In the dry winter the river is reduced to the few small streamlets. The bright river valley give a hint for the amount of water flowing down in the monsoon time. The river often washes away the trail or causes massive landslides. That's the reason, why the Annapurna Circuit is closed in summer.
Kali Gandaki river flows from North to South crossing the huge mountains. The river is older than the mountains. As the mountains continued to rise and the gradient became steeper, the river cut deeper and deeper into the terrain.
Near Ghasa the river cuts a channel between the peaks of Annapurna I and Dhaulagiri, thus qualifying the Kali Gandaki valley for the title of the world's deepest gorge. The two 8000m - plus mountaintops are only 38 km apart and the river flows between them at a height of less than 2200 m.
