Travel advisory - Snowstorms in Annapurna National Park

Manang should have reliable communications but in my experience it is unreliable at the best of times
between Manang and Throng Phedi it would be described as erratic and under these circumstances almost certain to be non existent
presumably there would still be lots of people in all the lodges waiting for a chance to go back if not forwards when snow clears and urgent cases have been dealt with
I have just managed to make contact with people in Mustang after they returned to Kathmandu so communications are going to be unreliable for some time yet

New updates from TAAN - an Indian group and an American group rescued from Manaslu.

BBC reporting death toll has risen to 39, but 384 rescued. More people are still stuck at Thorung La but rescuers have communicated with them and are trying to reach them after helicopters were unable to land today.

A comprehensive summary from MyRepublica that brings things up to date for today.

I see it has not taken long for TAAN to start trying to exploit this disaster. See this quote from The Guardian newspaper online (which has very good coverage of Nepal):

"Ramesh Prasad Dhamala, president of TAAN, said today that in future all trekkers would be required to have at least a guide and porter with them.

It is unclear, however, what system might be put in place to ensure guides are trained and tested."

TAAN seems to assume that indy trekkers were more at risk and conveniently ignores the issue of the massive differences in the ability and experience of guides, something which I and others have commented on many, many times. This also ignores reports about some guides herding their clients up, into the snow storm.

Just to be clear, I am not at all against guides, I really like "my" guide and his brother, with whom I have done the last 5 of my 11 treks in Nepal (my first 6 treks were basically with other indy westerners or solo). My next trek, due to be the 3 High Passes this Dec - Jan, will be with one or other "my" guides.

TAAN is the lobbying Association of Trekking Agencies, and they had this money-making plan for a long time now. This time there is a real danger that the government says we have to do something so we´ll do that. I haven´t seen a complete list of fatalities, but if you don´t count the yak herders and the avalanche fatalities from Dhaulaghiri, how many of the remainder are indy trekkers? And if it´s true that most AC fatalities were in the group that was reportedly forced out of a safe shelter, the blame is on the Nepalis, not the trekkers. Even after such a catastrophe I see no reason to have a guide forced upon me. Trekkers are much more likely to continue in bad weather if otherwise they have to pay a guide and a porter for sitting around. If this rule comes into effect I´ll fly right out, bye bye Nepal.

As I already have said in another thread, I would like to remember to all this criticizing people that every given year, on the Alps, some well trained, expert guides die with or without some of their customers.
Please, stop barking against Nepali people.

Marco colombo from Italy

Hello All,
Could anyone advice me on weather conditions in Upper Mustang area and how this cyclone might impact trekking conditions in November . I was going to start a 10 day trek on the 30th October. Today my trek mates have cancelled. Now I have to make a choice to keep going ahead with my trek with significantly higher costs and with weather conditions I am not able to interpret at all. Reading this topic made me painfully aware how little I know about the area where I am planning to go and how little I understand the potential risks. I would be very glad for any advice that would help me to make an informed decision about my planned trip. Thank you Eva

if I were you I would continue with all plans as they are
weather conditions will be back to normal by then presumably
keep an eye on reports mentioning Jomsom if you are using the airport
and Kagbeni which you will pass through and was affected
you will have a guide if you are going to the restricted area so make certain he is experienced and checks the weather forecast
contact your agency for any updates of changes from the Government

An update from Ekantipur. Total number rescued yesterday up to 57. More are still unaccounted for though, including in Upper Dolpa.