The popular 21-day Annapurna Circuit takes trekkers in a horseshoe-shaped route around a majestic segment of the Himalayas in Nepal.
On the 10th day of the tour, Chaudhary and his clients, two young Israeli women, were descending from the highest point of the trail, Thorung La Pass, to the next destination, a walk that would normally take about seven hours.
Now, after more than 10 hours of heading downhill, the snow pelted.
The flurry fell heavier and faster, obstructing their vision. There was nowhere to stop or rest; they had to keep walking.
“You couldn’t see the trail, there was snow everywhere, making it easy to get lost,” said Chaudhary. “It was all white, in the distance you could only see shadows of people walking.”
Some wandered off the trail.
As the blizzard continued, their feet sunk into the snow pile. As their steps became heavier, they began to cry.
As the hours passed, Chaudhary could make out backpacks and supplies strewn on the snow.
“There were people who had fallen, or were stuck or resting along the way. I couldn’t tell if I saw a dead body.”
Conditions in the Himalayas can be cruel. But trekkers dying in snowstorms on the Annapurna Circuit is almost unheard of — until this year.
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The only opportunities for uneducated, landless men are to take a construction job in the Middle East or work in tourism, said Chaudhary, a lanky man with a wiry frame. He has to support his wife and two kids.
During the blizzard, he guided his two clients to safety after 12 hours. While dozens died, went missing or had their hands blackened from frostbite, he and his two Israeli hikers survived without injuries.
For a day’s work of carrying 50 pounds of gear and guiding tourists, he earns $10.
The Annapurna snowstorm was the effect of Cyclone Hudhud, which lashed India and wound up north in Nepal in October. Hundreds of tourists and local hires were stranded when the storms hit.
“People were not prepared, they didn’t get the warning signals, like they should have,” said Molden.
While the Annapurna event cannot be definitively ruled as a climate change-related disaster, it can’t be ruled out either, scientists say.
“The speculation to the link to climate change is we’re getting more intense rainfall or precipitation,” said Molden. “It’s so hard to say that event was due to climate change. All of these things have a relation. To prove that would be difficult.”
Chaudhary attributes his survival to the rings of ice that formed around his ankles, which blocked snow from seeping into his bright orange Nikes, saving his feet from frostbite.
Just three days later, Chaudhary laced the same sneakers and headed back to the mountains to guide another group, glancing upward to the clouds that, for him and others, were becoming increasingly difficult to decipher.
This story was made possible by a reporting grant from the International Center for Journalists. A second part about solutions will run in 2015. Journalist Manesh Shrestha also contributed to this report.
