Trekking, Nepal

These are a relitivly new names for an old trek and has several alternatives but one would be as follows

1) Leave Pokhara mid-day by taxi to Phidi and trek to Dhampus, arriving there late afternoon – ½ day uphill through terraces
2) Dhampus to Ladruk – about ¾ days trek crossing one ridge then mainly downhill to Ladruk
3) Ladruk to Chomrong - about ¾ days trek downhill at first to cross the Modi Kosi at “ New Bridge” (No Bridge!) and the Steeply uphill to Chomrong
4) Chomrong to Tadapani – About ¾ days trekking, Slightly up and first then cross a shoulder and down, over a long suspension bridge then up all the way to Tadopani
5) Tadapani to Ghoropani – About ¾ days trekking, Down at first then undulating to Ghoropani ¾ days trekking
6) Ghoropani to Naya Pul – Full days trekking. Up before dawn and trekked up to Poon hill for the sunrise, Breakfast and pick up your rucksack, then all downhill to Naya Pul - Late afternoon bus back to Pokhara arriving late evening, all down hill as far as Birithanti, a lot on steps then fairly level from there to the road-head at Naya Pul (If you have more time then instead of trekking to Naya Pul, you could spend the night in Birithanti which is a pleasant little village less than an hour from Naya Pul – Then catch an early bus back to Pokhara the next morning)

It is a Great little trek, particularly if you are short of time or want an introduction to Trekking in Nepal – It is a Tea-House Trek and can be done entirely independently or with a guide and porter – Up to you !!

For people with a reasonable level of fitness I would allow 9 ½ / 10–to trek ABC – You could do it quicker but would put yourself at some risk of AMS, so hence only trekking half days after Bamboo !!
I have written out my own trekking schedule below – you might find it useful ;-)

1) Leave Pokhara in the early afternoon by taxi to Phidi and trek to Dhampus, Uphill, quite steep at times and passing through terraces, arriving there late afternoon
2) Dhampus to Ladruk – about ¾ days trek crossing one ridge then mainly downhill to Ladruk
3) Ladruk to Chomrong- about ¾ days trek downhill at first to cross the Modi Kosi at “ New Bridge” (No Bridge!!) and the Steeply uphill to Chomrong
4) Chomrong to Bamboo – about ¾ days trek, Steeply downhill on steps, the steeply uphill to Real Sinua and then downhill again to Bamboo
5) Bamboo to Himalaya – ½ day steadily up
6) Himalaya to Deurali -- ½ day steadily up
7) Deurali to MBC - -- ½ day steadily up
8) MBC – ABC – Doban - Full day, up early, breakfast at ABC then return downhill all the way to Doban picking your pack up at MBC when passing
9) Doban to Chomrong -- ¾ day with one up and over and a pull up to Chomrong

From Chomrong I trekked towards Poon Hill but you could trek Chomrong to Nayapool in one long day and catch a bus back to Pokhara from there

10) Chomrong to Tadapani - Full day - You cross one small ridge, then it is considerably up, initially through terraced agricultural land, then into forest before finally reaching Tadopani
11) Tadapani to Ghorapani (Poon Hill) ¾ day - first down through forest, then you undulate through a mixture of agricultural land and more forest, one small up and over then generally downhill into Ghorapani.
12) After getting up at the crack of dawn to see the sunrise on the top of Poon Hill, Either Ghorapani to Birethanti or Tatopani – both ¾ day treks and downhill all the way
13) From Birethanti to Nayapool – 1 hours hike and then bus back to Pokhara
From Tatopani to Beni by jeep then bus back to Pokhara

Personally I would opt for the Tatapani route and as long as you aren’t tight on time then have a day off there to take advantage of the Hot Springs

From Pokhara take a taxi / bus to Phidi (20 minutes) Then from Phidi to Dhampus (1/2 days trekking but up hill) is all terraces, then the next day some nice wooded areas as you cross the ridge before heading down to Ladruk (2nd night), then you cross the Modi Kosi and climb up to Jhinu Danda (Lunch) through more terraces, and continue up to Chomrong and overnight, from Chomrong you can trek to either Tadapani in a fairly long day or go via Ghandruk and overnight there, The walk up to and down from Tadapani is Superb Rhododendron Forrest.
Then from Tadapani you trek along the ridges with beautiful views to Ghoropani and Poon Hill.
From Ghoropani you have 2 choices, After you have trekked up to Poon Hill for the sunrise you can either trek down to Naya Pul for the bus back to Pokhara (One long day) or overnight at Birithanti, Beautiful village about an hours walk from Naya Pul and catch the bus back to Pokhara the next morning.
Or
After you have trekked up to Poon Hill for the sunrise, Trek from Ghoropani down to Tatopani (Hot Springs) and from there either trek / jeep combo down to Beni for the bus back to Pokhara

EBC
Pro’s
1) Seeing Everest
2) Wonderful high altitude trek that can be trekked safely in as little as 2 weeks Lukla – Lukla or 3 weeks Jiri – EBC – Lukla or just under 4 weeks Jiri EBC – Lukla – Gokyo – Lukla or longer

Con’s
Can be expensive if you fly to and from Lukla and risk of flight delays at Lukla

AC (Annapurna Circuit)
Pro’s
1) Diverse trek starting off at low altitude passing through paddy fields. Then grain fields, pasture, forests and out above the tree line over Thorung La (5540m) then through the deepest valley I the word, The kali Gandaki
2) Easy road access to trailheads so no flights required
3) Can be trekked as the full circuit of fly out of Jomsom if time is tight

Con’s – Trek now somewhat marred by road building

ABC (Annapurna Sanctuary)
Pro’s
1) Relatively short trek of about 10 days but gets you right into the heart of the mountains
2) Can be extended to include Poon Hill if time permits
3) Easy road access to trailheads so no flights required

Con’s
Few villages and none above Chomrong so a little lacking in culture and real Nepali life

Langtang / Helambu

Pro’s
1) Least crowded of all the teahouse trekking routes
2) Can be combined with Helambu (You can then trek right back into the Kathmandu Valley and save a long arduous bus journey)

Con’s
The bus ride from Kathmandu to Syapru Besi

For a decent view of Everest from the ground the only real option is to fly into Lukla and trek up to Namche Bazaar – Realistically this would involve a 4 day trek

1)Kathmandu to Lukla by early morning flight then trek to Monjo (2650m)
2) Monjo to Namche (3450m)
3) Day in Namche, walk up to The Everest View Hotel above the village for lunch and your view of Everest.
4) Namche to Lukla
5) Fly Kathmandu – Back in time for a late breakfast ;-)

Good Luck and Happy Safe Trekking
Rob

4 more images

The Annapurna Circuit is Still an Excellent Trek - But the time to do it is now, before the road building gets any further up the Marsyangai valley, You will read all sorts of reports about this road building, a lot of people paint it as Much Blacker than it actually is, The road had got as far as Syange when I was there in the spring 2008, It does somewhat spoil the look of the valley, but you won’t hardly notice most of it as the trekking route is on the other side of the valley most of the way. Once above Syange then you are into Awesome Country – But unfortunately this road is due to creep all the way to Manang over the next 4 or 5 years.
There is now a jeep road down the valley of the Kali Gandaki all the way from Muktinath to Beni, again you can avoid most of it by careful route planning, Personally I wouldn’t trek the section between Jomsom and Ghasa as there is little choice here with alternative routes –– However more Good News is that there is No plan to build a road from Tatopani over Poon Hill to Nayapool – So that at least is one part of this Excellent trek that Will remain untouched !!
So hence my advice – Do it Sooner rather than Later !!

I would tackle Trekking AC as follows

Start your trek at Bhulbhule (The road continues up the left hand side of the valley and you take the old trekking route up the right side) – Walk across the suspension foot bridge and spend you first night at the small lodge my the waterfall about 20 minutes trekking from the road-head
The next days trekking is up to Bahudanda (Short day but uphill so if you have the time why kill yourself !!) –
You then rejoin the road ½ way through your next day at Syange and have to walk along it – I have heard that there still isn’t much traffic on it as there is still gaps in the construction but it does continue until above Tal.
Then after Pisang you are into pristine mountain country and you will love it
After crossing Thorung La don’t stay at Muktinath, 20 minutes further on is the often overlooked village of Jharkot – a real treat – see my Nepal travelogue of the same name on the link below ;-)
Don’t miss Kagbeni, Avoid Jomsom – Maybe take a bus / jeep down to Ghasa from Jomsom where you can leave the road and trek down the opposite side of the valley (Old trekking route on the left) until Dana – Then you have ½ hours trekking on the road to Tatopani.
After Tatopani no more roads as you head up and over Poon Hill – Spend the morning in Tatopani and enjoy the hot springs when they are at the cleanest and quietest and split the long uphill day to Poon Hill (Ghoropani) into two.
Spend your last night at Birithanti, less than an hours trek from the road-head at Naya Pul and a real gem of a village.
The next day walk to Naya Pul, catch a local bus and you should be back in Pokhara in time for lunch ;-)

2011 Transportation Update

There is now only a local bus to from Kathmandu to Bhulebhule, Personally I would be inclined not to use this as it will be very slow and by the time you have either gone to the bus station the day before to get your tickets or paid an agent commission to get them for you, paid for a taxi from Thamel to the bus station it will work out a lot cheaper to get a Pokhara tourist bus to Dumre and change there for the local bus to Bhulebhule.

When you arrive in Dumre, Ignore all the minibus / taxi touts that will inform you that there isn’t a local bus to Bhulebhule, walk to the Y junction in the middle of Dumre main Street and there you will pick up local busses both from Kathmandu and Pokhara.

However – Things can change Quickly in Nepal so it will still be worthwhile making enquiries to see if the direct tourist bus has be re-established

Recently there has been some rather misleading information posted on travel forums saying that trekking routes close in December – Regular visitors to Nepal know that this simply isn’t true so I will attempt to set the record straight by posting my own experiences of winter trekking in Nepal

1) AC in December / January. Setting off from Besisahar we encountered no problems and had good weather, when we arrived at Pisang all was white and this gave us a bit of a fright, but it turned out that it hadn’t been snowing but there had been an avalanche and the wind had blown some of it over the village, no one had been hurt so no problem, Manang and above was Very Cold but there was hardly any snow on Thorung La, Windy and cold on the summit and very cold on the decent as the sun always seamed to be in front, after Muktinath it warmed up again, chilly on Poon Hill (New Years Day) and a bit of ice on the first part of the decent from Ghoropani – But the Pro’s far outweighed the Con’s
2) EBC / Gokyo from Jiri in January / February - The weather was Good when I started to trek, warm days but cold nights, all was fine until Lamjura – then we went into deep snow about 2 hours before the summit, then going down towards Jumblasi conditions worsened with snow waist deep at times and sometimes even loosing the path, never-the-less we arrived in Jumblasi safe and sound and conditions improved, Crossing Kara Kola was again difficult because of snow, by this time it was frozen making the path a bit treacherous, in fact the path all the way up to Tengboche wasn’t all that cleaver with so much snow on the bridges that we did wonder if they would take the extra weight of us, so we crossed them one at a time - but again, taking care we arrived in Tengboche safe and sound. After Tengboche, Unbelievably we walked out of the snow and had a clear vertical snow free corridor all the way to almost the top of Kala Pattar.
The weather was Incredibly cold – when we awoke Inside the lodges there was ice on the outside of our sleeping bags most mornings.
There were lodges open all the way up to Lobuje, Gorak Shep was closed and we were lucky at Dhugla as the day we left the lodge owner closed up the lodge and took his yak down to Namche Bazaar to stock up with provisions for the coming spring trekking season – but other than those places it was business as usual.
From Lobuje we headed back down to Phortse Tango and from there made our way back up to Gokyo, again all snow free, then from Gokyo back to Namche, by this time the snow had also melted there and trekkers were heading up the Khumba like ants. We took a day of at Namche and headed down to Lukla for our flight back to Kathmandu and that was our trek. 28 days on the hill and a trek that I will never forget and again the Pro’s far outweighed the Con’s
3) Langtang in February – This trek didn’t work out so well, First of all the bus to Syapru Besi “Fell” off the road in a heavy hale shower, luckily it didn’t go right over the edge but wedged at an angle, eventually after a couple of hours the driver and assistants got it off and we were mobile again, But it was a very unnerving experience !!!! The trek from Syapru Besi was fine and the weather good but cool in the night, above Langtang Village the temperatures plummeted and at Kyanjing Gompa it was incredibly cold and I went down with a bad chest infection (This had been building for a few days so the cold didn’t help) , then it warmed up a little but snowed heavily so the trek back down to Langtang Village was a bit treacherous. Originally I had planned to cross Gosainkund into Helambu but because of my poor state of health I pulled the plug and trekked back down to Syapru Besi and returned to Kathmandu. Not my best trek by a long shot, but more down to my poor health that really big weather problems

I Hope that helps a clarify winter trekking a little, I didn’t have a thermometer so can’t give you exact temperatures but hopefully the descriptions will give you a good idea of what I encountered and what future winter trekkers might expect.
Best Regards and happy safe Trekking
Rob
Rob

Some people go to Nepal with a very limited timescale but still want to do a trek in the Khumba and see Everest – This tip is designed for trekkers with only nine days to trek in the Everest Region, This then leaves safety days and sightseeing days to enable the trek to be fit into a two week Nepal Visit.

1)Kathmandu to Lukla by flight then trek to Monjo (2650m)
2) Monjo to Namche (3450m)
3)Namche - Rest / Acclimatisation day
4)Namche - Thyanbosche (3867m)
5) Thyanbosche - Dingboche (3930m)
6) Dingboche – Phortse
7) Phortse to Namche
8) Namche to Lukla
9) Fly Kathmandu

This is the route of The Everest Marathon – Namche to Namche; you will be rewarded with great views of Everest and Ama Dablam and it will be a memorable trek :-)