Nepal

The Everest region has two great valleys, and most trekkers only see one. The Khumbu valley leads to base camp and Kala Patthar and carries almost all of the traffic. The Dudh Koshi valley to the west leads to Gokyo, a cluster of lodges beside a turquoise lake at 4,790 m, under the flank of … Read more

The Manaslu Circuit is what the Annapurna Circuit was a generation ago: a two-week loop around an 8,000 m peak, from lowland gorges to a 5,106 m pass, with villages rather than roadheads at every stage. It is a restricted area, which keeps numbers down and adds paperwork, and the pass is long and cold. … Read more

Langtang is the valley that runs east to west along the Tibetan border directly north of Kathmandu, and it is the only major trek in Nepal that begins within a day’s drive of the capital and needs no flight. In a week you can walk from subtropical forest at 1,460 m to a yak pasture … Read more

Everest Base Camp is the most walked long trek in Nepal, and the standard itinerary from Lukla has settled into a well-tested twelve-day shape. We think it is worth understanding that shape before booking anything, because the days are not arranged for distance. They are arranged for altitude. The walk from Lukla at 2,860 m … Read more

For decades the Annapurna Circuit was the trek in Nepal, a three-week horseshoe around the massif that passed from rice terraces to a 5,416 m pass and back down through the deepest gorge on earth. Roads have since been pushed up both sides of the loop, and the circuit has become a trek with a … Read more

The Annapurna Sanctuary is a natural amphitheatre, a glacial basin about 4,000 m high enclosed almost completely by a ring of peaks. The only way in is a narrow gorge between Hiunchuli and Machapuchare, and the trail up that gorge ends at Annapurna Base Camp, 4,130 m, with the south face of Annapurna I, 8,091 … Read more