Manakamana from Kurintar

The dashed line is the mapped corridor through the valley and its villages, not a surveyed footpath. The real trail switchbacks around it — treks are verified against the corridor, not metre by metre.

The stone staircase from Kurintar on the Prithvi Highway up to the Manakamana temple at 1,302 m — the way every pilgrim came before the cable car opened in 1998, and still walked by those who want the climb to count. Terraced hillside the whole way, with the Trishuli river falling away behind and Manaslu on the skyline when it is clear.