are some Strava data pictures. There are 3 pictures because I was not sure that I could do all this in a day.

First picture - hike from Landruk (1565 m) to forest camp (2550 m) - 26/10/19

Second picture - early morning hike from Forest camp (2550 m) to High camp (3900 m), - 27/10/19

Third picture - afternoon hike from High camp (3900 m) to Mardi Himal base camp (4500 m) - 27/10/19

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The target for the next day was to start the descend from the High camp (4500 m) from a fairly new route that would go all the way to the village named Sidhing (1750 m). It was the densest forest I have ever been to.

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See you in the next story.

Cheers