Their website seems to a be a bit up and down so I'm copying it here.
Subject: Everest vs Annapurna - a detailed study
Date: Thu, 23 Dec 1999
I did not want to bore most people on my email list with the details of this but since many of you wanted to know why I rated Everest ahead of Annapurna, here goes...
Flora/fauna and trail-side scenery - Anna
Lodge quality and amenities - Anna
Crowds and the regions ability to spread them out - Anna
Variety of terrain throughout the route - Anna
Less altitude problems and warmer climate - Anna
Costs and prices - Anna
Pretty villages and temples/culture thing - Anna
Stunning mountain views - Everest
So, Annapurna wins every category except the most important one, mountains views. I came to Nepal to see incredible mountains. Not just ordinary ones but huge in-your-face towering walls which make your neck stiff. For all but a select group of obsessed mountain loving people I would recommend Annapurna over Everest. Most people would not appreciate Everest's stunning views enough to put-up its mis-givings. Annapurna's big strength is the amazing variety of terrain you trekked through and I think that would appeal more to most people.
In 17 days you went from sub-tropical jungle to alpine forest (similar to Banff) to tundra-like open pastures to rocky scree and glaciers to high dray Tibetan plateau then back to pine forests and sub-tropical jungle. But, you rarely got the incredible mountain views and that was the surprising thing. In 17 days circling this huge massif of 7000-8000m peaks there were only a day or 2 when you got to see them unobstructed and in-your-face. The rest of the time they were behind a ridge or the trail was just too deep in the valley.
Everest, for the most part had only one type of terrain, above tree-line grassy slopes with monster mountains all around you. It was easy to ignore the crappy trail conditions, shitty lodges, bitter cold, hoards of people, ugly villages etc. since the views were just so damn good.
Annapurna's top 3 viewpoints were : Thorung La Pass looking down to the Tibetan Plateau and Mustang Valley, Tilicho Lake, main massif from Pisang/Manang high-route. Although these 3 were spectacular, they do not even come close to Everest's trio of Gokyo Ri, Chhukung Ri and Kala Pattar....and this is the main reason I rate Everest ahead.
The 3rd trek I did, Annapurna Sanctuary falls far behind the above 2. 7 day hike and 6 of them were just plain ordinary. There was nothing wrong those 6 days but I did not trot all the way to Nepal just for "ordinary". The 7th day was spectacular but 1 in 7 does not cut it. Everest on the other-hand was about 15 in 22 and Annapurna about 7 in 17. Also, as far as mountain amphitheatre's go, I felt Chhukung surpassed the Sanctuary.
Thank goodness I did the 3 day Tilicho Lake side-trip which provided most of Annapurna's big mountain views and vista's. A new 2 year-old lodge built half-way to this lake has provided access without having to camp. Tilicho Lake is huge body of water at 5000m with Herzog's famous Grand Barrier (a monster 7000m wall of ice and rock) tumbling into its south shore. I still can't believe very few bother to see it (less than 10% of passing trekkers). Lazy buggers.
As for overall hiking regions, here's my say :
1) Karakorams
2) Everest
3) Annapurna Circuit, Alaska, Cdn Rockies (tie)
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