On Top of the World

[Ray]

Machapuchare is not visible from Gorepani/Poone Hill. It is quite a bit lower than most of the mountains in the Annapurna group and is here completely obscured by Annapurna South and Hinchuli. [a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=97007\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Okay! to both Misha and Jani, I believe Machupichre is visible from Poon Hill. If it's not, then please identify the mountain on the far right of the following stitched panorama. It looks suspiciously like a fish tail to me   .

[attachment=1684:attachment]

Here's a 100% crop that might help the knowledgeable identify the peak for certain.

[attachment=1686:attachment]

[DarkPenguin]

I think I'm suffering from high altitude edema just looking at these fotos.

[jani]

Okay! to both Misha and Jani, I believe Machupichre is visible from Poon Hill. If it's not, then please identify the mountain on the far right of the following stitched panorama. It looks suspiciously like a fish tail to me   .

[attachment=1684:attachment]

Here's a 100% crop that migh help the knowledgeable identify the peak for certain.

[attachment=1686:attachment]

Well, it so happens that I snapped more than one photo during that microflight.

I must admit to not editing any of these on a calibrated monitor, so I just fetched this BW conversion:

[attachment=1690:attachment]

So that should remove any doubt that you're right: Fishtail Mountain is visible from Poon Hill.

[Ray]

[attachment=1690:attachment]

So that should remove any doubt that you're right: Fishtail Mountain is visible from Poon Hill.
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Thanks, Jani. It's nice to be right once in a while   .

[mtselman]

Thanks, Jani. It's nice to be right once in a while   .
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Ray, you are right and I was wrong. Machapuchare is certainly visible from Poon Hill. It just was not visible in your originally posted panorama. My mistake.
But the best view of Machapuchare is from the Annapurna Base Camp.
Here is my photo from that location:
[attachment=1691:attachment]

  --Misha

[Ray]

Very impressive shot, Misha. Looks like a volcano ready to explode. You didn't by any chance exaggerate those reds, did you?  

I was thinking of trekking to the ABC on my next trip to Nepal, perhaps in October. On my last trek, November 2006, I was in 2 minds whether to continue from Ghandruk to the ABC or head back to Pokhara. The weather took a turn for the worse and I was doubtful that I could change my flight dates, Kathmandu to Bangkok (Thai Airways) and Bangkok to Australia (China Airlines) from that remote area. Those 2 factors worked together to dissuade me from extending my trek.

[Ray]

Misha or Jani,
As a matter of interest, looking at this peak, Machupichre, I notice there's another peak, just visible, poking up on the right slope of Machupichre. Taking a ruler to my National Geographic map of the area, this would appear to be Annapurna 4 (7535m), right?

The map also indicates that Annapurna 1 should be visible between the 'Fang' and Annapurna South, but closer to the 'Fang'. Clear blue-sky shots of this area have no indication of any more distant peak between the Fang and Annapurna South.

Should Wikipedia be amended? Does anyone care?

[attachment=1699:attachment]

ps. Unfortunately, when I was on Poon Hill, there was some cloud in this region. The clear shots from the web are rather low resolution images. If the sky had been completely clear when I was there, my 100-400 zoom might have picked up some hint of a distant peak behind, and slightly to the right of, the Fang.

[mtselman]

Misha or Jani,
As a matter of interest, looking at this peak, Machupichre, I notice there's another peak, just visible, poking up on the right slope of Machupichre. Taking a ruler to my National Geographic map of the area, this would appear to be Annapurna 4 (7535m), right?

The map also indicates that Annapurna 1 should be visible between the 'Fang' and Annapurna South, but closer to the 'Fang'. Clear blue-sky shots of this area have no indication of any more distant peak between the Fang and Annapurna South.

Should Wikipedia be amended? Does anyone care?

[attachment=1699:attachment]

ps. Unfortunately, when I was on Poon Hill, there was some cloud in this region. The clear shots from the web are rather low resolution images. If the sky had been completely clear when I was there, my 100-400 zoom might have picked up some hint of a distant peak behind, and slightly to the right of, the Fang.
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Ray, I believe you are correct about Annapurna IV. Good observation. Still not convinced about visibility of Annapurna I from behind the Fang.
And to reply to your:

You didn't by any chance exaggerate those reds, did you? biggrin.gif

No, I only adjusted levels in that photo. The mountain really looked "on fire". The sun was quite low at that point, and suddenly shot up through the narrow gorge up into the clouds and colored everything red. Despite the cold everyone in the guest houses ran outside to snap photos.

Do you have your images from Nepal on the web somewhere? I only had a small 4MP P&S with me on the trek (going "Light and Fast"), but still managed to capture a few interesting shots, I believe. Take a look here if interested: [a href=\"http://public.fotki.com/mtselman/the-trip/nepal/annapurna]http://public.fotki.com/mtselman/the-trip/nepal/annapurna[/url]

  --Misha

[Ray]

That's a well organised site, Misha. You have some really interesting shots there.

I'm afraid I haven't found the time yet to organise my own site. I haven't even sorted through the shots taken at Poon Hill yet. I've fallen into the digital trap of taking too many images. I just recently suffered a failed external hard drive and lost days of work I'd spent organising 140GB of RAW images taken on my last trip to Nepal and Cambodia.

Looking through your Annapurna Album I noticed the following shot taken at the Hindu temple at Muktinath, and wondered how I'd missed that. Perhaps the lighting wasn't interesting at the time of day I was there. Nice shot!

[attachment=1700:attachment]

On second thoughts, I wondered if it was at the same temple I photographed at Muktinath, shown below. Perhaps it was not at the same location?

[attachment=1701:attachment]

[mtselman]

That's a well organised site, Misha. You have some really interesting shots there.

I'm afraid I haven't found the time yet to organise my own site. I haven't even sorted through the shots taken at Poon Hill yet. I've fallen into the digital trap of taking too many images. I just recently suffered a failed external hard drive and lost days of work I'd spent organising 140GB of RAW images taken on my last trip to Nepal and Cambodia.

Looking through your Annapurna Album I noticed the following shot taken at the Hindu temple at Muktinath, and wondered how I'd missed that. Perhaps the lighting wasn't interesting at the time of day I was there. Nice shot!

[attachment=1700:attachment]

On second thoughts, I wondered if it was at the same temple I photographed at Muktinath, shown below. Perhaps it was not at the same location?

[attachment=1701:attachment]
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=98302\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Ray, thanks for your comment! I saw your posts about the failed hard drive - unlucky... Good you still had back-ups. It's also taking me months to organise my photos from a 1.5 years of travels, but I'm making progress.
Our photos from Muktinath are of the same temple. As you can see in your shot, the "cow's mouthes" line up the inner perimeter of the pentagon surrounding the temple. I took my photo standing in the far left corner of that pentagon and aming along the wall.

  --Misha