| lhasa-kathmandu |
itinerary trek leader:
Rajesh Shresta
Rajesh combines enormous enthusiasm with equal professionalism. |
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| | what to expect:
This is one of the most challenging, definitely the most exciting, and certainly the highest bike journey in the world. The majority of the biking is on the Tibetan plateau above 4000 metres, and only a small amount of the route is tarmac surfaced. The remaining dirt track, however, is still at very reasonable gradients, with many switchbacks to reach the high passes, and should be within the capacity of most keen mountain bikers who have put in a reasonable amount of training. Acclimatisation is crucial to our ability to perform up at this altitude, and therefore is very carefully planned. We have 4 nights on arrival in Lhasa to come up to the base plateau level, and then take it really easy over the first few days, until we are fully adapted.
The detour to Everest offers the roughest track, only to be expected for a seldom used expedition trail to the highest mountain in the world. For real off-road addicts, each pass on the route has short-cut trails cutting off the switchbacks that give a really rough alternative to the easier graded surface.
We have our back-up support vehicles throughout, equipment truck and bus, which can transport the entire team if necessary, or pick up any bikers who fancy a rest. Our full bike repair gear, and all your personal gear will be carried on the vehicles. You need only carry with you the basics needed for the day: camera, water bottle, emergency tools, windshirt.
On a typical cycling day we are on our way before 9am, stop for an hour for lunch and reach camp by about 4pm. We can cover up to 120 kilometres, but generally much less, planned relative to the gradient and the road condition. But you should not compare this to distances you might do on a good western road. The altitude and roughness of the road can make it feel considerably more challenging. The climate at this time of year is ideal for the trip. In Tibet generally clear and sunny days give way to sub-zero nights, and in Nepal the monsoon will be over on our return to crisp autumn skies.
Everything on the trip is provided, all the camping gear and excellent food cooked by our Nepali trek kitchen wizards.
For yourself you need only bring a four season sleeping bag and your personal gear and clothing, and your bike of course (although we can arrange to hire you a good one out in Kathmandu if you're happy to go on one your not used to). Your bike should be an all-terrain mountain bike fit for tough conditions, 18 gears minimum, and thoroughly serviced for the kind of terrain expected.
We arrange for additional baggage allowance on flights to include your bike. The best way to transport it is in a cardboard bike box, which you should be able to get free from any good bike shop as all new bikes come in them.
We will send you full details of all this when you book, including servicing your bike for the trip and on how to partially dismantle it to package it safely for the flights. We will also send you our bikers suggested kit list, and all details on any visas and vaccinations you will be needing. |
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| day 1 | | arrive Kathmandu Airline arrival times in Kathmandu vary; most are in the afternoon. You will be met and transferred to the gorgeous Hotel Nirvana Garden in its beautiful setting on the edge of Thamel district, where there are all styles of good restaurants and shops with a profusion of Nepal’s eastern handicrafts - many bargains. Tonight we only have a quick introduction to the area, just what you need to know before the main briefing tomorrow.
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| day 2 | | Kathmandu A day of leisure to explore this medieval capital, while your permits are organised. Favourite destinations to get oriented are the Durbar Square, the central cluster of incredible temples to Nepal's myriad deities, interlaced with stalls selling all manner of fascinating wares, or Swayambunath, the hilltop Buddhist monkey temple with it's characteristic 'eyes' in four directions. Both are a short stroll from the hotel, or a quick rickshaw ride. In the evening we have a full briefing on the trip, and check that everybody has everything they need. |
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| day 3 | | fly Kathmandu - Lhasa We return to the airport for the flight over the Himalayas, an ariel preview of our journey to come. Arriving shortly at Lhasa airport, Gonggar, we transfer to our hotel in the town itself. Today we should really take it easy as we start our acclimatisation to the new altitude (3655 metres). |
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| day 4 | | visit Jokhang / Barkhor area We start our exploration of the city with the Barkhor area, the Tibetan old town near to the face of the towering Potala. This is a wonderful medieval maze of small streets lined with traditional whitewashed houses and shrines, the centre for both religious and trading activities, a combination so quintessentially Tibetan. At the heart of the area is the Jokhang, the most sacred of all temples in Tibet, and the first pilgrimage destination of all Tibetans. You will undoubtedly witness a line of devotees performing the kora, the customary circumambulation of the great shrine, many of them prostrating themselves top to toe, often as many as 108 circuits, the holy number said to stem from Buddhas original disciples. Among the many magnificent shrines inside, is the one housing the most sacred Buddha figure throughout the ancient Tibetan world, the Jowo Sakyamuni. |
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| day 5 | | visit the Potala This morning we set of to visit the Potala itself, an activity best undertaken as a group as it often will gain us access to otherwise forbidden areas. It is easily possible to spend the whole morning in this incredible Dalai Lama's palace, the traditional seat of the Tibetan government, currently in exile in Dharamsala. It is a city in itself, with a multitude of sacred shrines, monk's quarters, schools and assembly halls. For the rest of the day we are free to explore the town. |
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| day 6 | | visit Sera Monastery by bike Our lungs are now starting to get accustomed to the rarefied air of the plateau and its time to try out the reassembled bikes, on a morning�s ride out to the Sera Monastery, the surprisingly well preserved Gelung-pa gompa of the sect of the Dalai Lama, with its mass of golden roofs. Behind the complex the Phurbu Chog ridge is famous for its air burials where the dead are offered to the spirits of the wind in the form of great wheeling vultures. We return to Lhasa to perform any technical adjustments to the bikes and prepare for tomorrow�s departure.
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| day 7 | | Lhasa - base of Khampa La The great ride begins. First of all the road is fairly well surfaced, and its an easy day to start with, rising only a few hundred metres throughout. The support bus with all our gear follows up behind regardless, as it will throughout the journey. It is unlikely that anyone will need it for transport today, but at this still early stage at such an altitude its best to make no assumption about each individuals returning stamina. We cross the great Tsangpo river, and camp before the main rise to the pass tomorrow. |
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| day 8 | | Khampa La - near Nakartse Our first major pass, the Khampa La (4790m), is not the highest on our route, but may actually feel like it at this early stage of our acclimatisation. It will be a stiff challenge to the best of us, and there will be no loss of pride to fall back on the bus option. Its the best part of 1000 metres to the top, though at a reasonable gradient as the road, like all those in Tibet, is switchbacked fairly evenly to accommodate the slow gears of the Chinese trucks it was originally built for. The view is stunningly rewarding; the vast flat turquoise surface of the Yamdrok Tsho coils away into the distance. This is one of the 4 holy lakes of Tibet and another great pilgrimage destination. Westward is the isolated 7000 metre peak of Najin Kangtsang which we now head towards, dropping swiftly to the lakeside for our lunch break. Its about 3 more hours from here to our next camp near Nakartse village. |
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| day 9 | | Nakartse - over Karo La The climb to the Karo La (5045m) can prove just as tough as yesterdays efforts, especially if its notorious headwind is up, and previous groups have frequently opted for the bus for part or even all of the ascent. Its a dramatic crossing over the mountain-scape that separates the lake from the Gyantse- Shigatse valley that opens out beyond. A wonderful afternoon's ride down through the upper villages of this beautiful valley. |
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| day 10 | | to Gyantse Our first section today gradually rises to surmount a side ridge. From here its nice and easy down to Gyantse in time for lunch. We check into the Gyantse Hotel, and have the afternoon to explore the town. As the least Chinese influenced in Tibet, Gyantse has much wonderful culture and buildings, including the Dzong, the Chode monastery and the famous Kumbum stupa. This is now unique, a many tiered stupa, surmounted by a dome and the eyes facing to the four compass points. |
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| day 11 | | Gyantse - Shigatse We continue down the Nyang Chhu river, a long days ride, to reach Shigatse well into the afternoon. The road surface is not good on this section and in the near flat river plain, remarkably straight. It would not make much sense to split this long day as it is the most featureless part of our journey, and its best to press on to give us our first full rest day in Shigatse tomorrow. We stay at the Shigatse Hotel in town. |
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| day 12 | | Shigatse rest day This is the main town of the Tsang region, the second most important cultural centre in Tibet after Lhasa, and the traditional seat of the Panchen Lama. It is dominated by the massive ruins of the Shigatse Dzong, and the still largely intact and very active, Tashilhumpo gompa. This great Gelung-pa monastery makes up a large part of the town, and has survived remarkably well through the cultural revolution, mainly due to Chinese attempts to use the traditional rivalry between Panchen and Dalai Lamas as a tool against the latter. The 10th Panchen Lama, manipulated as a boy, finally denounced the Chinese, proclaimed his allegiance to the Dalai Lama and died as a Tibetan hero. This has no doubt prompted the 'disappearance' of the present young Panchen Lama, and his replacement by an official Chinese sanctioned substitute. Political intrigue aside, the monastery itself is still magnificent, particularly the huge many- storey statue of Maitreya, the future Buddha. It is traditional to circumambulate the walls of the gompa, visiting the many shrines and rock murals on route. |
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| day 13 | | Shigatse - base of Tsho La Heading south and then more west, our mornings ride gradually climbs to a minor pass, the Tra La (4050m) and we remain at much this altitude until our lunch stop by the Rhe Chhu stream near Chemo village. How long it will take to reach our campsite at the foot of tomorrow's Tsho La, will depend on the state of the road surfacing in progress by the time we get there in late summer. The last few years have seen attempts to tarmac this section, which have subsequently been undermined by the ravages of the intervening winters. What we will find this year will depend on the latest round of the Chinese versus the elements. |
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| day 14 | | Tsho La through Lhatse By this stage our acclimatisation should be well advanced and the climb to the Tsho La (4505m), should not seem as tough as our first two. We are now much further west and the view ahead is of the main spine of the Himalaya, the greatest concentration of 8000 metre giants between Kangchenjunga and Shishapangma. We descend steeply and shortly reach our lunch stop beyond the fairly desolate town of Lhatse. This is the (slightly staggered) crossroads of central Tibet; our route from the east, the northern road from Lhasa coming in along the Tsangpo river, the great west road to Kailash heading off to cross the sacred river by the nearby ferry, and our ongoing route south toward the mountains. Lhatse marks a change away from the important towns of central Tibetan culture, to more remote settlements and nomadic areas of the high plateau. The afternoon is fairly short to set us up for the climb to the Lhakpa La tomorrow. |
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| day 15 | | Lhakpa La - Shegar It is 20 kilometres continuous and often tough uphill riding to the top of our highest pass on our journey, the Lhakpa La (5220m). Though most people are now much stronger at this altitude and likely to make it up this next big challenge, there is still the option of the bus to fall back on, if the thin air gets the advantage. The views from the top, in any case, are simply magnificent, and as the descent starts to quicken there is our first sight of Everest, with Lhotse just behind and Cho Oyu to the right. Its 50 kilometres now, mostly down, to Shegar. This is classic Tibetan upland, wild and remote, small gompas and settlements, and the herds and summer camps of yak-hair tents of the wonderful plateau nomads. We camp outside the town ready for the start of our side trip to Everest base camp tomorrow. |
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| day 16 | | Shegar - Dzakar Chhu Our route to the Rongbuk valley lies over the Pang La (5150m), which we plan to drive over on the return. On the way in it is definitely better to ride, there can be no other way to really relish the arrival at this quite unbelievable viewpoint. This dramatic panorama, including four 8000m peaks sweeps round from Makalu, past the great north faces of Everest, Gyachung Kang and Cho Oyo, over to Shishapangma in the west. An exciting steep descent to the Dzakar Chhu valley beyond brings us to its largest village, Phadruche, and our campsite near Passum village. |
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| day 17 | | to Everest Base Camp We continue on a fairly easy track, through the last village of Chhosang and past many mani walls and stone cairns set by the pilgrims on route to the monastery, westward to round a ridge to reach the Rongbuk valley. At this point the full massive north face of Everest suddenly opens up in front of us. Its hard going from here at this altitude to reach Rongbuk itself, where we stop to visit the famous monastery, Dza Rongbuk, the only one of six in the valley to be still functioning. We head on for another 2 hours to reach the Base Camp area itself, where we will camp for two nights. The north face of Everest is now immediately above us and we can clearly see its distinctive yellow band, and the first and second 'steps', the scene of so much drama on the early attempts on the mountain, including the famous disappearance of Mallory and Irvine. |
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| day 18 | | The highest day-trek in the world! Today we rest the bikes, and take an incredible day hike up the East Rongbuk Glacier, onto the feet of Everest herself. This route, known as the Serac Highway, along a central crest of the glacier, winds safely enough amongst ice pinnacles, even as far as camp 3 at 6340m, though its unlikely that any of us will get quite that far, even with our excellent acclimatisation on all our approach passes. There's no need for ice axe or crampons, and the route is clearly defined, away from crevasse danger - this is an amazing bonus to this trip, to take the first footsteps of the ascent of the highest mountain in the world itself. |
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| day 19 | | Everest Base Camp - Phung Chhu We drive back to the Friendship Highway, as it would take at least two days to cover the same ground by bike. At least as far as the top of the Pang La, anyway, from where its an excellent freewheel down to Chhay village. Then we continue halfway to Tingri, to our camp by the Phung Chhu river. This is the start of the remarkable Arun Khola that breaks its way through the Himalayan chain east of Makalu and eventually finds its way to join the Ganges on the Indian plain far below. |
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| day 20 | | to base of Lalung La All morning's excellent ride we get wonderful views of Cho Oyu, through Tingri and on to our lunch stop at the hot springs just beyond Tsamda village. Here, within a little enclosure, we can soak away the miles of our incredible journey. Our night camp is in a small green valley at the start of the climb up to the last big pass tomorrow. |
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| day 21 | | over Lalung/Thang La - Nyalam Actually two passes, and designed to not let us forget the great passes of the Tibetan plateau. A long 20 kilometre push gets us to the Lalung La (5125m), but we drop well below 5000 metres again before the final climb to the main Thang La (5200). But the view, yet again, is worth every effort - an awesome panorama with the great mass of Shishapangma now opening up in front of us, and the spread of peaks along the border to the south rising to Cho Oyu now to the east. Ahead we can see out over the start of the most incredible descent in the world, 4600 metres over only 150 kilometres, taking us down from the high plateau to the lush foothills of Nepal far below. Starting steeply enough we pick up the Po Chhu (river) and soon find it may not be all free-wheeling, as there is usually a strong headwind up the valley and the slope becomes flatter in some parts of this first section. We continue to just below Nyalam for our night camp. |
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| day 22 | | over the border to Kodari Today we witness the whole spectrum of climate change between the dry plateau of Tibet and the valleys of Nepal. Sparse shrubs turn to green trees, high altitude desert turns to lush vegetation. A dramatically different range of vibrant colours refreshes our senses, the rich smell of aromatic plants fills the air. We are so acclimatised to the ethereal light of the high passes, that this is like seeing the world as we know it with new eyes. Green was never this green, surely! All day we continue downhill at a good pace, mostly freewheeling, and reach the border in the afternoon. We camp just outside the first Nepali village of Kodari, already down to a mere 1500 metres above sea level. |
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| day 23 | | Kodari - Dhulikel The Po Chhu has now become the vigorous Bhote Kosi river, as we follow it all the way through the beautiful Nepali countryside, down to its meeting with the famous 'river of gold', the Sun Kosi. This swings southward at Dolalghat, our lunch stop. Here we finally leave the river that has accompanied us throughout our phenomenal descent, from its source below the Thang La to the great monsoon swollen torrent below the suspension bridge at the lowest point of our sub-continental journey. In the afternoon we're climbing again, over one pass to Panchkahal, and a final ascent to the ridge-top town of Dhulikel. However, as we're now feeling like athletes who have been training at altitude, it hardly seems like climbing at all. Dhulikel is a great location with a wide panoramic view of the Himalaya from our hotel terrace. |
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| day 24 | | the Kathmandu valley The traffic in and out of the valley is now building up down the main road corridor, so we get off the beaten track and reach the town by peaceful trails through the still unspoilt farmland and forests that surround the valley. We cut south up to the famous shrine of Namo Buddha, then across to the outlying village of Panauti. Winding between the lush fields of the Newari farmers we continue along narrow lanes, only connecting with the main road to enter the city itself and head directly to our hotel back in Thamel. A warm welcome awaits, hot showers and we gear up for a big night out to celebrate. |
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| day 25 | | Kathmandu A day to relax and enjoy the life of Kathmandu; great restaurants and bars, incredible temples and the famous durbars and bustling markets crammed with all sorts of goodies. |
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| day 26 | | depart Kathmandu Some airlines depart in the morning, some in the afternoon; your transport will be arranged to suit.
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