October is the season the valley wakes back up. The monsoon clouds lift off Manaslu sometime in the last week of September, and for about six weeks after that, the trail is the clearest it gets all year.
This is the month we run most of our circuits. Mornings start cold in Samagaun — frost on the stone walls, smoke rising from the lodges — but by 9am the sun is on the south face of Manaslu and the air is dry and still. Crossing Larkya La is hard work in any season, but in October the wind drops and the snow on the pass is firm underfoot.
If you can plan your trek to land on Larkya the day after a clear night, you’ll get the view we grew up with: Himlung, Cheo, Annapurna II, all of it.
— Ogyen, Lho