Gorges

We left Kagbeni (elevation : 2800 m) at 08:00, which was the latest recommended time to avoid the blistering Kali Gandaki wind that was bound to build up later that day. All we really had to do before we left the guesthouse was to repack and freshen up, as we decided to skip breakfast and instead have a much larger meal for lunch later on in Jomsom (elevation : 2720 m). The water pressure the night before had also

We left Ranipauwa (elevation : 3700 m) at 08:30, shortly after we finished our honey pancakes and tibetan bread with jam. The mist had lifted slightly by then, but despite all the posters that were scattered around the town advertising the Yartung festival that was supposed to have begun that morning, the town was still sleepy and there was really not much going on. From the start, the town had felt too touristy

The pre-dawn darkness made it necessary to pack in the dim lights of our headlamps. We hurriedly threw together the essentials for our daypacks, and divided the contents of the first aid kit amongst us to lighten the load. We had planned to start walking an hour before sunrise (my Suunto Spartan Ultra had stated that sunrise was at 06:15), but before we did, we made our way outside the wooden lodge to

Serpentine National Park is located at the foot of the Darling Scarp to the south-east of Perth. The Serpentine River that runs down the slopes has carved out a valley of polished granite that ends at the well-known Serpentine Falls. The waterfall is not very impressive (especially during the dry season) and by itself does not warrant the fairly steep park entry fees (AUD12 per car), but I feel that the park and the trails

The group set off at 08:30 the next morning, heading northwards and crossing the river back and forth by hopping across rock fields. On one occasion (approximately 2 kilometres in), we had to trackback a little and rock hop across to a small peninsular in the middle of the river. The bush became very dense here and we were forced to bush bash for a while trying to find a point where the rocks continued to the other

The group had decided to split into two groups of two to tackle this particular section of the gorge - one group was to continue along the Z-Bend section of the gorge with floatpacks (as there was no way to continue walking along the ledges along this section), whereas the other group was to walk to the next food drop and rejoin the other two at 4-Ways. I decided to take the 'dry route' and head inland