Mardi Himal

Mardi Himal is a 5,587 m trekking peak in the Annapurna Himal, tucked directly beneath the far more famous Machhapuchhre (Fishtail, 6,993 m), from which it is separated by a high col — so close that early explorers mistook the approach to one for the other. In 1957, British Army officer Lt. Col. Jimmy (J.O.M.) Roberts led an attempt on the sacred, legally unclimbed Machhapuchhre; when that climb was abandoned, the team's exploration of the surrounding ridges brought Mardi Himal to Western attention for the first time. Roberts returned in 1961 with Colonel Basil Goodfellow and Sherpa climbers Ang Nyima and Kusang, and the team made the mountain's first recorded ascent — Goodfellow reaching the summit. The trekking route below the peak, however, stayed closed to foreign visitors for another half-century, opened only in 2012 after decades of use by local shepherds grazing livestock on its high pastures. Since then it has become one of Nepal's most recommended "hidden gem" short treks: a single week from Pokhara delivers close-up views of Machhapuchhre's south face, Annapurna I, Annapurna South, and Hiunchuli from a genuine 4,500 m base camp — higher than Annapurna Base Camp itself (4,130 m) — via a quieter, less-developed trail through Gurung and Magar villages and a full ecological gradient from subtropical forest to alpine tundra. The trek sits entirely within the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal's largest protected area, and shares its permit system with the Annapurna Circuit and Annapurna Base Camp treks rather than the TIMS/national-park regime used further north and east.