Nepal - Annapurna Circuit, 21 day trek...mostly w/o power

A few friends and I will be heading to Nepal from august to sept where we will

be trekking around the Annapurna Mountain Range in the Himalayas. I'd like to

bring my 300D and take as many photos as possible, but restrictions on weight

and power will be major issues.

 

I'm not sure how many days I will have to go without electricity, maybe 15 days

or so...I'm still checking on that, but I know it's going to be a while.

 

I was wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to recharge the batteries and

what kind of storage devices might be up for the rugged nature of the trek.

 

I do have 2 batteries/3 memory cards (3 gigs) but I don't think that will last

me more than a couple days.

You lucky person!

 

My Himalayan treking was done with film.

 

I don't recomend that because of the risk of X-rays.

 

The short answer is all the batteries and cards you can carry/afford and ration the capacity

 

 

I would go with cheap slow 1 Gb cards and lots of them. A mass storage device just adds power problems IMHO

The Annapurna circuit is not that far out of the world: When I was doing it about four years ago there was electricity available about every 3rd day, more or less stable, but most probably stable enough for loading batteries. Electric light and TV was not that seldom, at least not in the common rooms of the lodges.

Weigt of course is a problem, but I guess you will hire porters? If so, I would only take the necessary things for one day with me (incl. spare batteries etc). About the memory cards I cannot tell you: I took 30 films with me which was about exact what I used (on a manual slow rangefinder, nothing automized)

As for the lenses, take something wide (18mm or less), something normal and maybe something like a 100mm. Longer lenses might be nice, but are too heavy and usually not long enough if you need them. Be aware that it gets dark pretty early and a small flash or a fast lens can come in handy as well as a bean bag or a small tabletop tripod. A Skylight filter or 81b is nice, since you will be up to 15.000+ft.

Also forget about a separate camera bag and rather put it in a padded backpack. Your goal should be not to take many, but good photos.

 

Enjoy the trip, take it slow and make some nice pictures,

 

Kai<div></div>

Perhaps a 3rd battery for your 300D and you'll be set. An inexpensive battery source, but an excellent battery, can be purchased from www.sterlingtek.com.

 

I like someone's recommendation on getting more memory cards. They are more hardy and lighter weight than an external harddrive, and require no batteries. You could be selective on what you shoot with in Raw vs. JPG to save CF space.

The closest personal experience I can offer with a digital camera is a week of hiking at an average of just over 10,000ft. I completely drained one battery and barely used a second one, filling about 6GB worth of cards.<br><br>

In my opinion your best bet with regards to weight and storage are to hit the trail with 2-3 fully charged batteries, and ~10GB worth of CF cards. This way you won't have to worry about charging batteries or downloading cards in the field. The Canon BP-511 batteries are pretty light, as are the CF cards.<br><br>

Don't use microdrives - they are not as reliable and may not work properly at altitude.

<br><br>

Guy<br>

<a href="http://www.scenicwild.com">Scenic Wild Photography</a>

And along the lines of bettery conservation. How often should one turn off a digital camera? Can battery energy be saved by turning off if anticipated photos are one hour apart, fifteen minutes apart? Or is energy wasted with camera "boot-up" & should a camera be left on all day.

I'm considering the case of no resupply for a week.

Chris,

 

For the batteries, if you are likely to find cars, a small 12v to 110v converter would allow you to recharge the batteries. I use one when I am doing field work in the mountains.

 

Have a good trip!

 

Rurik

I think a car is unlikely!

 

One of the beauties of the Himalayas is how far you can be from a road.

 

Even major towns can be 7 days walk from a road

I did that trek last october 2005, and took my D70 and another spare batteries... no problem with electricity. I only remember two nights were we had no choice (due to failures in the system), but usually at all the lodges you will have that choice, even if you have to pay 1$ for it... do not worry, it�s not a big deal...In Besisahar, Ngadi, Tal, Chame, Manang... as far as I remeber no problem.

 

I imagine that there should be no problem at the other side of the Thorung La.. .I don�t know. There was such a big snowfall when we reached Manang that we had to come back the trail... but that was very unusual by that time of the year... enjoy your trail...

they had power in many places along the trek. my answer was film.

 

eddie

I did the full Annapurna circuit also...solo, and am going back this year. Be careful with portable storage devices...many don't work over 10,000ft. and lock up due to higher pressure inside the unit. I heard the Epson 4000 80gig works at high altitude but who has 600 dollars to throw away? Not me. Also, I'd recommend a guide or porter for safety sake if you're going alone. One Belgian got his head and fingers (trying to defend himself) chopped with a machete at the same time that I was on the trail..not kidding. If you're flashing expensive camera equipment around you could be next. It's so wild up there...who would see it? Also, don't refuse to give "donations" to the Maoist rebels or that could be bad news also. Bring plenty of memory cards and maybe two batteries. Most adapters take 220-110 nowadays so you can charge them probably every 2 days or so at a guesthouse if you stop in somewhat common villages. By now your'e probably gone though. ciao Clark Irwin