Thanks to Rajendra and his team at the www.mountainsunvalley.com
His awesome team made this trip possible and a great success. Like every other trek in Nepal for the past 10 years that he organized, our satisfaction was 110%.
For annotated photos of the Dhaulagiri Himal see HERE.
Dhaulagiri from space. The French Pass and Hidden Valley are at the top centre of the photo.
Dhaulagiri I from the south
Dhaulagiri II-Vi from the south
Dhaulagiri west side and the valley from the Italian bc
South-west side of Dhaulagiri
South-east side of Dhaulagiri
At the very start of the trek. Hot, humid and green :-)
The Dhaulagiri range can be seen in the distance. The main mountain of the range, Dhaulagiri I, is on the right not visible in the photo. Our route was down from here and then into the valley on the right towards the barely visible white peak on the right.
Gurja Himal
Rice fields down below.
An idol placed by the trail for the protection of passers-by
The trail is quite spectacular with huge drop offs.
Living it up! This is called the “British Colonial” style of trekking. With our resident Englishman we would not do it any other way.
The trail is washed out in sections. This “bridge” has to be replaced every year.
South-west face of Dhaulagiri I
Above Italian BC
Dhaulagiri 1
Descending onto the glacier
Negotiating the glacier with the massive west wall of Dhaulagiri directly above us
En route to the Japanese BC - we had to cross a short but steep glacier. Rock fall is the main issue here.
Of course we got snowed on. It did make the scenery more alpine though. Awesome waterfalls on all sides. The section of the trail between the Italian and Japanese basecamps.
Approaching the main Dhaulagiri glacier. The white ridge in front of us is the west ridge of Dhaulagiri II. The main mountain,Dhaulagiri I, is on the right side. The recent snowfall made the scenery quite spectacular!
Crossing the drainage of the Dhaulagiri Glacier
Japanese BC is located on the glacier and cold. It does not get much sun. The sun sets around 2.30 - 3 pm and it gets progressively colder as the evening approaches. Then off to the cold tent with some hot Nalgene bottles inside the sleeping bag.
Trying to enjoy the fresh air as long as we can before it gets too cold.
Early in the morning we just wanted to start moving to warm up. The valley is very narrow in this spot and the sun does not come until much later in the day.
Looking back from the Dhaulagiri glacier.
North-west ridge of Dhaulagiri II.
The spectacular icefall of Dhaulagiri I west face.
Dhaulagiri BC proper. The summit in the clouds is Dhaulagiri II.
The Dhaulagiri BC in front of the Dhaulagiri I icefall.
The panorama of the Eiger and the Dhaulagiri Icefall
Our camp on the Dhaulagiri Glacier.
Tukche Peak from about 5,500m. Shyam and I hiked up the hill behind the BC during the rest day. At about 5,500m, the going got tough. Without prior acclimatization to the altitude, each step was a major effort until at 5,800m, I just hit the proverbial wall. This was our high point for the day.
Dhaulagiri I and the Dhaulagiri Glacier seen from 5,800m above the basecamp. You can see to where we came from. The Japanese BC is visible at the bottom of the glacier (on the right). These valleys look straight on the map but in reality they twist and turn.
Our camp is directly below us, some 1,000m down.
The icefall of Dhaulagiri I - the route to camp 1on the normal Dhaulagiri climbing route goes up the icefall - you can see the trail in the photo! Piotr Morawski (a young climber from Poland and a rising star of Polish Himalayan mountaineering, died somewhere in the middle of the icefall along the visible trail). He fell into a hidden crevasse while descending from Camp 1 to the BC along the trail he travelled on many times in the days prior to his death.
The view to Dhaulagiri II.
Lower section of Dhaulagiri II and the surrounding glaciers.
Dhaulagiri 2
The panorama of Dhaulagiri I and the Dhaulagiri Glacier.
Cold morning en route to the French Pass. The Tukche Peak is behind us.
The rocky outcrop below Dhaulagiri is called the Eiger. It is quite high but looks small in front of the giant bulk of Dhaulagiri I.
Approaching the French Pass - we had a spectacular day but windy!
French man on the French Pass with Dhaulagiri I behind.
French Pass at 5,300m - a very windy and desolate place. The memorial to late Polish climber Piotr Morawski is here. He was 33 years old when he died. He was a Polish climber who died on Dhaulagiri by falling into a crevasse below camp 1. Another sad Himalayan story. The basecamp is full of memorials to young people who died on the mountain.
On the French Pass, happy to be here!
The elevation of the French Pass. The elevation of the Dhampus Pass is almost the same.
The memorial to Piotr Morawski who perished on Dhaulagiri 1
Hidden Valley - the trail from the French Pass to Hidden Valley. The Dhampus Pass is between the two mountains, in the centre.
Dhampus Pass
Our camp for the Dhampus Pass in Hidden Valley at 5,000m - a barren, windy and a very cold place!
Hidden Valley and Tukche Peak
The French Pass can be seen in the distance with a cover of clouds. We had a very cold night here!
Dhampus Pass
Descending into the storm on the Dhampus Pass. They say that the view is quite nice from here. We went into a full-on blizzard with zero visibility and horizontal snow. Someone told us: do not get caught in bad weather on the Dhampus Pass. We did exactly that. Thanks to one of the porters we could find our way down.
Descending from the Dhampus Pass into the horizontal snow as on the video below.
Sunrise behind Nilgiri Peak after the storm. We are looking at the Annapurna massif across the deepest valley in the world: Kali Gandaki. Imagine a valley with two 8,000m peaks on both sides (Annapurna I and Dhaulagiri)!
Annapurna 1 massif and the Kali Gandaki valley (the deepest valley in the world). Annapurna I is on the right side obscured by clouds.
Nilgiri South 6,839m in the Annapurna Range - the ABC of Annapurna I is my next objective. It was supposed to be a short hike. I would not come to Nepal just to do it but since I was close by, it made sense to add it on to the Dhaulagiri trek. It turned out that the trek to the Annapurna BC was longer and harder than I expected (See the Annapurna BC Photos page and Trip Report). We started from the Kali Gahandaki valley which made the trek much longer than the standard route from Pokhara. This also added a lot of elevation gains and losses. During the first two days we climbed 1600m! It turned out that this “add-on” was almost as long as the Dhaulagiri trek.
Thorong La
Mesocanto Pass on the centre right - I crossed this pass as part of the Manaslu/Annpurna trek in 2011 (see the photos and the trip report). The pass is quite steep on the descent. The view from he pass to the Dhaulagiri massif is spectacular. The Manaslu/Annapurna trek was 300km long. I did it with Kumar, Kam and Suri. The Dhaulagiri circuit “connected the dots” for me making both treks into one spectacular route of more than 400km through almost half of Nepal’s high Himalaya (See the Mesocanto La Photos and Trip Summary).
As of 2017, my goal continues to be finishing the walk through the High Himalaya of Nepal: Kangchendzonga, Makalu, Everest region, Rowaling, Langtang, Manaslu, Annapurna and Dhaulagiri. By 2017, I did most of those treks. I will finish the Tilman Pass trek in 2018. As a Nepali crow would fly, the distance from Kangchendzonga to Dhaulagiri is 600km. The walking distance is closer to 1,500kms.
Mesocanto Pass
Mesocanto Pass
The valley of Kali Ghandaki
Almost done! Great company of great friends!
Nilgiri Peak - part of the Annapurna massif
Goofing off with junior monks in Marfa
Marfa
Marfa - one of the nicest small towns in Nepal
Cave dwellings above Marfa
Nilgiri Peak from the road between Marfa and Jomsom
Between Marfa and Jomsom
Dhaulagiri from Kali Gandaki
East wall of Dhaulagiri - climbed by Voytek Kurtyka and Tomas Humar
The spectacular drive in the Kali Gandaki gorge
