Stunning Sunrise at Annapurna Base Camp, Nepal

thescubageek (55)in #travel • 6 years ago

There are precious few moments in life where you see something truly incredible -- where you experience this intense presence of being one with nature and life. The sunrise that greeted us at Annapurna Base Camp (4130m/13,550ft) the morning of my 31st birthday is one of those moments for me.

We woke up super early at Machhapuchre Base Camp (3900m/12800ft) and trudged through the freshly fallen snow. Above, constellations and endless star fields cast against the Milky Way slowly yielded to the creeping purples, blues, and pinks of the arriving sun. The early morning rays danced off the peaks of the seven mountains towering above 6700m/22000ft, dazzling their peaks with a blood red glow. The reflected light transformed the mountain lakes into oily kaleidoscopes.

At Base Camp, we all unpacked our Celebration Snickers Bars and watched as the sun came into full view, illuminating the glacier to the north. The depth and size of that glacial gorge were so vast, and amphitheatre of surrounding mountains so immense, that my eyes welled up with tears of joy. The human mind simply cannot process the scope of what is being perceived -- we are not evolved to be surrounded by features of such overwhelming magnitude.

Best. Birthday. Ever.