Annapurna Base Camp, step by step with three friends
Seven days through bamboo forest and rhododendron to the amphitheatre of peaks at 4,130 metres. A friends’ trek with steady pacing, early nights and a hot spring on the way back.
Emma Clarke
12 Nov 2025 1 min read
- When October 2025
- Length 8 days
- Travelled With friends
In this story5 sections
Four friends, four different fitness levels and one shared wish: to stand inside the Annapurna Sanctuary. We chose a pace the slowest of us could keep without suffering, and it turned out to be the pace everyone enjoyed.
From Ghandruk the trail drops and climbs through villages, terraced fields and then bamboo forest. Chhomrong feels like a last stop at the edge of the real mountains. From there the valley narrows, the river gets louder and the forest turns to rhododendron and then to open rock.
The sanctuary
From Deurali the path climbs steadily to Annapurna Base Camp at 4,130 metres. When the clouds lifted we were surrounded: Annapurna South, Fang, Machapuchare, Gangapurna, all within a short walk. We sat outside with cups of tea until the cold drove us in, and watched the colour move across the snow.
The way down is faster, and the hot springs at Jhinu Danda, a steep walk below the main trail, were exactly what tired legs wanted.
Pace, people and weather
Most days gained between 500 and 900 metres, which meant mornings of walking and long afternoons at the lodge. The evenings were the best part: dal bhat by the stove, a card game that got louder as the altitude rose, and everyone in bed by eight. We watched the weather at Deurali carefully; the final stretch to base camp is exposed and a late start in poor visibility is not worth it.
On the way down we rested a night at Bamboo, then walked to Jhinu Danda. The hot springs, a steep half-hour below the village, are a pool beside a loud river, and I do not think I have ever been so grateful to sit in water.
At a glance
- When
- October 2025
- Length
- 8 days
- Travelled
- With friends
- Getting around
- Road from Pokhara to Nayapul at the start; walking after that.
- Stayed
- Teahouses at every stop, with rooms getting simpler as we climbed.
As Emma Clarke describes the trip; details may have changed.
The route
- 1
Day 1
Ghandruk
First night at 1,940 m.
- 2
Day 2
Chhomrong
The last big village, with a steep staircase down and up.
- 3
Day 3
Bamboo
Forest and rivers at 2,310 m.
- 4
Day 4
Deurali
Above the treeline at 3,230 m.
- 5
Day 5
Annapurna Base Camp
4,130 m, ringed by peaks.
- 6
Day 6
Jhinu Danda
Hot springs by the river on the way down.
Emma Clarke’s tips
- Sleep high only as far as Deurali on the first attempt; do not rush the last section.
- Check the day’s weather at Deurali before leaving for base camp.
- Hot springs at Jhinu Danda are worth the short steep walk down.
What I would do differently
We lost an afternoon to an avalanche warning and had no spare day. Add a buffer; it is a mountain, not a timetable.
Written by
Emma Clarke
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