Annapurna VII

This is the hike to the highest lake in the world. Or one of them, which I don't actually understand as couldn't that sort of thing just be determined. Either way it's pretty high, 4,949 meters which is over 16,000 ft for the metrically handicapped. For comparisons sake Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe is only 4,810 meters. I say 'only' as since I completed my 18 day hike, I am now a foremost expert in all things mountainy, that's the technical term for it.

So you hike to the Tilico basecamp and spend the night there, barely sleeping due in equal parts to the cold and high altitude. You then get up early and begin an agonizing climb up, I think it was 800 or so meters, might not seem that much but the CN Tower is 550 meters including the TV tower on top and the tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifa at 829m also including the antenna on top. So next time you go to Dubai, walk from the ground floor of the Burj to the top floor and you still wouldn't have climbed as much as we did that morning.

If you look closely there is a Spanish dude we met doing the climb with 20 kilos on his back as he and a friend were going to camp the night there. I thought to myself, that would be awesome, what they said later was that they spent 16 hours in their tent freezing. Still awesome in my opinion.

And here it is, Tilicho Lake.

The way down.

The part of the sign you can't see reads, LAND. And those are prayer flags tied to it.

Jacqueline, poised on the edge, literally. Sorry Bill and Anna but it's safer than it looks.

It's important to always stay uphill of a donkey.