Trekking, 'Cockney Phoenix Annapurna ', Nepal, Apr 2011, ID 1044

71st (City of London) Yeomanry Signal Regiment (Volunteers)

In early April, 12 officers and soldiers from across the Regt converged on Bexleyheath ready for an adventure. Bags packed, things inevitably forgotten, but keen to get started on the long journey to Kathmandu, via Doha. Once there, the team staggered out of the airport into a completely different world. There was a veritable mob of people outside the airport and we were greeted with traditional yellow scarves (Khatas).

On the first day in Nepal we saw the sights of Kathmandu, this included Monkey Temple, the Great Stupa of Baudha Nath and the Hindu monuments in Patan Square. The next day we set off for Pokhara and battled through the chaos of Kathmandu. Then came a white knuckle ride, a narrow road that twisted and turned round spectacular hills covered in green forestation, we closed our eyes and held on for dear life.

With some feelings of trepidation we left the hotel and headed to Nayapul, the start of the trek. After a quick briefing from Lt Gary Taylor, one of our JSMEL(S) instructors, about ‘smashing loads of water’, we were off. The group took the first day at a steady pace in glorious t-shirt weather and got to the first guest house by 1430hrs.

The next day the real work began, we started with a steep assent and climbed 500m in the first hour and a half. The pace was steady, interspersed with water breaks to re-hydrate as we were all still acclimatising to the altitude and the heat. As the afternoon wore on, the weather closed in, the air cooled and after a crack of thunder, it started hailing.

It was an early start the next day, 0400hrs. We headed up to Poon Hill to view the sunrise over the mountains, the sun struck the tops of the highest peaks first. It was a steep, unrelenting 500m climb but worth all the effort to see such a spectacular sunrise. Lt Tim "more belly than altitude" Roberts had been ill since lunch on the first day and did not come up Poon Hill. Unfortunately he had to leave the group and head to Pokhara and the Medical Centre. SSgt (FofS) Raj Malla, the Expedition Leader, arranged for him to stay at the British Gurkha camp.

After coming back from Poon Hill and now down to 11, the team set off with a long uphill stretch that was followed by a steep decent to reach the bottom of a river valley. After several hours we arrived at Chuile, our destination of the day. The following morning started with a steep downhill to a river bed and then up the other side, we followed an undulating path across the hill that we originally saw from Chuile. A particular highlight came when we crossed an ‘Indian Jones’ esk suspension bridge that spanned a raging river. Capt "Spud" Murphy and SSgt "Eddie" Edwards kept everyone’s spirits up with a seemingly endless stock of jokes, stories and trivia throughout the trek. That evening the weather really closed in and the wind howled round the sturdy guest house. Lt Gary Taylor briefed the group on avalanche drills as we were entering dangerous territory. As with previous days, in the afternoon the weather closed in and it started to rain, so Gary Goretex appeared. With the guest house in sight, albeit from a distance, the temperature dropped and the rain turned to snow, this continued for several hours after we had arrived at Deurali.

On the sixth day of the trek, the ground was covered in snow and made the going quite hard. We reached Machhapuchhare Base Camp (MBC) in really good time and decided to push on for our main goal, Annapurna Base Camp (ABC). The snow was ankle deep and the air was noticeably thinner, it was extremely hard work. At ABC, we were surrounded by fantastic snow covered mountains such as Mt Annapurna 1, South Annapurna and Mt Hiunchuli. The team had just a few minutes to capture the spellbinding views as the clouds began to cover the mountains. We had reached our aim, now it was time to come back down. Sgt Richie Marsh managed to achieve bizarre sun burns to his legs in the form of several stripes, his legs alternated between pale white and angry red.

We continued our descent to Chomrong, Cpl Ross "Nugget" Nugent, the other JSMEL(S) instructor, led the way. When we reached Ghandruk, we were surprised to find a large metropolis compared to all the small villages we had encountered. The town had an ‘old’ and ‘new’ half, the former consisting of dry stone buildings and the latter being newer tourist accommodation. It was a short distance to Nayapul where we completed the trek. We got ‘on the bus’ with mixed feelings of relief and achievement.

We took the opportunity to visit the Gurkha museum, Peace Stupa and the International Mountain Museum at Pokhara before departing for Chitwan National Park. That evening we had a presentation on the Chitwan Park along with the locals showing off their tribal dances, Lt Tim Roberts and Cpl Paul Messett ‘volunteered’ to join in. The safari activities started with a canoe ride and followed by elephant bathing. The main event of the day was a jungle safari on the back of an elephant. It was a bit uncomfortable, but great fun to be so close to such a big animal. On our final night we were hosted by the trekking company at an old wooden palace and then we flew back to the UK.

Overall Ex COCKNEY PHOENIX ANNAPURNA was a very successful AT exercise as the expedition team achieved its aim which was to climb up to Annapurna Base Camp. In doing so the team developed their personal navigational skills, team bonding and experienced Nepalese culture and society.

The expedition team would like to thank the Ulysses Trust and other organisations for their valuable support towards the funding of this expedition without which it could not have taken place.

 LCpl Rosie Ewbank 71 Y Sig Regt (V)