Speed trekking in Langtang

Langtang October 2010

See photo story from Langtang below the text!


Trekking is a must in Nepal. As the true Norwegian youth we are (yes, we are still very young), we packed our 15 kg each with proper mountain equipment in our backpack and headed for the Langtang mountain trek 110 km north of Kathmandu. Even though it´s close to Kathmandu, there are not that many trekkers here as in the Annapurna and Everest regions. This may have to do with the transportation.

Did we mention that we are Norwegians? Yes we are, and this also means that we have to do as the locals do, no posh land cruiser for us, oh no, we’ll take the local bus for NRP 175 per ticket. But first we had to find the bus station and this was perhaps the most difficult part. To find the bus station you have to go to Gongabu bus station and from there cross the ring road, walk about 200 meters to the left until you reach a north going road. Here you find the small ticket counter for the bus to Dunche and Syabrubesi on the left handside (at least that´s where we found it in October 2010). We bought the tickets the day before we left, but you can also buy it directly on the bus.

Leyla in front of the ticket counter for the Langtang bus.

It has to be mentioned that you should at least expect 10 hours on the bus to travel the 110 km to Syabrubesi. The experience was a bit too exciting at times, but it makes up a good story, and it created a special close relationship with most of the passengers on the bus. Anyways, the Nepalese drivers do this at least six times a day so you should not worry too much. The alternative is the much more expensive rental of a land cruiser with a driver. However, you can find cheaper rides from Syabrubesi to Kathmandu as the drivers are dependent on getting passengers back after they have brought trekkers there.

We spent the first night in Syabrubesi and here we also decided to leave a couple of kilos each at the guest house for pick up on our way back. Most guest houses happily store some of your luggage because then they know that you will be back.

The trekking route

We had only five days excluded the transport. Therefore we planned to walk a bit longer days than suggested in the guiding books. Most guiding books suggests you to sleep the first night on the trek in Lama Hotel (2480 masl), the second night in Langtang (3430 masl) and then reach Kyanjin Gumpa (3860 masl) on the third day. However, as we had wanted to reach the peak Tsergo Ri (4893 masl) we walked to River Side (about 2700 masl) to spend the first night and then directly to Kyanjin Gumpa on day 2. Regarding time spent it was no problem walking this far, we also considered walking a bit further both days, but when it comes to acclimatisation, it´s better to walk more slowly. We were aware of this, but because we had to be back in Syabrubesi in five days we decided to speed up. 

River Side was a very nice place to stay, placed next to the Langtang river. There is only one guest house there which has only a few small rooms and the dining room is very sociable. At dinner time you get a good opportunity to meet other trekkers, and as we also did, discuss with other trekkers´guides for tips and suggestions. The place is highly recommended if you reach there in the first or second day, or on your way back to Syabrubesi.

Riverside lodge

In Kyanjin Gumpa we stayed at Tibet guest house, also a very nice place, with great food and nice hosts. To find it you have to walk to one of the last guest houses in Kyanjin Gumpa when you come from Langtang.

Kyanjin Gumpa as seen from the window of Tibet Guest House.

Generally we paid about NRP 200 for one double room and around NRP 100-150 for a proper dinner. There are many places to eat along the way, everything from spaghetti with veg, cheese, mixed or eggs to momo with veg, cheese, mixed or eggs, to noodles with veg, cheese, mixed or eggs. This menu was exactly the same along the whole route. Don´t miss out on the snickers momo - yes it is a snickers fried inside a huge momo.

The climb....and the way down

It´s mandatory to jump on the top of peaks and mountains

We think of ourselves as rather sporty persons that are used to a bit of rough nature in Norway. But walking up to the mountain top of Tsergo Ri on 4983 masl was a bit challenging. It is not a piece of cake to walk from 1500 to almost 5000 masl in three days for two girls that came from sea level only a couple of days before. 

The climb from Kyanjin Gumpa to Tsergo Ri and back took us about 6 hours, but we were not properly acclimatised and were passed by quite a few people. We felt the altitude with short breath and a headache, but we got there and it did not keep us from jumping on the top when finally reaching there. 

Therefore acclimatisation is worth giving a thought, if you have time, it would be good to wait a couple of days before you walk to the top. There are many nice paths and routes in the Langtang valley and there is also another easy peak called Kyanjin Ri (4773 masl) you can try before you go for Tsergo Ri. Kyanjin Gumpa is a great starting point for many day trips with fantastic views and if we had had time, we would definitely stayed some more days. 

Another highlight was waking up the next day in Kyanjin Gumpa and looking out on a ground covered in snow. It was beautiful! See for yourselves. We missed our skis!

Before you leave Kyanjin Gumpa, don´t miss out on the delicious nak cheese from the swiss cheese factory.

On our way back to Syabrubesi we walked from Kyanjin Gumpa to Rimche. From there, there are two paths you can walk back to Syabrubesi. The first one is the one we walked when we started, passing Bamboo. The second one is a bit longer, but the view is much nicer because you are following the mountain and not descending through the forest immediately. Here, you pass Sherpagaon and Khangjim where you can have lunch. From Khangjim it´s a quite steep descend down to Syabrubesi. It did not take us more than 4,5 hours to reach Syabrubesi from Rimche through this route.

Langtang is highly recommended. The surrounding nature is beautiful, there are many different options whether you want to walk in the valley, if you want to reach easy peaks as Kyanjin Ri and Tsergo Ri or if you actually want to climb. Even though we only had five days there it was worth the ten hours bus ride!

See photo story from Langtang below!