Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Trekking in Nepal

WCD, you can fly into Jomsom now. I was there seven years ago and it was a big village compared to most of the others that I saw out of Pokhara. I'll try and look for the photo album that shows the area. We trekked from there to connect up with the Sanctuary trek. (Wow, flashback! Jomsom was where this young Nepali boy became very attached to me and the locals thought he was my son.)

I've been trying to refresh my memory, but there was another village in the area that had become inhabited by people who insisted on living in the 60s, permanently. (Similar to Pai in Thailand - which I didn't like.) It was a fun overnight.

On another note: you can still (or could two years ago) get a room for 100 rupees/night in a lot of Nepal. The condition for that low price, though, is that you have to purchase at least a couple of meals/day from the lodge. Otherwise, the price usually increases five to ten fold. (When I was there, 100 rupees converted to about a buck and a quarter.)

Richard, are those photos pretty indicative of the conditions during the entire trail? What time of year was this photo taken? Are crampons required?
I need to start planning accordingly. Im getting really excited for this. My only complaint is I cant stay longer. By the way, of everyone Ive contacted, I think Bishnu offers the best deal, Ill probably go with him. Thanks again for your help with this

If I recall correctly, when we trekked into the Sanctuary, we had to walk on snow for quite a ways, but it was no big deal (no crampons required). There was one section that crossed a BIG avalanche debris field that was a little spooky, but the guides are good about getting good information on whether it is safe to head up. We got lucky on the way up, but spent a day waiting to hear that snow conditions were stable for the trek out (it was very conservative of us, since only a small amount of new snow had fallen).

I went up in March.

The photos above are WAY off the beaten path up in the Everest Region. We had headed up to the Nangpa La (The famous trade route from Tibet.) and instead of returning back down to Thame, we were going to cross over to Gokyo via Ngozumpa La, but locals Sherpa told us to cross the Lungsampa La instead. This pass brings you across almost right up to the "south" face of Cho Oyu, which is what you see if you head up to Gokyo. I doubt it's done more than a few times a decade. It's definitely more difficult terrain than what you see on the normal trekking routes. (Remember, most of the trekking routes in the Himalaya are also trade routes that people have walked for centuries. They're not foolish when it comes to making things easier for themselves, thus most "trails" are "easy." When the routes get steep, do what the Porters do, switchback on the wide paths.)

http://www.project-himalaya.com/updates.htm

*Trekking rule changes*
14 Dec: The TRC system has been suspended and will probably be abandoned; I hope heads will roll because it was a system introduced for corruption only.

This was the previous system:

"The Trekking Agents Association of Nepal (TAAN) with self interest at heart only has forced all trekkers to all popular areas to go thru a trekking company. While ostensibly to collect more tax and to make it easier to rescue trekkers in reality it is for trekking companies who don't have any business to boost their business using voiceless independent trekkers. Note that without exception all the large trekking companies opposed these new rules. It is the small 'signboard companies' without business that managed to bring this system in."

Make sure you have easy access to a flashlight or headlamp in your Kathmandu hotel:

Dark Valentine's Day looms in Nepal

By IANS
Tuesday February 13, 04:05 PM

Kathmandu, Feb 13 (IANS) Candles will usher in Valentine's Day in Nepal Wednesday, not as a sign of romance but out of sheer necessity, with Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) imposing nearly a seven-hour power cut a day to reduce consumption by 25 percent.

Plagued by soaring power needs and a dry monsoon, the NEA will enforce a 40-hour weekly power cut.

'We plan to keep one day power cut free with power cut schedules on the rest of the days,' NEA's load dispatch centre officials told IANS.

The spectre of power outages has been stalking the Himalayan kingdom since late last year and the NEA reduced supply to each locality for three hours from last month.

The kingdom can have some respite in summer after rains when water is available for power generation. However, if that doesn't happen, in the worst case, the outages could go up to eight hours daily, NEA has warned.

The announcement comes as a fresh blow to Nepal's business houses and industries reeling under transport and general strikes.

From late January to last week, hundreds of factories were forced to close after running out of raw material due to the unrest in the southern Terai plains.

NEA said it was in consultation with the industrial areas.

'We have requested them to try cut down consumption by 20-25 percent,' said NEA official Sher Singh Bhatt. 'If that happens, the situation will improve.'

Business houses are revising their shifts with some also considering a five-day week till the power situation improves.

However, there are some who can't afford to do so since the bulk of their exports are manufactured in Nepal.

Dabur Nepal, Dabur India's wholly owned subsidiary and one of Nepal's biggest exporters, said with exports comprising 80 percent of the sales value, it would have to keep its factory in Birgunj running to meet the shortfall created by the Terai unrest.

'We also run a greenhouse as part of our corporate social responsibility,' Udayan Ganguly, Dabur Nepal's CEO said. 'So we will have to look at alternative sources of energy. As a result, our energy bill is bound to rise manifold.'

Though Nepal has been trying to buy power from the neighbouring Indian states, efforts have been thwarted by lack of high-voltage power links between the two countries and the growing energy needs in India's own states.
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They had rolling blackouts on my first trip to Kathmadu. I was twisting in the wind due to a bad case of jet lag and when I woke up in the middle of the night, it was a real treat trying to get to the bathroom, etc in pitch black conditions. Not to mention not being able to do anything while I was wide awake. It took quite a while to fumble around and find the keys to the locks on my bags and then dig around trying to remember where the headlamp was.