Annapurna region, the area that is known for its beautiful landscapes and stunning mountains. From the shortest Poonhill Trek to the longest Annapurna Circuit Trek, they all lie in the heavenly Annapurna Region. Among all of the equally exciting Annapurna area treks, Annapurna Circuit Trek stands firm and unique.
It is a long-running trek that covers the vast land of the tenth highest mountain. And certain trek preparation is necessary here for Annapurna Circuit Trek just like every other trek. Better preparation ensures a better experience. Preparation means something that is going to make your trek easier. What can be the readiness for Annapurna Circuit Trek? How to Prepare for Annapurna Circuit Trek? Before getting to all of the preparations of Annapurna Circuit, let’s discuss in brief why it is required to prepare.
Facts, figures, and Information are the most basic thing to check out before any outing. In the case of Annapurna Circuit Trek, it is a must thing. The right information about any treks like duration, distance, permits, temperature, and highest altitude helps to plan the trek rightly. It also helps to ascertain all preparation you need like physical preparation and equipment preparation.
Not knowing the important facts about the Annapurna Circuit trek can lead to difficult and trouble-prone situations. Knowledge about the facts of the trek puts you on the safe side. Hence, you need to do informative preparation about the facts of the Annapurna Circuit trek.
Now, you might be clear about “Why is it important to prepare before Annapurna Circuit Trek”. So, let’s now roll into; what are the preparations and how to prepare for Annapurna Circuit.
How to Prepare for Annapurna Circuit trek
Annapurna Circuit Trek is the most popular adventure that foreign people like to do in Nepal. Nearly 70,000 adventurers come to Nepal solely to do Annapurna circuit hiking.
It is suitable for both amateurs and professional trekkers and so is the trek preparation. Lets readout, what are the preparations for Annapurna Circuit expedition. It will help you out on How to prepare for the Annapurna circuit trek.
Informative Preparation for Annapurna Circuit Trek
First one is Informative or Information preparation. You have to get all the facts, stats, figures, and information related to Annapurna Circuit Trek. Like, How long is the trek, where does it lie, what are the permits required, etc. These questions will draw you towards the right information and you can plan accordingly for the trek. So, Informative preparation is all related to the facts and figures of any trek. Let’s go into each of the Informative preparation topics:
Distance and Duration
Annapurna Circuit Trek is one of the longest treks in Nepal. The trek covers a distance of 130 to 230 km(depends upon the starting and ending point of the trek) in total. And this total distance has to be walked in 15 to 20 days. You can add distance and duration by including the Annapurna Base Camp Trek in the itinerary. Adding Annapurna Base Camp Trek increases the total distance by some 115km and duration by 7 to 10 days. This above information is very helpful in deciding “How to prepare for Annapurna Circuit”
Permits
Annapurna Conservation Area Permit (ACAP) and Trekkers Information Management System(TIMS) Card are the two compulsory permits for Annapurna Circuit Trek. The first one i.e. ACAP is required to enter the wildlife conservation area which costs NRS 3000(30$) for Non-SAARC nationals and NRS1000(10$) for SAARC nationals.
The next and last one is the TIMS Card which is a necessary permit to hold while trekking in Nepal. It is necessary to manage the trekker’s database management.
This card is obtainable in NRS 2000(20$) if you are traveling solo and if you are in a group then it is NRS 1000(10$).
Daily Budget
Trekking in Nepal is cheaper than in other parts of the world. The daily budget of Annapurna Circuit Trek is 25 to 30$ per day which gets you night’s accommodation, three times meal, tea, and other soft beverages. The daily expenses depend on your expense habits. If you are a lavish spender then cost can go high and if not it can sit around 20 to 30$ per day, which is a cheap amount for trekking far from your home.
Highest reach and Altitude sickness
The highest point of Annapurna Circuit Trek is Thorung La Pass which stands at an altitude of 5416m(17769ft). It’s the brightest side of the Annapurna Circuit Trek and the view from the top is worth trekking on. The trek majorly circulates at an average height of 3000m. Any trek running over a height of 3500m is known as high altitude trek.
Altitude sickness is real if you are trekking in higher regions. Annapurna circuit trek takes you to the higher areas like Thorung La Pass 5413m, High Camp. Hence, there is always a fear of altitude sickness while in the Thorung la Pass area. However, with the right preparation and precautions, altitude sickness can be easily avoided.
Food and Accommodation
Food and Accommodation during the Annapurna circuit trek is not a problem at all.
Teahouses and lodges are scattered all over the trails and mains stops of the trek.
The accommodations you will get here are the most basic one with a simple room and two beds. Bed Sheets are clean and so are the rooms. You will get blankets and all other bed items. These rooms can cost around 3 to 6$ and can increase with your extra services like charging, hot showers and maybe wifi.
Talking about the meals, you will be getting varieties of items from Chinese, Continental, and local menus. Some of the popular meal items are Dal Bhat(Local rice and lentils combo), Pizza, Burger, Pasta, Noodle, and several others. The food is well cooked, hygienic, and well served by the teahouses. The cost of these items is around 1 to 5 $. But remember that the cost of meals and food increases with altitude.
Best Time
The best time means when the weather and temperature are ideal for trekking. So, the best periods to visit Annapurna Circuit Trek are Spring and Autumn. March, April, and May are the Spring months in Nepal. During these months, the weather is perfect and stable with warm temperatures. It is a season of flowers blossoming. Skies are clear and blueish where you can enjoy the unobstructed mountain and terrain views.
Similarly, Autumn is another best period for Annapurna circuit trek. Autumn stays throughout September, October, November, and until early -December in Nepal. The temperature during Autumn is moderate. No rain clouds, just a clear blue sky. You can sight undisturbed peak views throughout the trek.
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Physical and Mental Preparation for Annapurna Circuit Trek
Physical and Mental preparation is another important guide to How to prepare for Annapurna Circuit. Annapurna Circuit Trek is a long journey of 120 to 230km which demands the hill and high altitude trekking. This trek is doable by both types of trekkers i.e. amateur and professional.
But, the physical and mental preparation part is mainly for beginners who are not used to long trekking. New trekkers can find difficulty while trekking on and think of giving up. Therefore, doing physical preparation means increasing pain endurance and mentality level.
So, here are the few preparations that can be done by both beginners as well as professional trekkers before Annapurna Circuit Trek:
Physical Checkup
Physical checkup/evaluation is the first step of physical preparation for any of the treks. Visiting a doctor and doing the whole body checkup provides your health conditions. The doctor can suggest whether you are fit or not for trekking in case of any health problems, diseases, etc. So, before starting any hard training please do your health checkup.
Strength Training
Annapurna Circuit Trek is a long and tiring journey of 160 to 230km. The trek is through hills of the Himalayas which involves regular ascents and descents. During this trek, your body parts like leg muscles, soles, and ankles are under pressure. This can cause you to get tired too soon and too often. This is why strength training is required to increase your pain endurance level.
The possible strength training workouts can be deadlifts, thrusts, squats, back exercises, pushups, planks, etc. The earlier you start these workouts before the trek, the more fruitful will be the training. Hence, commence these training 2 to 3 months prior to the trek date.
Cardiovascular Training
Cardiovascular or aerobic training increases the endurance level of muscles and heart rate. Aerobic training can be hiking, swimming, cycling, spinning, running, etc.
Practice this training for at least five times each week for one to two hour. If you are not involved in any cardiovascular training yet, start at least 2 to 3 months before the trek date. These trainings are the best ways to increase the pain endurance level.
Hill Climbing Training
It is the most practical training for Annapurna Circuit trek. As you know, Annapurna adventure involves hill trekking. So, you can prepare well by doing Hill climbing training. Start with mimic Annapurna Circuit Trek hill and similar weighted trekking bag and do the hiking once or twice or thrice a month.
The more often you do, the more eligible you will be for the Annapurna circuit trek. One important tip: While training use the trekking boots that you are going to wear for the real trek.
Equipment/Packing Preparation
What to pack for Annapurna Circuit Trek? This can be tricky for trekkers to decide on. The wrong packing worthlessly adds weight to your bag. Heavy bag means a heavy load and who wants a heavy bag while trekking, probably not you. Hence, it is important to be perfectly ready when it comes to backpacking.
The Packing List for Annapurna Circuit Trek is more or less identical during Autumn and Spring. Most of the people like to visit the Annapurna circuit trek during peak seasons. Hence, the down below packing list is helpful only in Autumn and Peak season. But, if you like to do this trek in Winter and Monsoon then you have to add extra rain and cold gears on the following list:
Clothing
- Strong and comfortable trekking boots
- Spare shoelaces
- Trekking socks(pairs)
- Half-sleeved hiking shirts/vests
- Trekking pants
- Thermals undergarments
- Full-sleeved hiking shirts/vests
- Insulating down jackets
- Woolen cap
- Trekking Gloves
- Raincoats(For unexpected rainfall)
Mediocre
- Diamox tablets
- Feminine hygiene products
- Anti-nausea tablets
- Band-aids
- Mosquito and insect repellents
Toiletries
- Bathing Soap
- Toilet Paper
- Shampoo
- Sunscreen
- Moisturizer
- Hand wash
- Hand sanitizer
Accessories
- Sunglasses UV protected
- Sleeping bag(-10c)
- Cameras
- Batteries
- Water Bottle
- Solar Chargers
- Hot water Thermos
Important Documents
- Passport
- Passport-sized photos
- Passport Photocopies
Some tips for Better Annapurna Circuit Trek Preparation
- Know everything about trekking in Nepal to understand landscapes, climate, weather, dos, and don’ts, etc.
- Learn and understand the requirements for the Nepali tourist visa
- Get all the information about the Annapurna Circuit trek and plan accordingly
- Hear from some experienced or already visited Annapurna Circuit trekkers
- Plan and start the physical training two to three months prior to the trek date
- Consult the doctor about your health condition and follow the advice
- Stick to the training schedule be regular and don’t have a single cheat day
- Take altitude sickness seriously and plan the precautions to avoid it in the trek
- Plan for the right time to do Annapurna Circuit Trek
- Learn everything about the trek date’s weather and temperature forecast
- Pack wisely, don’t include unnecessary things and avoid making the backpack heavy
Conclusion
Telling it again, Annapurna Circuit Trek is the most popular trek in the entire world. The long and beautiful trails have made this trek so famous. Beauty is okay it is digestible but the long trails are not. The longer trails demand some physical preparation. Similarly, informative preparation and equipment preparation are importantly helpful to make Annapurna Circuit trek easier.
The main goal of this article is to help you on How to prepare for Annapurna Circuit.
We hope that this abstract about Annapurna Circuit has helped you somehow. We wish you a happy and successful completion of Annapurna Circuit Trek. Enjoy your time in heavenly Nepal.
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