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I did the Langtang trek in late November 2023 with a porter/guide and this is my daily trip report. Click here to read my other blogs about the Langtang trek.
Contents
Introduction
I flew from the UK to Kathmandu on 25 October 2023 and did the excellent Kanchenjunga trek from 29 October to 18 November with a porter/guide from Enjoy Nepal Treks. I then had 3 nights in Kathmandu to wash clothes and relax before starting the Langtang, Gosainkunda and Helambu treks on 21 November.
I continued trekking with the same porter/guide but he hurt his leg on the second day and Enjoy Nepal Treks sent a replacement porter/guide.
I had excellent weather on the Kanchenjunga trek and this continued for the Langtang trek. In Gosainkunda there were a couple of days when the weather wasn't as good and we had half an inch of snow one afternoon. After that the weather was perfect again.
Even though it wasn't peak season I found the trail on the Langtang trek too busy for my liking. The first section of the trek was too forested thus obscuring the views but after that it was scenic.
What I really enjoyed were the excellent day hikes around Kyanjin Gompa. There are at least 4 excellent day hikes so it is worth staying 4 or 5 nights at Kyanjin Gompa. In my opinion the Langtang trek is only worthwhile if you do several of these day hikes.
I spent 7 days doing the Langtang trek and then another 7 days on the Gosainkunda and Helambu treks. The Langtang trek is so short that it makes sense to continue trekking to Gosainkunda and Helambu while you are in the region.
21 November 2023 - Kathmandu to Sherpagaon
I paid $180 for a private jeep to take Jiwan (my porter/guide) and myself from Kathmandu to Syabrubesi. We left at 05.00 to avoid the traffic congestion in the Kathmandu valley and arrived at Syabrubesi at 10.30. It isn't an attractive town and I am glad I didn't stay there.
I took the upper trail of the Langtang trek to Sherpagaon. This meant I could avoid the busier and dilapidated tea houses on the first section of the lower main trail.
The trail to Sherpagaon is steep and ascends 1,050 metres. The views weren’t as good as I had expected as the initial section was through forest. The scenery improved as we got closer to Sherpagaon. It took 5.5 hours to reach Sherpagaon and it was a tiring walk.
There are a number of tea houses and I chose the Namaste Guest House where a very friendly Canadian couple were staying. It was a new guest house and I had a large room with a thick mattress and an attached bathroom for R500 ($4).
22 November 2023 - Sherpagaon to Gumba Danda
Jiwan pulled a muscle in his leg when stepping up to get into his room after breakfast. Initially he could hardly move but he recovered enough to walk, although he was in pain. I normally followed him at a distance, but after a while I went ahead and waited for him when I reached a village.
It was a longer hike today but much easier than yesterday's 1,050 metre ascent. Initially we descended down to Rimche and then followed the river through the rain forest. We stopped for a quick lunch of dal bhat at the settlement of River Side.
Soon after leaving River Side we came across a troop of Langur monkeys in the forest. After a while the scenery opened up and there were good views of Langtang mountain.
There were a lot of trekkers coming down the trail and most of them were Nepali. I hoped that it wouldn't be too busy when we reached Kyanjin Gompa tomorrow since not so many trekkers were going up.
The Canadians at Sherpagaon had recommended the Langtang View Guest House in Gumba Danda, which is just before Langtang village. It took us 7.5 hours to get there including our lunch break. I had a good room, with a clean bathroom for once, for R1,000 ($7.50).
It was very peaceful until 4 very noisy Nepali trekkers arrived. I moved out of the comfortable and very warm dining room to the less comfortable kitchen. Luckily they slept in a different building to me so it didn’t affect my sleep.
23 November 2023 - Gumba Danda to Kyanjin Gompa
It was quiet during the night and I slept well. The tea house is at an altitude of 3,400 metres and the temperature dropped to 4 centigrade.
Jiwan's leg seemed to have recovered but Enjoy Nepal Treks informed me last night that they would send another guide to replace him. The new guide would reach us in 2 days’ time. I felt very sorry for Jiwan.
We set off at 07.45 and shortly after reached a landslide, triggered by the massive 2015 earthquake, that had wiped out Langtang Village. There is a memorial to all those killed but someone has painted over all the names and they are no longer legible. Trees on the other side of the valley were flattened by the blast of air from the landslide.
A new trekking village has been built a few hundred metres away. Hopefully it is out of the path of any future landslides!
The landscape was now open and the mountain scenery was impressive. Unfortunately there were more trekkers than I have ever encountered on previous treks in Nepal. The Langtang trek must be exceedingly busy in the high season.
It took us 3.25 hours to reach Kyanjin Gompa (3,830 metres). Kyanjin Gompa was unlike any other trekking village I have seen as there are numerous modern 4 to 5 storey hotels.
I looked at 3 hotels and decided to stay at the Buddha Inn. I had a room with an attached bathroom for R500 ($4). The official rate was R1,500 ($12) but it was off-season. There were only 4 other trekkers staying there but a Swiss group was due to arrive the next day. I was told that they were only staying 1 night so it wasn't a problem..
After lunch we hiked for an hour up to a 4,160 metre viewpoint that overlooks the Langtang Lirung glacier. When I returned I went to the well known Dorje’s bakery and had apple pie and a coffee. The coffee was good but the apple pie was disappointing.
24 November 2023 - Hike up Kyanjin Gompa
Jiwan and I started hiking at 07.45 and reached the lower summit of Kyanjin Ri (4,324 metres) an hour later. There were great views of Langtang Lirung (7,227 metres), Langtang 11 (6,596 metres) and many other mountains.
We continued hiking up and reached the upper summit of Kyanjin Ri (4,596 metres} 45 minutes later. As we hiked up the descent back down looked tricky. However, it turned out that there was an easier circular route back to Kyanjin Gompa.
The entire hike took 4 hours and I got back in time for a lunch of dal bhat. It was a relaxing afternoon and I had a hot shower in my bathroom. On the Kanchenjunga trek I didn't shower for 17 days and I didn't want a repeat of that!
I went to Dorje’s bakery again and had another cake. It wasn’t any better than yesterday’s disappointing apple pie. The owner also annoyed me by playing an Indian movie with the volume on. I didn’t go back there again.
A group of 7 Swiss female trekkers arrived in the afternoon. I found out they were staying 3 nights rather than the 1 night the lodge owner had told me. They were very noisy in the dining room but I decided not to go to the hassle of changing tea houses.
My new guide (Niru) arrived in the late afternoon and I got on very well with him. I had met him very briefly on the Kanchenjunga trek that I had done just before this Langtang trek. He spoke English better than Jiwan and we had a good conversation about the Kanchenjunga trek. He was only 31 years old and is getting into mountaineering.
25 November 2023 - Yala Peak Base Camp & Tserko Ri
The group of 7 Swiss women were getting up early to hike up Tserko Ri (4,984 metres) and were setting off at 06.00. I knew they would disturb me so I had an early night and then had breakfast at 06.30.
I had planned to do an 8 hour hike to Numthang and Langshisha Kharka. It is a long hike along the Langtang Khola with only a little gain in altitude. The following day I intended to do the more difficult hike up Tserko Ri.
Niru and I set out at 07.30 and after crossing a river, ascended the first section of the path up Tserko Ri. I could see a number of trekkers in front of us who were struggling up Tserko Ri due to the altitude. I had thought that the path to Numthang would be fairly level so I queried this steep ascent with Niru. He said that we would soon branch off from the path to Tserko Ri and the terrain would level off.
Thirty minutes after leaving the hotel we turned off the path to Tserko Ri. However, the path continued to slowly ascend along the mountainside which was very puzzling. I had little choice but to continue and see where the path would lead.
The terrain was very open and there were excellent views along the valley and down to the Langtang Khola. We were following the Langtang Khola eastwards as planned but it certainly wasn’t a level path!
We stopped at 10.30 by some derelict buildings and my Garmin Inreach showed that the elevation was about 4,700 metres. An ascent of 900 metres was not a flat path even by Nepali standards! We ate our packed lunches there as it was sheltered and there were excellent views.
It was now a very scenic trail and eventually we reached the top of a ridge and I could see 2 tents. We assumed it was Numthang which was our destination for the day.
We reached the tents at 11.30 and there were 2 Thai climbers and 3 Nepali camping there. They informed us that we had reached Yala Peak Base Camp and that Numthang was 900 metres below by the river! The derelict buildings where we had eaten our lunch was Yala Kharka.
The good news was that we could see the summit of Tserko Ri and the climbers’ guide told us it would only take 40 minutes to get there. As the weather was still clear I opted to go to Tserko Ri as I didn't fancy another 1,100 metre ascent tomorrow.
Niru was very apologetic but I was actually very happy with the improvised route. The scenery was fantastic and there were no other trekkers. It was a far better hike than the one I had planned.
We decided not to go to Tserko Ri immediately as there was some fantastic scenery to the north. We ascended a ridge above the base camp and reached a grassy plain with absolutely stunning scenery. We walked slowly for another 30 minutes and got to an altitude of 4,914 metres.
From there we walked across the grassy plain to Tserko Ri which is 4,984 metres high. There wasn't a path but the terrain was easy. We reached the summit at 12.40 and there were 20 to 30 other trekkers there. The weather was still perfect and none of the mountains were obscured by clouds.
It wasn't cold and windy like it had been on Kyanjin Ri so we sat and enjoyed the views for about an hour. The other trekkers soon started to descend and we were the last people on the summit. All the trekkers were descending on a southerly route rather than returning on the steeper western route that they had ascended.
We also took this southerly descent and after a while it joined the path that we had walked along in the morning. It took 2 hours and 20 minutes to descend back to Kyanjin Gompa on this route. I regretted not taking the shorter and steeper western route.
Just before we reached Kyanjin Gompa there was a junction with another path. We saw a sign that said it led to Langshisha Kharka which had been our original destination for the day! We hadn’t seen the sign as it wasn’t visible from the path we had been on.
We had walked for 9 hours and about 16 miles. I was tired and cold by the time I reached the hotel. I took a couple of paracetamol and ordered a pot of ginger and lemon tea. Fortunately the Swiss women were much quieter that evening and it was very pleasant having dinner and relaxing in the dining room.
26 November 2023 - Langtang Lirung Base Camp & down to Mundu
This was my final day at Kyanjin Gompa. I had a choice of hiking to Langtang Lirung Base Camp or to yesterday’s intended destination of Langshisha Kharka/Numthang. I decided to hike to Langtang Lirung Base Camp as I had already seen much of the scenery along the route to Langshisha Kharka during the previous day’s hike.
After 1 hour and 20 minutes we reached a Buddhist shrine near the lateral moraine of the Langtang Lirung glacier. We went up to the top of the moraine and had excellent views southwards along the glacier to a lake named Chu Haa Tso.
Looking northwards up the glacier there were very good mountain views. We had to be careful at the top because of the vertical drop down to the glacier. We could hear rocks tumbling down while we were there.
It took another 1 hour and 40 minutes to reach Lantang Lirung base camp, although that included numerous stops for photos and an early lunch. There wasn’t a sign indicating Langtang Lirung base camp’s location but it was the last flat grassy area by the moraine. There was a basic table made from stones there.
The scenery was superb as the mountains surrounded, and towered above, the base camp. We climbed up the lateral moraine to get a good view of the Langtang Lirung glacier. The altitude was 4,407 metres and this was the highest point of the hike. This was almost 600 metres higher than Kyanjin Gompa.
It took 1.5 hours to hike back to Kyanjin Gompa. There were no other trekkers on the trail. As it was only 13.30 I decided to check out of the guest house and start the return section of the Langtang trek.
I had intended to hike to the guest house at Gumba Danda where the noisy Nepali trekkers had spoiled my stay on the way up. However, the owner of the Buddha Inn warned me that Gumba Danda was popular with Nepali trekkers and that it was likely to happen again.
As a result we walked to the village of Mundu instead where there were 2 very good guest houses. We stayed in the first one which was the Golden Holiday’s Guest House. I had a very clean corner room with an attached bathroom.
The only other guest was a 50 year old South Korean who was carrying his own pack. He was suffering from altitude sickness and several times he said he was scared. It was only his second night on the Langtang trek and Mundu is at an altitude of 3,530 metres. He should have stayed a bit lower down for his second night.
He told me that he wanted to hike to Kyanjin Gompa (3,830 metres) the next day and then hike up Tserko Ri (4,984 metres) the day after that! I advised him about altitude sickness and warned him not to go higher unless he felt better. He said he would make a decision the next morning.
27 November 2023 - Mundu to Pairo
It was a warm night and the temperature in my room only dropped to 10 C. I had to unzip my sleeping bag to cope with the heat!
The South Korean still had a headache but said he would start hiking to Kyanjin Gompa later in the morning. He still intended to hike up Tserko Ri the next day as that was the main objective of his trek. I didn’t see him again but he would have struggled to hike up Tserko Ri.
Niru and I left Mundu at 07.45. After the first 3 hours we were hiking through forest and there were minimal mountain views. At 12.30 we stopped for lunch at the settlement of Lama Hotel. After that we continued to Pairo (1,800 metres) which is the last settlement before the turn off for the trail to Gosainkunda.
The difference in altitude between Mundu and Pairo is 1,750 metres but we actually descended more than that as the trail was undulating. It took 7.75 hours to reach Pairo, including lunch.
All the tea houses on this lower section of Langtang are very basic. There were 2 tea houses in Pairo and I chose the slightly less bad one! Initially I was the only guest at the tea house. However, while I was eating my meal I could see several lights coming up the trail.
Six Nepali trekkers had hiked in the dark and chose my tea house. My guide said they worked in the tourism industry and fortunately they were quiet.
28 November 2023 - Start of the Gosainkunda & Helambu Treks
I had a good night's sleep and we left Pairo at 07.45. Shortly afterwards there was a fork in the trail and we took the path southwards to Thulo Syabru and Gosainkunda. See my blog on the Gosainkunda and Helambu trek.
Niru told me that it would have taken about 2 hours to hike from Pairo to Syabrubesi.
Hello, Thank you for writing this up. Every bit of information included here is super helpful. Do you happen to have a map (GPS Tracks/Routes) for the hike from Kyanjing Ri to Tserko Ri via Yala Peak Base Camp? We are keen on exploring that route up to Tserko Ri. Cheers!