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| View looking down from Nyile at the Ganesh Himal peaks |
A South Col team trekked the Tsum Valley in April-May 2018. This is the second part and final part of the route and timings on this trek.
For updates on trails condiitons please visit http://sujoyrdas.blogspot.com/2018/05/manaslutsum-valley-updates-may-5-2018.html
April 27 2018 Chumling to Choekhang Paro
We left the Tashi Delek lodge at Chumling at 7 30 am and decided to go
for a walk through the village before heading out on the trail. We hit the
trail at 8 am and crossed the first suspension bridge heading east on the
trail. The farmland was full of maize cultivation and it was a fairly level
walk for the first one hour. Far above us we could see the village of
Ripchet with the Tibetan style houses. We passed a small monastery above the
left of the trail and then entered a section of very pleasant woodland forest.
In about an hour and 45 minutes we came to a signpost that said Dramba - from
here the trail continued to meander up and down for another 15 minutes
On our right we passed the village of Raijam just before a suspension bridge. a
signpost here mentions Gho 1 hour.
We crossed the suspension bridge across the Siyar Khola and started
climbing to Gho - we reached Gho in about 40 minutes from the bridge and found
two new lodges under construction here which should be ready by the October
season. Gho which is about 2 hrs 45 minutes from Chumling makes a good
tea stop. We left Gho around 11 10 am and the trail immediately began to rise
steeply passing a number of chortens on the way. It continued up without a
break for about 45 minutes and then levelled out for a bit. It then crossed a
landslide section which had danger of falling rocks and finally reached a
chorten with a sign which said Chaurikharkha 2950 metres. The trail climbed
steeply from here for the next 40 minutes before it finally passes three more
chortens and entered the village of Choekhang Paro.
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| The village of Choekhang Paro with the Ganesh Himal peaks in the background |
We walked through the first
part of the village and reached the lodge of Bio Hotel Khangsangbo run by my
friend Namgyal. Other than Sky no cell phones work here. Dal Bhat Rs 550
Black Tea Rs 70 Vegetable Omelette 275
Chumling to 1st monastery 1 hour 1st monastery to Dramba 45 minutes
Dramba to bridge 30 minutes Bridge to Gho 40 minutes Gho to Chaurikharkha
signpost 2 hours
Chaurikharkha signpost to Choekhang Paro 50 minutes.
Chumling 2367m 28 28 24 N 84 57 45E Gho 2500m 28 21 41N 85 0 44E
Choekhang Paro 3056m 28 29 25N 85 2 33E
April 28 2018 Choekhang Paro to Nyile
We left Choekhang Paro at 8 am and walked slowly out of the village -
the village is fairly spread out and for the first half hour the trail stays
within the cultivated fields on either side. It then begins to pass chortens
and mane walls and climbs gently out of the village. In some places there are multiple
trails including some short cuts which eventually merge with the broader main
trail. There are lots of photo opportunities on the way so walking is usually
slow. The chortens and mane walls are present at regular intervals so when in
doubt about the route just follow the chortens ahead.
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| Line of chortens near Choekhang Paro |
In about 60-75 minutes
the village of Lete is reached and a number of new lodges are being constructed
here. From Lete the trail is almost flat passing through cultivated fields of
maize and wheat. From here up ahead you can now see the red roofs of Rachen
Gompa. In about 45 minutes Lamagaon appears from here Rachen is a 20
minute walk. We decided to make the short detour and visit Rachen Gompa - the
old monastery is very interesting with the walls adorned with many statues of
Avalokiteshwara. There is also a room with a huge prayer wheel which can be
rotated. The new monastery in the same complex has been built recently and is
very modern. After lunch at Lamagaon we started out for Nyile around 1 30
pm. The trail in 15 minutes entered the village of Burje with some new lodges
being constructed here. High up on the left we could see the Milarepa cave
complex around 30 minutes from the trail. The trail then dropped to an open
meadow next to the river where yaks were grazing. As usual it then passed
several chortens and long mane walls to finally cross a small suspension bridge
and then climbed to the village of Phurbe. From Phurbe it agaIn levelled out
through the cultivated fields and reached a small old monastery at Pangdun.
From here the sign says Chule is 35 minutes Nyile is beyond that. From a little
after Pangdum, Chule could be seen on the right of the trail, ahead and Nyile
to the left opposite Chule. On the way there is a huge big chorten with cracks
on the exterior walls possibly due to the earthquake which can be seen from a
little after leaving Pangdum. Leaving Chule the trail makes a sharp turn
and then crosses a small bridge and climbs up to the village of Nyile with two
lodges one owned by Lopsang which was open and the other owned by
Mingmar which was closed as he was up in the pastures collecting yarsugumba. No
phones are working at Nyile except Sky phone - Dal Bhat 600 Black Tea 75
Vegetable Omelette 330
Choekhang Paro to Lete 75 minutes Lete to Lanagaon 45 minutes Lamagaon
to Rachen Gompa 20 minutes detour and back to Lamagaon after monastery
visit 20 minutes Lamagaon to Birju 15 minutes Birju to Phurbe 45 minutes Phurbe
to Pangdum 30 minutes Pangdum to Chule 40 minutes Chule to Nyile 25 minutes.
Choekhang Paro 3056m 28 29 25N 85 2 33E Nyilie 3365m 28 32 36N 85 6 19 E
April 29 2018 Nyile to Mu Gompa
The morning was clear was an extensive view of Ganesh II to the south.
Just above the village of Chule which is below Nyile there is the big wall of Kipu Himal and the glaciers coming down from the mountain almost to the doorstep of the village.. We left Nyile at 8 am - there
are two routes to Mu Gompa on either side of the river - we decided to go up
the left bank trail and come down the right bank trail on the way back. The
left bank trail gets more sunshine in the morning and is the preferred route of
ascent. The trail meanders up the Siyar Khola river valley - far ahead above
some zig zag bends the shadowy buildings of Mu Gompa can be just about seen in
the distance. In about an hour we came to two buildings one with a blue roof which
looked like a government office. The trail then started to climb passing
some small huts and we came to a bridge across the Siyar Khola - we could see
the right bank trail on the other side with many chortens and mane walls. From
the bridge the trail entered a landslide area and continued uphill through the
rocks and debris for about 30 minutes. Two chortens then appeared in quick
succession and some zig zag bends followed. Finally above we could see the
buildings of Mu Gompa - on the trail there was another chorten and a mane wall.
A short cut soon followed steeply uphill and in about 20 minutes we reached the
monastery with a number of buildings. The Sky phone connection was also not
working properly. Dal Bhat 600 Black Tea 100 Pancake 300
Timing via left bank trail - Nyile to blue roof buildings 1 hr from blue
roof buildings to bridge 30 min from bridge to last chorten 30 min from chorten to Mu Gompa 20 min
Nyilie 3365m 28 32 36N 85 6 19 E Mu Gompa 3680m 28 35 9 N 85 6 36E
Notes on Mu Gompa
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| Mu Gompa |
The monastery seemed to be a shadow of its former self once housing
thirty to forty monks and in David Snellgrove’s
time “in 1956 one hundred monks were there - now there are hardly three to four monks in
residence. On enquiry we learnt that some of the other monks were away in
Kathmandu and other monasteries - most of the residential rooms were empty and
we were able to get three rooms for our group. Food was a basic menu confined
to dal Bhat noodle soup tea and coffee. Many Trekkers have stopped staying in
Mu Gompa and make a day visit from Nyile for a few hours which is also
possible.
After lunch we visited the Dhepudoma nunnery and managed to get a nun to
accompany us with great difficulty - it was a steep 225 metre climb up the hill
to this small nunnery which is more than 800 years old - 3900 metres. The climb
up took around 50 minutes and it was 30 minutes down - some of the frescoes on
the walls had been newly repainted.
April 30 2018 Mu Gompa to
Choekhang Paro
We had planned a day hike to around 4300 metres to Choshung to see the
views but it rained through the night and the morning dawned with white out
conditions and clouds swirling around the peaks. The weather looked ominous and
we decided to abandon the hike and head down to the warmer Choekhang Paro as
the night had also been very cold and windy. We started out at around 8 am with
a weak and watery sun and decided to walk back to Nyile / Chule on the right
bank of the river opposite to the side we had come. We crossed the river in
around 45 minutes on the smaller wooden bridge and the proceeded down the
valley. We met some of the locals with their horses going up to the mountain
pastures to collect yarsugumba including Mingmar of Nyile whose home stay was
closed as he was up in the pastures every day. We again crossed the blue
government building and passed the chortens and long mane walls and entered
Chule by around 10 30 am - we had done a leisurely stroll down the valley with
a number of photography stops.
The rest of our trail to Choekhang Paro down followed our uphill route
.
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| Namgyal cooking dinner for us at his homestay at Choekhang Paro |
Mu Gompa to Chule 2 hr to 2 hrs 30 min Chule to Pandun 30 min Pandun to
Phurbe 25 min Phurbe to Birju 35 min Birju to Lamagaon 15 min Lamagaon to Ngaku
Leru 30 min Ngaku Leru to Choekhang Paro 1 hour.
May 1 2018 Choekhang Paro to
Chumling
It is possible to go down from Choekhang Paro to Lokpa in one long
9-10 hour day but as we had extra days in hand we decided to take it easy and
walk down to Chumling. Our timings on the return journey given our
leisurely walking speed are:
Choekhang Paro to Gho 1 hr 45 min to 2 hr 15 min Gho to bridge above
Raijam 20 minutes Bridge to Dramba 30 min Dramba to monastery 35 min Monastery
to lower Chumling Ganesh Himal lodge 45 min Lower Chumling to upper Chumling
Tashi Delek lodge 20 min.
May 2 2018 Chumling to Lokpa to
Philim
We left Upper Chumling at 7 30 am and followed the same trail down
to Lokpa
The down timings are:
Upper Chumling to the Gadikhola Bridge 30 min
Gadikhola bridge to the top of Sardi Danda 45 min Sardi Danda down the
2nd bridge from Lokpa 1 hr 45 min 2nd bridge upto Lokpa 35 min
We stopped for a long lunch at Lokpa at New Tsum Valley Lodge - there
are two lodges at Lokpa both owned by the same person.
Lokpa tones lodge 30 min down New lodge to
Manaslu/Tsum junction 30 min Manaslu/ Tsum junction to Chisopani 1 hr 10 min Chisopani
to Philim 45 min.
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| A newly painted roof of one of the entrance gates (kani) in the Tsum Valley |
May 3 2018 Philim to Jagat
It is possible to reach Dovan in one long 8 hour day from Philim but as
we had time on our hand we decided to stop in Jagat and take a half day off. We
were also quite tired with the long days and poor trail conditions. It
was raining heavily from around 4 am and when I awoke at around 6 am the rain
had petered off and it was drizzling. We left at 8 20 am after a late
breakfast. The trail had improved after the rain - the dust had settled and it
was harder and easier to walk. Our leisurely timings to Jagat were:
Philim to Sirdibas 1 hr 10 min Sirdibas to
Salleri 1 hour Salleri to Jagat 50 min.
May 4 2018 Jagat to
Khorlabesi
We left Jagat by 7 am as we wanted to be in time to cross from Tatopani
to Khorlabesi due to the road blasting work which opens the road to Trekkers
and locals from 11 am to 12 noon and again from 5 pm in the evening to 7 am in
the morning. We needed to make the 5 pm crossing which we did despite
waiting for one hour at the crossing point for the army to let us across. Our
timing on the return leg were:
Jagat to bridge below Jagat 40 min Bridge below
Jagat to Yaru Bagar 50 min Yaru Bagar to Yaru Guest house 10 min up Yaru Guest
House to Syauli Bhatti - New Mountain Hotel 1 hr Syauli Bhatti to Dovan
50 min Dovan to Tatopani 1 hr Tatopani to Khorlabesi 1 hour.
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| Crossing a bridge near Jagat |
May 5 2018 Khorlabesi to Lapubesi
We left Khorlabesi at around 7 25 am and we had to walk to long way 300
metres uphill and again 400 metres downhill to Machha Khola which would take
around 3 hours. Our start was promising but as the sun became hotter our
spirits flagged and we were struggling to complete the walk at the end. Our
timings for the day are:
Khorlabesi to top of hill ( Shree Shiva Primary
School) 1 hr 10 min Shree Shiva Primary School to Machha Khola 1 hr 45 min to 2
hrs 15 min Macha Khola to Laxmi Lodge Lapubesi 2 hrs 45 min to 3 hrs 15
min.
May 6 2018 Lapubesi to
Kathmandu
We had heard on the way down that the Dhading Besi road had been badly
damaged due to landslides and in all possibility we would not be able to go
back along that route. On arriving Lapubesi we found that our jeep had got
stuck in the landslide at Dhading Besi and was going back to Gorkha. We would
have to arrange a jeep from Lapubesi to drive us to Gorkha. A Bolero pick up
camper was arranged and we left the next morning at 6 am. It took us 5.5 hours
of driving through mud, slush and landslides sometimes in pouring rain to reach
Gorkha at 11.30 am – there we found our jeep waiting for us. After a quick lunch
we left Gorkha and headed to Kathmandu. Luckily the rain had stopped by then
and our driver made good progress and we were in Kathmandu before 5 pm.
