Annapurna Circuit Day 11 and 12

Manang to Yak Karka
Yak Karka to Thorung Phedi

From here on out it's nothing but snow! And as Derek says "the real point where you stop looking up and start looking down.  The day to Yak Karka was pretty simple. We had to watch our footing in a few areas as the snow-covered path winds along across the slope of several steep hills.  And we had our fist yak encounter.  I want so badly to call it a yak attack...sounds so much better!  They were headed towards us on a path that was about a foot wide, but they graciously climbed in the deep snow off the path to allow us to pass.  We watched another group of people who were behind us and the yaks were not as kind to them.  The people had to turn around and backtrack!

The trail to Thorung Phedi started off ok, but got very difficult near the end and was nothing but an uphill path that traversed a landslide...yeah, not so safe.  Needless to say, the yak peaking from behind the bush was the only photo we took. We arrived in Phedi feeling rather lightheaded and nauseous due to the altitue (4400 meters,14, 520 feet).  But, we had a good dinner by the stove (in the pitch dark) and mentally prepared ourselves for the next day: crossing the Thorung La Pass.