34 Spring 2016 LOCALadk Magazine
LOCALadk
The Mountains
The next day, our crew bounced its way along the Prithvi High-
way, a landslide-prone path which was often more technical than
the singletrack trails we rode in the Adirondacks. From Pokhara,
we rammed our bicycles into the back of a twin prop plane and
hopped the first YETI AIR flight to the hamlet of Jomsom. Locat-
ed in the Mustang Valley in the heart of the rain shadow of the
dominant Annapurna massif, this remote village would serve as
our staging ground for the high altitude portion of our ride.
Setting out from Jomsom, we began a two-day journey to Muk-
tinah, a high-altitude temple tucked just below the base of the
Throng La pass, which, at 5,400 meters, denotes the highest point
of the well-known Annapurna trekking circuit. The intoxicating
splendor of the world's tallest peaks is eloquently described by
Chamonix native Maurice Herzog, the first mountaineer to scale
an 8,000 meter peak:
"This diaphanous landscape, this quintessence of purity–these
were not the mountains I knew: they were the mountains of my
dreams."
As we approached Muktinah, it became clear that the ridge we'd
"This diaphanous landscape
these were not the
they were the mountains
- Maurice
