First Trek into the Annapurna Range

By: Leo LeBon

Leo Le Bon, the founder of Mountain Travel, became obsessed with traveling to truly remote places when he first visited Nepal in 1967. On a three-week trek in the Annapurna Himalaya, he felt an overwhelming sense of freedom and well-being while walking through that immense landscape. A sudden spark was lit—the desire to reach out to the world beyond. The term "adventure travel" didn’t exist then, but words like exploration, wilderness, and expedition were reserved for pioneers such as Hillary, Stanley, and Amundsen—names that evoke Everest, the Congo River basin, the South Pole, and the farthest edges of the earth. As a mountaineer, climber, and travel professional, Leo saw an incredible opportunity to offer adventure travel to others who thirsted for such experiences. He continues to spend his life traveling and sharing his passion for the world’s most remote corners.

Other Posts by this Author

December 8, 2025 | Adventure Experts

View of the Annapurna mountain range in Nepal

In the 1960s, when few Westerners had ever set foot in Nepal’s remote mountain valleys, Leo Le Bon led a pioneering trek into the Annapurna Range, which would later lead to Mountain Travel and the birth of adventure travel. In this blog, Leo recounts those early days of exploration when maps were rough sketches and the spirit of adventure was boundless. Today, you can still hike among the Himalayan villages on MT Sobek’s Nepal trips in the picturesque foothills of the Annapurna Range.

Here are Le Bon’s memories of one of the valleys he passed through on this daring trek, a full account of which can be found in legacy memoir, Trail Blazing the Unknown.

Massive ice-clad Dhaulagiri dominates the horizon, soaring 26,800 feet above

The scene in the Kali Gandaki valley was a magnificent, unspoiled setting, without roads or cars. Sparsely dotted with small villages and ochre-red houses covered with straw roofs, a dusty trail carried people herding loaded yaks to an unknown destination. Looking right, a group of local porters were loading trekking supplies on their shoulders, while around the villages, goats, chickens, and dogs wandered about; a scene as enchanting as a Breugel painting in a silent landscape.

Women and children at a well on the trail near Pokhara

Looking up, two huge and large ice-clad Himalayan giants (both over 26,000 feet) stunned us. Towering high overhead, their icy crowns glowering in the late afternoon light, with Mt. Annapurna on the right and Mt. Dhaulagiri across the valley. Well, nowhere on earth could one hike in between such massive peaks (among the 10 highest on earth).

In the villages, locals stood or sat, quietly resting in the shade near their homes, some men sitting on the earth smoking clay pipes while looking at us strangers in wonderment. Children played and ran about on the hard-baked soil outside their dwellings. Red poinsettia flowering trees and fields of green and yellow completed the scene like nothing I’d imagined could exist. I made up my mind then and concluded that this was truly the essence of trekking and adventure travel.

Trekking on the slopes of Dhaulagiri looking across Kali Gandaki Gorge to the three peaks of Nilgiri

If you would like to follow in Leo Le Bon’s footsteps to explore these timeless places yourself, check out our Nepal hiking trips here.

For more from Leo Le Bon on adventure travel, order a copy of his legacy memoir Trail Blazing the Unknown at www.wanderlustconsulting.com

Request a free catalog for 2026 - MT Sobek
Woman prepares chang, a barley and rice fermented alcoholic drink. Niligiri Himal seen from Jomsom.

Enjoying our content? Add MT Sobek as a Google Preferred Source.