Going to the Annapurna Base Camp hike. It’s nice, have u all done this? Such, you have this feat.- I just arrived and gone on this trekking on fucking things, amazing mountains on earth. But your journey isn’t finished. When tackling ABC Everest Base Camp, you must also prepare and organize for your trip ‘down’ to be as comfortable, safe, and exciting as your hike was going up.
Sometimes there’s a gentle slope leading up, but the descent is treacherous. You may be rushed, as you stand there with your muscles aching, your joints probably still warm from lugging a couple of hundred more stairs in the indignity of your bags, the joy of being there at all. It will walk you through all the prepping you have to do to get your mind and body ready to go down and ensure you end the Annapurna Base Camp Trek on a high.
Understand the Challenges of Descending
To get down is a stepchild of getting out, any true trekker will tell you. Walking down can be, in some way, harder than walking up, but that is also hard on the body. To get down is a stepchild of getting out, any true trekker will tell you. u all done this, u have this feat.- I just arrived and gone on this trekking on fucking things, amazing mountains on earth. But your journey isn’t finished. When tackling ABC Everest Base Camp, you must also prepare and organize for your trip ‘down’ to be as comfortable, safe,e ans exciting as your hike was going up.
Sometimes there’s a gentle slope leading up, but the descent is treacherous. You may be rushed, as you stand there with your muscles aching, your joints probably still warm from lugging a couple of hundred more stairs in the indignity of your bags, the joy of being there at all. It will walk you through all the prepping you have to do to get your mind and body ready to go down … and ensure you end the ABC trek on a high.
Downhill Packing the Smart Way
You may be carrying less weight heading back down, eating le fewer days of food, but packing doesn’t matter any less on the descent.
Don’t hoist the backpack to incredulous heights, nor leave it lumpy and humping your back, because it will be making jumps and quietly bouncing you off balance. Carry even heavier items with adjustable padded shoulder straps and a waist belt.
Good poles are one MASSIVE aid for keeping the pace up, as well as supporting your knees.
Have stuff in the house — food, drinks.
Wear Layers and Prepare for Bad Weather
Annapurna Region mountain weather is famously unpredictable. (Note that also the peak temperatures themselves, at which the sharp top of the red curve (a kind of ABC-escence’s one) lies, can be even very COLD… SO WARM, of course… the more down you go.
Choose from a selection of moisture-wicking base layers for support, keeping you dry, cool, and protected. A compact rain or wind shell.
You will still need to wash your hands and wear sunblock (yes, both when up high and when on exposed trails). Sun-tan glasses and a cream, no place to hide a hat.
Trekking Poles Protect Your Joints
You’ll be wishing you had trekking poles for DOWN. They enable you to absorb shock, stabilize, and cushion your knees.
They’re also easy to customize to the length you’d like, and be sure to plant them in place long before you sit down yourself. And it lets me stay in without going out too hard, without the danger of slipping on a crusher, loose gravel, or wonky stairs.
Assuming you didn’t stumble, this is where you might want to consider using those poles of yours—spare your knees!
Something is better than nothing, even if it’s just baby steps (because even baby steps are still steps), and you know that old saying, slow and steady WINS the race.
It’s a struggle not to sprint down the hill once you’re on the output side, as though you’re excited to get back, or to the hot meal a guard at home promised you from workday. But faster is almost certainly going to be worse.
The intention is for sure, but be careful, absolutely NO long strides. That way, you’ve got a little more freedom with a little less impact on your joints.”
Settle into a pace you can do comfortably forever.
Risk, Slow Down, and Ice Sections Beware
‘You would want to check those boards out on the steep and rocky, and maybe slippery ground.
Watch out for jagged loose rocks, wet roots, and chunky terrain. Use your walking poles for that extra stability.
If you’re hiking with others, steer away from all crowding together on narrow trails.
Oh, even more fun going back down?”
Descending doesn’t stop the trek. It’s just that there’s a) no other option and also b) no other opportunity to make up for things you’d missed on the way up — the innumerable species of flora, the calls of the mountain birds, all the other peaks you can see far off in the distance.
Relax and enjoy the views, take photographs, and chat up fellow trekkers.
It makes the whole walk so much better.
Stop Dreaming and Finish Your Trek Already LITERALLY.
That downhill, meanwhile, is the opening of the last scene in your Annapurna adventure. You may have conflicting emotions — relief, fatigue, excitement, perhaps a tinge of sadness.
Set intentions to finish strong. Just realize it will not be much longer before you’re finally relaxed, snuggling with covers rolled up in bed again for more stories.
Be here now, don’t run to the beyond.
Meal planning with your arrival and next move, with And as you should with any long walk in the third world, give passing consideration to what you’ll do after you’ve motored to the trailhead (or to the village where you’ll catch transportation back to the ride back to Pokhara or Kathmandu).
(Your transport whenever possible. That way, you will avert the panic at the end of a day of walking when you’re covered in sores and can barely stand up, and you’ve only got one left: “Where did you see the midnight sunscreen?”
Have at least a full rest day in Pokhara or Kathmandu to rest and enjoy the completion.
Final Thoughts
The same is also true about descending from Annapurna Base Camp;p, one must be trained for as much as walking up to it. With some good sleep, careful packing, good pacing, and an attentive ear to how your body feels, you can keep along and help your body keep humming along on the way, and have some satisfaction in reaching down the road safely and sound.
And, naturally, a hike is not finished until you are off the trail. And yet you plunge — like the world is (a condition of going down, chance to dream (the air to alter, to grope the ground / and breathe one final reset of your balance of the black / balance of landscapes).
If done right, a descent should be as good as the ascent.