Annapurna Base Camp

Glacial Basin Ringed By Annapurna I, Machhapuchhre And Hiunchuli, Inside The Annapurna Conservation Area · Chhomrong, Gandaki

Annapurna Base Camp sits in the Annapurna Sanctuary, a high glacial basin at about 4,130 metres entirely enclosed by a ring of great peaks: Annapurna I, the first 8,000-metre mountain ever climbed, in 1950, Annapurna South, Hiunchuli, Gangapurna and the sacred fishtail of Machhapuchhre. Standing in the middle of that amphitheatre at sunrise, as the peaks light up one after another all around you, is one of the great mountain moments on earth, and it is reachable in about a week to ten days from Pokhara without any technical climbing. The trek climbs through Gurung villages like Ghandruk and Chhomrong, bamboo and rhododendron forest, and the narrow Modi Khola gorge into the sanctuary, with Machhapuchhre Base Camp as the last stop before the top. It is busier and shorter than the Everest trek, and gentler in altitude. The honest warning is avalanche risk in the gorge between Deurali and Machhapuchhre Base Camp, where snow slides have killed trekkers; the trail is sometimes closed after heavy snow.

Annapurna Sanctuary, Annapurna Conservation Area, Kaski District, Chhomrong, Gandaki, Nepal

Seasonal. Best from October to November and March to April; winter brings snow and avalanche closures, and the monsoon brings cloud and leeches. An Annapurna Conservation Area Permit is required, and guide rules for foreign trekkers changed in 2023 - confirm. The trek starts from roads a couple of hours from Pokhara.

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