Day 9: Tilicho Tal Base Camp to Tilicho Tal & Return

Approximate Trekking Time: 4 – 5 hrs.

Distance: 17k / 10.6 miles (return)

Overnight Elevation: 4140m/13,583ft.

Since all we planned to do for the day was make the trip up to Tilicho Tal and back (~4 hours), we decided we could “sleep in” a bit. But things rarely go according to plan and since we had a room on the lower level, instead we woke early listening to the travelers upstairs move furniture and run laps around their room. If you saw the size of the rooms, you would laugh because you could set all of your things within reach of your bed. Anyway, we were up early.

In the dining room, the porters were still hiding under thick blankets at the far end of the room near the wood fire stove. Over breakfast, it began to rain. UGH. We decided to wait a bit to see if it would clear, and lucky enough for us, it stopped around 8:30am. It’s not that we didn’t bring rain jackets or weren’t willing to hike in the rain, but when you’re hiking with limited clothing, it’s nice to keep it dry when possible.

The hike to Tilicho Tal is mostly a long uphill slog. With the Base Camp sitting around 13,600ft. (4140m) and the lake viewpoint at just over 16,400ft. (5005m), it’s nearly a 3,000ft. climb to the lake, which took roughly 2 ½ hours. The journey upward begins with switchbacks to climb out of the valley where the Base Camp lodges sit. From the top of the switchbacks, it’s a long steady uphill climb along the mountainside, now very dry and well above the tree line. We passed slopes of scrub brush and grass and others that were barren and rocky, landslide prone with no vegetation.

Winding our way around the mountainside we eventually reached another set of switchbacks, steeply snaking their way up the mountain. At the crest of the switchbacks the trail eventually widened and flattened. Lined by tall rock slabs, we followed the trail as it passed by a very sad, small, dark pond (that better not be Tilicho Tal!) en route to the gem we had made the long climb for, and it did not disappoint.

Climbing over a small cairn and prayer-flag strewn slope, the brilliant turquoise waters of Tilicho Tal came into view. Stunning, the waters appeared absolutely still, like they had been painted onto the landscape. A closer look revealed that there were actually tiny ripples lapping across the surface. We sat in awe, transfixed by the beauty of the lake, flanked on the western side by snowy peaks and icefall, an area marked on the map as “icefall”, and bordered on the eastern side by dry dull-brown dirt slopes, for which the map marked “danger of falling rocks”.

While enjoying the view, we heard the telltale crackle of an avalanche. It’s common to hear sounds of avalanches or rockfall high above on snowy peaks as you are hiking, though it’s typically very difficult to see where the sound is actually coming from. While we initially looked up to the slopes, it was actually a large chunk of the ice next to the lake that had cleaved off and broken into the water. The action made a much smaller ripple than would have been expected for such a large piece of ice.

After enjoying the view for awhile and taking some pictures, we made our way back down the trail to the Base Camp Hotel, where we planned to spend another night before continuing back to the main Annapurna Circuit trail.