A COCKBURN father-daughter team have conquered a trek up the treacherous Annapurna Sanctuary in Nepal.
It took almost six days for 68-year-old Peter Taylor and his daughter Nell (29) to successfully reach the base camp, which sits at more than 4100m above sea level.
Mr Taylor, who last trekked the Himalayas in 1977 at the same age his daughter is now, said the experience had been unforgettable.
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READ NOW“ABC, as Annapurna Base Camp is known, is surrounded by a ring of gigantic peaks between 6500 and 8600m high, which offers a spectacular show, especially the golden sunrise when the ice clad peaks look like they’re on fire,” he said.
“Being out in nature every day beside a raging river of glacial melt water was really refreshing and inspiring, and staying in local villages gave us rich insights into local cultures.
“The tough part was breathing at high altitude where the air thins, at times I got light headed and needed to take short breaks, especially on the final uphill push.
“The scary part was walking through avalanche zones, picking our way across recent landslips of massive boulders and wondering when the next slide would happen.”
He said he had loved doing the trek with his daughter.
“Spending every waking and sleeping hour together for eight days was a wonderful bonding experience,” he said.
“We took good care of each other in moments of hardship, enjoyed sharing the spectacle of giant mountain peaks, and celebrated our enormous achievement on completing the trek.”