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| The mighty Arun river at Karticke Ghat from the bridge - Tumlingtar is one hour from here by jeep |
"For dreadfulness naught can excel
The prospect of Bung from Gudel;
And words die away on the tongue
When we look back at Gudel from Bung."
H W Tilman - Nepal Himalaya 1950
After completion of our Ama Dablam Base Camp trek with our South Col Expeditions group I decided with one of my guides to head down to Tumlingtar from Lukla to assess the trek route as well as the new roads which had come in from different directions. I wanted to establish whether this route still remained a viable trekking entry or exit to the Solukhumbu region. The detailed day wise itinerary of my trek is given below.
October 30 2023
After seeing my group off on the Lukla to Kathmandu flight, we left Lukla 8 45 am following the trail next to the airport and headed down to Surkhe. In about thirty minutes we reached a bridge over a khola (river). The trail then remained flattish for 15 min passing some village houses and then there was a steep downhill section on steps to reach the junction for Chaurikharkha. Soon after we stopped at a sunny lodge for tea around 2300 m and before us we could see the long climb to Paiyan. We reached Surkhe about 10-15 am (1 hr 30 min walk from Lukla). On the way we passed signs advertising jeeps to Phaplu and Salleri and onwards to Kathmandu.
