Tilicho Lake

Tilicho Lake lies at 4,919 m in the Manang district of Nepal, cupped in a high basin on the north side of the Annapurna range. It is a glacial lake about 4 km long and 1.2 km wide, with a surface of roughly 4.8 km² and depths of up to 85 m. Above it rises the snow-and-ice massif of Tilicho Peak (7,134 m), and in winter the surface freezes; the rest of the year the water lies blue against grey moraine and snow.

Up here very little lives. Hydrologists who studied the lake found no aquatic life in it, and the surroundings are a stony alpine desert where only specialised mosses, Himalayan snowcock and ibex get by. That emptiness is part of its grandeur: the scale of the mountain wall, the silence and the thin air make the lake feel far larger than its dimensions. In 2000 a Russian team of three divers — Andrei Andryushin, Denis Bakin and Maxim Gresko — made a scuba dive here, setting a record for the highest-altitude dive at the time.

For many Hindus Tilicho is a holy lake. It is identified with the Kak Bhusundi lake of the Ramayana tradition, where the sage Kak Bhusundi is said to have recounted the story of Rama to Garuda, king of the birds. Pilgrims as well as trekkers make the climb, and for walkers on the Annapurna Circuit it is a celebrated side trip from the Manang valley.

Getting there

Tilicho is reached on foot from Manang (3,540 m). The usual route goes west through the stone village of Khangsar and the grazing ground of Shree Kharka to Tilicho Base Camp at about 4,150 m, with the final climb to the lake — a long steep day out and back — made from there. Manang itself can be reached by jeep on the road up the Marsyangdi valley from Besisahar, which is about 180 km by road from Kathmandu. As the crow flies the nearest city is Pokhara, about 47 km away, and the nearest airport is Pokhara (PKR), about 55 km away — but the mountains in between make Manang the practical starting point. Acclimatisation days on the way up are essential.