Kangchenjunga; – Break shackles

Kangchenjunga north base camp – Amjilosa

14th April, 2026

The sound of the torrent kept reaching our ears through the night, but that didn’t interrupt the sleep. The alarm kept its promise. There was a nip in the air and the natural temptation was to wrap the blanket even tighter to embrace its warmth but I resisted that. The day before, in the afternoon, we met two locals who descened from Ghunsa. They skipped two halts, Gyabla and Amjilosa, to reach Itahari directly. Their homes were in the Terai town called Dharan. Pictures from their mobile enticed us. I had a mixed feeling looking at them. On one hand, they were through with the tough part. All that lay ahead, was an easy ride to Taplejung, followed by a descent to the plains over the smooth Mechi highway. I looked forward to the day when we will reach that state. But I also looked forward to the exciting hike spanning the next few days that’d take us to the base camp, the views of the trail and above all, standing below the feet of the third highest mountain of the world. The colorful rhododendrons in the forests that lined the lower areas, the glacial moraines over which we’d be walking, the ever changing face of the Ghunsa river right up to the snout of the Kangchenjunga glacier where it originated from and the surprises & challenges the trail might have in store for us. In such trails, I have no feelings of sadness even while returning. A sense of completion fills my mind and a relief of not having to negotiate challenging terrains. But, at times, human made disruptions, aided by weather, have played spoilsport at places with easiest of accessibility. I’m talking about the domestic flights in Nepal. It happened in Luk La as well as Tumlingtar. I didn’t know at that time, what was in store at Bhadrapur. Limbu was at our doors, ready to pickup our bags. After a hearty breakfast with roti and chana curry (it’s called “ghugni” in the state of West Bengal), it was time for a group photograph. On every trek, the first day carries a unique excitement. After months of staying in civilization, you get the first opportunity to strap your backpack, take up your hiking pole and hit the trail. This was no exception. After moving out, we started hiking along a strip of path that went beside the goat shelters. It moved up through multiple switchbacks and soon we were walking amidst cardamom fields.

The leaves glowed bright in the clear sunshine. Cardamom seeds were visible near the roots of the plants. Just as I focused to take some photographs, I got sprayed with drops of water. I was taken aback by the suddenness of it. That’s when our guide urged us to move quickly to escape this water spray. Once we were off the limits, we turned back to see the source of it. Sprinklers were rotating to spray water on the fields. The tea houses of Itahari were visible below us.

They appeared as matchboxes from the height. The flowing Ghunsa river was clearly visible behind the lodges. Fertile fields were lush green. Most of the cultivation was of cardamom. The track was adulating and after sometime we faced our first suspension bridge on the route. After crossing over, we went along the right bank of the Ghunsa river.

*En-route Amjilosa, picture courtesy, Dhananjoy De*y

Limbu kept ahead of us. Right after starting from the lodge, Dhananjoy drew my attention to the feet of Limbu. He was wearing rubber slippers! Hiking the slopes while carrying a load of 20-22 kg, wearing slippers, Limbu appeared unfazed. While we were wearing two layers clothes, Limbu was down to a T-shirt. Very soon he went out of our sights. The villages on the other side were no different. Cardamom fields, houses nestled among them with sloping roofs, animal sheds – and sight of a contained life.

The Ghunsa river showered its blessings in the form of water & sediments over these villages. It’s violent torrent with multiple rapids told us that it was moving over a rough bed. We came to a village called Jaubari. The name sounded familiar. The name also features in the famous Sandakfu trail in the neighboring state of West Bengal in India. Could it be possible that a route exists towards Sandakfu from here? The fact that the Sandakfu trail passes along the Nepal border, increased that possibility. It was revealed to me later that this assumption was wrong. There are multiple places in Nepal with the same name in its different regions. For example, there are many Deuralis & Tatopanis. This was one such example. My wrong assumption was corrected, incidentally, by a man from none other than the Darjeeling district, which is where Sandakfu lies.

We climbed some stairs to reach an elevated field and guess what. We saw Limbu resting by leaning against a rock, basking in the bright sunshine. We continued along. The trail started descending under a huge overhanging rock. It exited at a place where the Ghunsa river was flowing just under our feet. We stood over a a wooden bridge made up of loosely strewn logs. We literally walked above the gushing stream. The makeshift bridge led us from one rock to another, while the torrent roared below our feet.

After one rock, it climbed up to regain the trail on the other side. We breathed a sigh of relief. But I didn’t lose the chance of filming a video. I asked Dhananjoy to shoot the video. When I moved, he shot. He then went back to the starting point to follow the trail once more. This time, Dilal played the cinematographer. After reaching the other side, the trail continued. After sometime, we reached Lamatar. It was initially planned that if time permitted, we would have tried to reach here the day before. We rested there for sometime and resumed our journey. The trail now started to rise and we started climbing stairs. These set of stairs went up through a few swirls to reach the base of a bridge. After crossing over, the trail descended. It was a bit steep so we had to be careful. It was broken at places but was manageable. Descending such trails require more care than ascending. We went down to the banks of the Ghunsa river, deep into the gorge. After crossing over, we looked at the path that lay beyond the bridge. It went up through a set of rocky stairs. There were multiple switchbacks as the stairs moved up through the dense forest.

We started climbing. From hereon, we walked under the canopy of a dense forest. After sometime we reached Phedi. This is another common name in Nepal. Every trail in Nepal has a Phedi. It means the bottom of a hill or a mountain. There are two Phedis on either side of the Thorong La on the Annapurna circuit. There’s a Phedi after descending from the Larkya La on the Manaslu circuit. Just like others, this place too justified its name.

There was a small lodge. After removing our backpacks, we sat in its lawn for some rest, while our dal-bhat meals were being prepared. A dog was sleeping in the sunlight. Cool breeze flowed through the leaves of the surrounding trees. Chickens roamed around the place searching for grains. A goat was also there giving curious looks at Dhananjoy’s bag. An old saying goes that there’s nothing in this world that goats can’t eat. We kept a cautious look while it inspected the bag from a distance. Finding it to be uninteresting, it’s attention turned elsewhere. The lady of the lodge fetched some freshly harvested leafy green vegetables (called Rai Saag in local language). That raised our interest in the lunch. We’re aware of this delicious dish of Nepal. It takes time to prepare lunch as they prepare it afresh. After about 40 minutes, we were invited to the dining place. Rice, lentils, Rai Saag, a vegetable curry and some pickles. Coupled with freshly cut onions & green chillies, the lunch was perfect. We pounced upon it and were quite satisfied at the end. A hike for another 2.5 hours awaited us after the lunch. Though not tough, hiking after lunch can be tiring. We strapped our backpacks & resumed our hike. By that time clouds started taking over. We navigated the stairs. A few rhododendron trees appeared.

Flowers were few but bright red in color. We saw some trees with foliage of different colors (similar to what we saw on our way before reaching Taplejung. Though light was less, but we couldn’t resist taking photographs. Such trees increased in numbers. We would see many more on successive days. Though time was passing by, there was no hurry as the total duration of walk was not to exceed 6 hours. We stopped at every bend for photographs. Just when we thought we saw the most beautiful color, another one turned up at the corner. The trunks & branches were covered with thick moss.

These forests must be a treat for eyes during monsoons. It’s a separate aspect though, that most of the areas become inaccessible due to the swelling torrents of the Ghunsa river or the landslides brought on by incessant rains. We kept moving up under the canopy. The sky also bore a dark appearance. I was wondering whether we need our rain covers but Dilal assured that it won’t be necessary.

After hiking for a couple of hours we came out in the open. The track now moved along flatly. The lodge (there was only one) of Amjilosa was now visible at some distance. It was still some way to go, but the sight of destination always gives satisfaction and energy. The lodge was spread across terraced slopes. It’s dining room & kitchen was at the lowest level, the next level had some rooms for porters and guides. The room for us was at the highest rung. There was a flat ground. To the left, lay the rooms, the toilets lay to the right. When we were unlocking the room keys, we heard sounds of thunder. We thanked our luck for arriving just in time as a light drizzle started immediately. After changing to our room wears, we hung our trekking clothes in the balcony. There were some clips (which reminded me of forgetting to pack them, despite planning to do so much earlier). Then we headed to the dining space (as is the norm for tea house treks in Nepal).

*Amjilosa, picture courtesy, Dhananjoy Dey*

We met a group of French trekkers there. They were a group of aged friends who have been coming to Nepal for at least 30 years. Every year they bring & distribute “items of relevance” to the inhabitants of every village they stop along the route. This time around, they were distributing sunglasses which could protect against ultra violet radiation and snow blindness. Their target recipients were porters, guides and potentially yak/sheep herders who often travel to higher echelons of the Himalayas in search of pastures for feeding their animals. Such routes often involve crossing high passes, traversing glaciers and sometimes climbing as well. The Frencg group always travel with the same set of guides & porters. They’ve worked out a reciprocal program where these porters & guides travel to France and work there for a few months. This time, this travel has been adversely affected because of shooting costs of air travel due to the ongoing West Asian crisis. This cultural exchange was apparent from the fluent bidirectional French conversation between the French travelers and their porters and guides. We’d meet many other French groups as well as travelers from other countries during the trek but not any other Indian. I was talking to one of the members. They’ve been on every known trail of Nepal, even in the Dolpo area of Western Nepal about 20 years ago. Dolpo was the hotbed of Maoist insurgency in those days. There weren’t any tea houses in those days, all was about camping or residing in local village homes or schools. They visited the Shey Phoksundo lake, stayed at the Rimgmo village on its banks and even at Saldang. That’s an area of immemse interest of mine. Hence, I spent a lot of time discussing this topic with him. The previous evening, while having beer, Dilal cautioned against alcohol consumption in the higher areas.

Dilal speach:

“You will having beer in low place. You will not having beer in high place. Not good.”

Here’s one small addition to Dilal’s English grammar, just so it doesn’t sound like an order, which wasn’t his intention. “Will” here equates to “can”. Got it? Wonderful, rest is a cake walk for you. When asked to provide a concrete boundary that separates low from high, he put Amjilosa at high. Immensely disappointed with that decree, we negotiated hard and were able to trade in Amjilosa. We were able to shift the boundary further by another two by inviting Dilal to join us, but it came at a price. With that somewhat weak “trade deal”, he stuck to us for the rest of the trek for the drinks sessions, which we found hard to escape from. Coming back to the current phase, we enjoyed a few beers. Dinner was served at 7.30 PM and we retired to our rooms after that. By this time, the drizzle has transformed to proper rain. I tossed around the bed, thinking about it. I normally don’t like rains in these parts of the world (however selfish it may sound). They could wreck havoc by closing trails, adding to delays, thereby upsetting plans. We faced it at Goecha La as well as the Annapurna circuit. On the latter ocassion, it cost my visit to the Tilicho lake (by playing on my fear of snow), but the plan somehow survived its onslaught after some adjustments. Could Goecha La repeat here? Is Kangchenjunga still not ready to accept me at her premises? The sound of the rain on the roofs sounded strong. I silently ventured out of the room to check the situation as well as visit the toilet. Coming out in the open, removed many of my concerns. The rain didn’t feel that strong as it sounded on the roofs. But what if it continues raining throughout the night? Though I scaled down the intensity apparent from the sounds by the factor observed by me by going out, the concern remained about the duration. Also, rains at lower altitude implies snow at higher. There was a contrast between my states of mind at Itahari and here. It was at a high there driven by expectations. It dipped somehow by the rains but I forced them out to concentrate on sleep. We were at 2400 m.

Earlier

Kangchenjunga north base camp – Sekathum

Earlier

13th April, 2026

Bread toast, omelet & black tea. That constituted a good filling breakfast at the “Mountain Hotel” of Taplejung. There was time before our departure. Dhananjoy & I went out for some local surfing. Taplejung is an important town in this part of Nepal. Just as it was a stop before embarking on Kangchenjunga base camp trails, it also formed the base for a pilgrimage, the “Pathibhara temple”, one of the famous shrines of Nepal. It takes about a few hours drive followed by a hike of about 3 hours. A lot of pilgrims flock to Taplejung for this reason. While roaming around in the local market, we saw many of them. It’s a bustling town with different people heading for different destinations. Our bags were already packed. After returning from the market, we waited for some time before the arrival of our vehicle. We had the privilege of boarding first.

*Taplejung, picture courtesy, Dhananjoy De*y

After that, the jeep went through the bylanes of the town, often through narrow, bumpy alleys, which never looked like proper roads. We were told that the jeep was to collect passengers on its way, but initially, we went into the backyard of someone’s home. There were sheds for herding chickens & pigs. The animals peeped at as through the gaps in the bamboo walls. The driver dumped some goods & returned to the main market through the alleys. We realized it was his home and this detour was to dump some goods there. It then stood at the main junction while passengers started piling in. We sat in the middle row, Dilal sat beside the driver. Two other passengers boarded in the front row. By that time, the back row was already stuffed to the brim. When we thought the jeep was filled beyond its capacity, people started climbing to its roof. It was supposed to be a journey lasting for 5-6 hours and we were already sandwiched from either side. However, once the jeep started it’s journey, we somehow got used to it and turned our focus outside. The jeep initially went downhill along the same road by which we came to Taplejung. After about an hour, it diverted to a different road from a junction. From there on, our route followed the Tamor river. The road wasn’t paved, but wide enough. Work was going on at different places to widen it. JCBs were at work. Their mechanical hands were collecting and dumping debris of blasted rocks & boulders on to trucks, which were clearing them away. Green fields lined the slopes of the surrounding hills. A huge hydro electric power project is being executed. Large tracts of land were cleared on both banks of the Tamor river, with its flow diverted at multiple places. In some places it’s torrent ran violently, while at others it was tamed by creating artificial diversions to channel it into a huge reservoir. The mountain’s were ripped bare, which gave a disturbing feeling. Are these sustainable at all? What appearances would these places acquire in the months of monsoon? Villages kept flying by with lush greenery in the fields with ripe crops. Dense forests interspersed the villages which had thick foliage. At this time of the year, they acquired different colors ranging from light brown, light green, golden yellow, scarlet red to dark maroon, depending on the variety of the trees and the age of their leaves. Ocassionally, houses with slanted roofs were nestled amidst the cultivation fields.

*En-route Sekathum, picture courtesy, Dhananjoy De*

The road, though not paved, was level enough. The jeep stopped at multiple places to allow passengers to get down or embark upon the journey. At times, also to load or dump goods. In such remote parts of Nepal, these private shared vehicles are a medium for both passenger as well as cargo transit. With the luggage & surplus passengers on its roof, the vehicle was plying with cautious speed but surprising stability. But that was put to ultimate test after lunch. The Tamor river kept flowing in the opposite direction of our travel through gentle as well as turbulent torrents. It is one of the main rivers that forms the Koshi river system, which also leads its name to the province. The breeze was still cool though we were approaching noon. After sometime the vehicle left the main road to take a detour through an upper village and halted at a local hotel. It was time for lunch. The passengers off boarded and made their way inside the hotel. We gave orders for dal bhat. While that got prepared, we enjoyed a couple of beers. We had company as many others did the same. I was hesitant to drink just before lunch but other passengers seemed unfazed. So I went along with them.

The hotel was two-storeyed with residential rooms in the top floor. Loads of corn hung from the balcony to dry them in the sunlight. The place was filled with noise from the dining passengers as well as cluckings of poultry. Cardamom fields lined the slopes of the surrounding hills. After lunch, the journey resumed and the vehicle descened to rejoin the main road. With that, changed the road surface. What was seemingly level, now disintegrated into a series of potholes. We were scuttled around randomly as the driver carefully negotiated the “climbs”. It needed immense skill to navigate through the maze with an overloaded vehicle. Skills were demanded from the passengers who graced the roof. On some treacherous stretches they had to off board to reduce the weight and walk patiently behind the vehicle. Afternoon wore on quietly and the solar rays acquired a tinge of gold. The vehicle kept plying on, but the ride wasn’t smooth anymore. Passengers kept getting down at their destinations, goods continued to get dispatched or loaded at the village stops. We reached a junction called Ranipul.

It’s here the road diverges to two directions. One trail goes towards Torangden. This is the trail that goes towards Oktang, which is also known as the Yalung/South base camp of Kangchenjunga. Trekkers who cover both the base camps use that trail to descend to Ranipul. We went along the other road that headed towards Sekathum. After sometime we reached a confluence. We left the Tamor river and followed the other river which came down from the upper valleys to meet Tamor. From here on, we followed the Ghunsa river (known as Ghunsa khola locally) into its valley. The entire route towards the North base camp would follow the Ghunsa river. Dilal was speaking to one of the co-passengers but we couldn’t decipher much of it. Just when we were nearing Sekathum, the jeep took a turn in the opposite direction. The plan changed. Instead of Sekathum, we would be staying at Itahari, a local village. That would allow us to stay at an advanced location on the route. Though Sekathum had more options for stay and the tea houses are likely to be better, we were told Itahari also had decent lodges. The jeep went through an area that was undergoing massive construction for a hydro electric power project. The terrain was filled with stones and dust, thanks to the construction activity. After sometime our bumpy ride finally came to an end. We disembarked. It gave us relief. We were finally out in the open. It was a landslide area. A massive stream of debris came down the slopes of the nearby hills.

After our luggage was handed over, we met our porter. “M. Bahadur Limbu”, was his name. A simple but sturdy man. He picked up our luggage and we started off on foot along a narrow path along the banks of the Ghunsa river. I was very happy about the prospects of getting detached from vehicular traffic for about a fortnight. The trail went through dense bushes and cardamom fields. After walking for about 2 kms through minor ups & downs we saw the sloping roofs of the houses of Itahari. It is a village nestled amidst a deep gorge of the Ghunsa river, surrounded by high hills with near vertical walls on both sides.

Though sun was still up in the sky but darkness was about to set in, thanks to the overhanging shadows of the high hills. When we entered our rooms, daylight was receding fast from the valley. After enjoying cups of tea, we went out for some local excursion in the village. We went through a narrow path that went besides local houses. Some of the cultivation fields were planted with brinjal plants. They looked like a lush green carpet. Purple flowers dotted the fields. Many of the homes had bamboo sheds. These were shelters for pigs. The animals kept peeping through the gaps of the walls. They raised a sound that resembled snoring.

We went through the the narrow alleys and started descending towards the banks of the Ghunsa river. It was roaring down the gorge in leaps and bounds forming multiple rapids and pools. The bluish green stream flowed amidst large boulders. Its rocky bed created multiple rapids that looked like frothing milk. A set of logs joined multiple rocks across the stream to form a pool that joined its banks. While walking over the pool, the sight of the roaring stream amidst the gaps between the logs gave us a thrilling feel. We went over the pool and then tip toed over the rocks to find a place to sit on one of them. Camera shutters kept rolling as the river gave ample scope for it.

As darkness started setting in, we returned to the tea house. Limbu (our porter) went back to his village for the evening. He would return the next morning when to join us on our trail. Our next destination would be Amjilosa. Dilal gave an idea of the trail. A gradual hike would lead us to Phedi. After that, it’s an uphill climb to Amjilosa.

Dilal speach: “I will book tea house at all place – Amjilosa, Gyabla, Ghunsa, Khambachen everywhere already”.

Tension was building up all through this statement only to be released after the last word. If you apply the rules of “inverted tense” (as explained in one of my earlier posts about this journey, you’d be able to decipher that all lodges were booked and there was nothing to worry. The owners of the tea house reared goats. There were some kids in the goat shelters. One of these was standing on trembling legs. It even had a trace of a dangling umbilical cord. We learnt that it was born on the same day. Soft chapati and country chicken curry formed a delicious dinner. We retired to our room. After segregting the clothes for the next day, setting an alarm for 4 AM, we slid under the blankets. The climate was somewhat warm despite being in the Himalayan foothills. The reason probably was the closed narrow valley with very little winds. The sound of the flowing Ghunsa river, amplified by the mountain walls, filled the air. I thought about our successive destinations and felt excited about the prospects of the views. We were told, snow views could be seen after Gyabla. The beds were comfortable and sleep overpowered us. Itahari is at an altitude of 1570 m.

Earlier

Kangchenjunga north base camp – Taplejung

Earlier

Ten years ago when we were at the Luk La airport, awaiting our return flight (which never took off), I recall looking at a poster that read “The Limbu trail”. It had a picture of the Kangchenjunga group of mountains. The captions were enticing. They spoke about the picturesque views & an opportunity to witness the local culture of the Limbu tribes who inhabit that corner of Nepal. This far-eastern corner of Nepal is home to the Limbu, Rai & Tamang tribes. While the latter two are also found in lower areas of other parts of Nepal, it’s the Limbus who are native to this area. Later on, we found that in the extreme high altitudes, it’s not even the Limbus, but Sherpas who are the primary inhabitants. This is especially true about the tea house owners. We found it at Gyabla, Ghunsa, Khambachhen & Lhonak. This was the case even on the Makalu route where Sherpas were the primary dwellers in places like Tashigaon, Khongma, Langmale etc. On this ocassion, I was interested to meet Nupu Sherpa, the owner of the “Kangchenjunga White House” lodge at Khambachhen. I saw his interview on YouTube and found it very interesting. He & his father have been running this lodge from those days when this trek required extensive camping at other places. He was jovial and spoke with a lot of enthusiasm about the surrounding area, the snow leopards & of course, like any other Sherpa, about the illusive Yeti. It’s a common trend in the Sherpas to talk about legends surrounding this mythical bipedal animal. Even in his autobiography, Tenzing Norgay spoke about instances where his ancestors had the (mis) fortune of meeting this creature and the unfortunate bearings it had upon their lives. Anyways, I hoped to stay at the same lodge and meet “Nupu Dai” as he is fondly known in this trail.

11th April, 2026

With my hopes running high, I started from my home at 10.30 AM for the airport. However, I dozed off soon and was only woken up after reaching terminal 3 of Indira Gandhi International Airport. Dhananjoy was already staying at Kanyam since the previous day. He has been posting pictures of the picturesque tea gardens & the adulating hills of the area. I wish I could have traveled by that route. Now I’d have to spend a night at the congested tourist area of Thamel, but there’s no point regretting, now that the decision has been taken. The flight took off on time but I didn’t have a seat by the window. Hence, the Himalayan views were out of my reach. But a quick sneak revealed that clouds shielded much of the famed views. The plane touched down at the runway of the Tribhuvan International Airport. We off boarded the aircraft and reached at the arrival terminal where the familiar statue of Budhha greeted us. After the usual formalities at the airport, I stopped at a counter of Nepal Telecom to buy a local SIM. As I moved outside, I was relieved to see a cab driver standing outside holding a placard of “Karma Hotel”. It’s comforting to see the dots getting joined. The cab drove through the familiar streets of Kathmandu. We went past the Pasupatinath shrine area, the gates of the Narayanhiti royal palace and then entered the streets of Thamel. I got a message from Tej Gurung asking for a slot to meet at my hotel. I shared the location and mentioned the expected time of arrival. Just about when I was settling in my room, I was informed by the front desk that Tej was waiting at the reception along with the guide. I was meeting Tej physically after 2019. On that ocassion, we met him on our way towards Manaslu circuit. Since then, we’ve done other treks with his company, but all of them were via Gorakhpur and Pokhra/Besisahar. All our communication with Tej have been through online channels. I also met Dilal (our guide for this trek) for the first time. It turned out that our special permits (required to visit the Kangchenjunga area, which is a restricted area) were not yet prepared. But to my relief, Tej mentioned he’d get them prepared & send them online to the guide’s number, just in time before they get checked at Ghunsa. Tej handed over the trekking maps and T-shirts. There was a change suggested in the itinerary. Instead of staying three nights at at Lhonak, the guide suggested staying at Pangpema (the North base camp) on the second night, hiking to Drohmo Ri from there & descend to Lhonak on the third day. The reason for not staying at Pangpema was lack of proper facilities but that would have meant hiking again to the base camp and Drohmo Ri on third day only to descend again. It made no sense and I agreed to the suggested change, but only after confirmation that it was possible to sleep on a bed under a blanket. We could adjust to the rudimentary food facilities, as long as lodging options were warm enough. It was fixed that Dilal would pick me at 5 AM. The rest of the evening was spent by roaming around the streets of Thamel. After returning to the hotel, I segregated the luggage to leave some clothes at Kathmandu for use during my return. This was also to keep the luggage within limits during the trek. The hotel agreed to provide some breakfast at those early hours even though it was outside normal working hours of their kitchen. With the operational aspects sorted, I went to sleep with a comfortable mind. I compared my state of mind at Kathmandu before the start of the Makalu trek. It gave comfort that this time, it was more professionally arranged. The guide too, was well versed with the area. His comments during our brief discussion made it apparent. There was one question yet to be resolved. That was to hire a private jeep from Bhadrapur to Taplejung. Relying on shared transportation would add a lot of overhead to the travel. It takes at least eight hours to reach there. A shared transportation could add many more hours to the journey. To add to the delay, domestic flights in Nepal are notorious and we may anyways be looking at a delayed start from Bhadrapur. Going by flight history data, a delay of an hour was more than expected. I kept those thoughts at bay, set the alarm at 4 AM and went for my last comfortable sleep, at least for a fortnight.

12th April, 2026

With the alarm, I set off with the proceedings. After a comfortable hot shower, I headed downstairs & woke up the person on duty. A quick breakfast of bread toast, jam & omelet was prepared. While I was at it, Dilal arrived with a taxi. I invited him to join me for breakfast. After the meal, I handed over the spare luggage at the front desk, they returned a tag in lieu of that. The taxi started off for airport through the dark sleepy streets of Thamel. Cool morning breeze swept across my face. These are all too familiar. I recalled a similar journey just a few months ago. The destination at that time was Tumlingtar. This time it was Bhadrapur. We were three of us at that time. This time I was alone. The cab went past the Pasupatinath shrine, took a turn and entered the domestic terminal. The terminal was the same with its resemblance more to a bus terminus than an airport.

After checking in, we waited at the departure terminal. For a change, we boarded the aircraft on time. While that lifted my spirits, the wait for more than an hour, just sitting in the aircraft, started deflating it. Apparently, heavy air traffic at Kathmandu Airport was the cause. Initially, announcement was for a delay of 15 minutes. After 30 minutes, when asked, another such “15 minutes” took the tally to an hour, which is when it started taxying through the runway and followed by a short run, it took off.

*Mt Everest, Kathmandu-Bhadrapur flight*

Immediately, the amazing vista of the Himalayas emerged. Despite a partial cloud cover, one couldn’t miss their identities. The Langtang range was followed by Cho Oyu, then the famous pyramid of Mt Everest, Lhotse, Makalu & others. Before the Kangchenjunga group could appear, the aircraft took a turn towards the plains & started it’s descent and we landed at the Chandragarhi airport at Bhadrapur. A small airstrip in the Terai region of Nepal, Bhadrapur runway was picturesque.

Dilal shared some information about the transportation arrangements. “Private transport, difficult finding. Shared transport, long time. Private transport, I will arrange.”. I tried to make sense of this “unique grammar”. It was difficult to understand what has been done and what remains to be. The reason for spending much time in explaining Dilal’s English is to establish some patterns for the audience to understand his statements. There will be regular excerpts of these in future episodes, which I’d mark with labels of “Dilal speach“. On this ocassion, after exiting the Airport, we waited beside some local shops. A jeep pulled in and Dilal signalled me to get in by saying “I will already arrange private jeep”. The word “already” was crucial to decipher the pattern. Almost like the accidental discovery of the ancient Egyptian language, I found out that in Dilal’s grammar, “will” indicates past tense. So this translated to “I have arranged a private jeep”. The road went through the plains. Initially we went amidst fertile fields followed by the dense lush green forests of the Terai. Then came a place named Charali, a square junction from where four roads diverted. One came from Bhadrapur, one on the right went towards Kakarbhita (the border near the Indian town Siliguri), the left road went towards the town of Dharan and in the north, it went towards Ilam, the district headquarters. The jeep went in that direction and soon, the tea gardens started on both sides. Almost immediately, the road started moving up gradually. The sights of tea gardens pleasantly reminded me of similar landscapes of the Dooars & Darjeeling regions of North Bengal. That reminded me that we were traveling through regions close to those areas of India. It gave a strange feeling of homecoming despite being in a foreign land. I called up Dhananjoy to inform our location. As we moved upwards, the bright sunshine gave way to mist & clouds. Though we couldn’t see the picturesque landscape in its full glory, but the mist added its own charm.

*Kanyam, picture courtesy, Dhananjoy De*

The adulating hills were covered with tea gardens. The lush green gardens with a blanket of mist resembled familiar landscapes of the Darjeeling hills. When I met Dhananjoy at the Hotel Green Carpet at Kanyam, I was relieved. This was more to have some company from theron. Our trekking group has reduced to just two in this ocassion, so I was eager to reach that number. Kanyam appeared to be a popular weekend tourist destination for people from adjoining areas of India. A lot of tourists flocked the mall.

Our vehicle traveled through these and we gradually crossed Fikkal and other towns. As we moved upwards, the sun appeared again. We stopped for lunch at 11.30 AM, quite early by our standards. But we were told that the next big town Phidim was quite far and by Nepalese standards, it was already time for lunch. We had our first “dal bhat” of this trip. As expected, the vegetables were fresh. To top it off, we were presented with fresh fish from the nearby river flowing through the valley. After a neat lunch, our journey resumed through the villages of the rural Limbu heartland. The Mechi highway started to move downwards and we reached the town of Phidim, which was a big junction in this area. After that we started moving up again through the winding roads. The quality of roads were good. The foliage started to assume multiple colors. After sometime, our guide pointed towards a flowing river way below in the valley. It was the Tamur river, one of the many tributaries of the SaptaKoshi river. Evening wore on as we continued progressing and after sometime we entered the town of Taplejung. The jeep meandered along the serpentine roads through the marketplace and after sometime we arrived at “The Hotel Mountain“. After settling in the rooms, a dal bhat meal awaited us along with fish curry (with big pieces of Rohu fish). Along with lentils, fresh vegetables and ghee, the meal was satisfying. It was planned we would leave at 7.30 AM, the next morning. This time around it would be a shared jeep. The beds were comfortable, blankets were warm and we went to sleep. Taplejung was at an altitude of 1820 m.

Earlier

Kangchenjunga north base camp

Once upon a time, it was thought to be the highest mountain in the world. Further calculations (triangulations, as such exercises were called in those days) caused that baton to pass over to Mt Everest. Further studies relegated it even further down to the third position which it currently holds. While it may have lost the battle of height, but to the locals inhabiting its fringes, it retains its stature of a deity. It continues to inspire awe from ordinary as well as the exemplary. It is a group of mountains, the highest of which reaches up to 8,586 m, collectively known as Kangchenjunga (derived from a group of Tibetan words that means “The five treasures of the high snow”). The group lies on the border between Koshi province of Nepal and the Sikkim state of India. The West (Yalung Kang, 8,505 m) and Kangbachen (7,903 m) peaks lie in Nepal and the Main (8,586 m), Central (8,482 m) and South (8,494 m) lie on the border between the two blessed countries. All of them belong to Kangchenjunga Himal, which is a section of the Himalayas bounded by the Tamur river (also called Tamor nadi in Nepal) in the west, the Lhonak river and the Jongsang La in the north and by the Teesta river in the east. India could lay claim to the mountain only in 1975, when Sikkim merged as the 22nd state of the Indian union. As a part of that merger, Kangchenjunga also attained the title of the highest mountain of India, which was earlier held by Mt Nanda Devi (7,817 m). The flora and fauna of the area attracted tourists as well as scientists alike. The forests that line its slopes are home to the largest varieties Rhododendrons. The forests in the lower areas are also the home to the illusive Red Panda.

Explorations and reconnoisances started very early in this area with multiple expeditions exploring for different reasons ranging from scentific, commercial, political as well as strategic reasons. Some were official, others unofficial or even illegal (especially ones that traversed the region to enter the then “forbidden” kingdom of Tibet). As early as 1848-49, sceintists like Joseph Dalton Hooker explored parts of Sikkim and Nepal to collect samples for studying the Himalayan flora of the region. Others like the German explorer Hermann von Schlagintweit went for meteorological survey. In 1879, Babu Sarat Chandra Das went to Tibet via Eastern Nepal on their journey to Lhasa and returned by the same route. All of these journeys started from the Indian hill station Darjeeling. Many other expeditions were conducted for exploring the slopes and the glaciers. As part of these, some attempts were also made towards climbing the peaks. Climbers started scaling higher heights as years went by. In 1905, an expedition led by Aleister Crowley reached an approximate height of 6,500 m along the southwest slope before turning back due to avalanche risks. The Norweigians surpassed it in 1907 in their attempt to climb jongri via the Kabru glacier, when they reached 6,900 m. In 1929, Paul Bauer led an expedition which scaled the height of 7400 m along the northeast spur before being thwarted by a storm. Successive years saw other expeditions scaling similar or higher heights.

The story about the first successful ascent of the mountain is as interesting as the mountain itself. It was made on 25th May, 1955, by a British expedition team. That day, Joe Brown and George Band ascended to the summit followed by Norman Hardie and Tony Streather on the next day. Just like others, this expedition also started from Darjeeling, treaded along the Sikkim-Nepal border and then crossed into Nepal to reach the Yalung valley. The climbers stopped five feet short of the actual summit, honoring the commitment given to Tashi Namgyal, the Sikkimese monarch (or Chogyal, as monarchs were called in the Kingdom of Sikkim). When the expedition leader communicated the same to the Monarch after returning from the expedition, he hoped for a pleasant welcome. On the contrary, he ended up enraging the monarch. The fact that the climbers stood five feet below the actual summit implied that their heads still reached above the top of the mountain (since most of them were taller than five feet)! Ever since, members of all of the successful expedition teams have stood below the actual summit, keeping in line with the promise made before the first ever successful expedition.

From time immemorial, humans have been driven mad by the colors of the rising as well as setting sun on its slopes. People from both India as well as Nepal have been enamoured by it. Depending on where you look at it from India (which includes the Tiger hill in Darjeeling, numerous tourist spots in and around it, places in Sikkim and on clear days, even from the distant plains of North Bengal), it reveals different forms. From these places, the group appears in a form that resembles a sleeping giant, which the people fondly call “The sleeping Budhha”. Some of my friends reached closest to it (as is possible from India) by reaching the Goecha La view point back in 2021. Weather wasn’t kind to us on that ocassion and I, in particular, had to return much earlier. From there on, it continued to haunt me that the other country, Nepal, would certainly offer magnificent views of the massif that were unique only to those places. The fact that it can only be climbed from Nepal (as it has been prohibited to do so from India since 2000), meant that the only accessible base camps lay in the former country. There are two of them lying at it’s northern and southern bases at Pangpema (5,140 m) and Oktang (4,780 m) respectively. Both of these trails lie in the far-eastern corner of Nepal in the Taplejung district of the Koshi province. Nepal has famous treks that lead to the bases of or circumnavigates some of the highest mountains in the world. Many of these trails are well established, well-trodden and comes with fantastic facilities (considering their remoteness). Their starting points are easy to reach (in fact, they’re getting easier by the year with rapidly progressing road construction). They are also relatively safer and offer reasonably predictable success rates. In fact, to our disappointment, the trails are getting shorter over the years. For example, the Manaslu circuit trek has shortened by at least two days from what it was when we embarked on it in 2019. All these routes are also much more crowded. Since we’ve covered most of these, our attention has turned to less trodden areas of Nepal. One such route was to the Barun valley where we traveled to the base of Mt Makalu in October, 2025. It was only a matter of time, that our sights were trained on the base camps of Kangchenjunga. Ideally, one should target both the base camps, but that requires almost three weeks, an ill-affordable luxury for working people like me. Hence, we fixed our sights on one of the base camps. After some deliberations, I chose Pangpema (the north base camp). However, all of this was decided few years back when I started following the itineraries on the internet. Even in this part of the world, durations kept getting shorter. Initially, even a single base camp would have taken more than two weeks. Over the years, it came down to a fortnight and that’s when we started thinking seriously about it. Over the years, our core group of trekkers too, kept reducing as members kept dropping with every successive trek. Some dropped out due to age, others because of the difficulty of the trails, yet others because of health problems. This time around, we dropped to just two, me and Dhananjoy Dey.

Unlike Makalu, this time we reverted back to Nepal Alternative Treks & Expeditions, our tried and tested partner for most of our treks in Nepal. After a few conversations with Tej Bahadur Gurung, the proprietor nailed down the itinerary. Unlike other treks, this required jeep rides for two full days only to reach the starting point. But even before that, one needed to reach the road head by either taking a flight from Kathmandu (as I did from Delhi) or by taking a train from India to reach Siliguri/New Jalpaiguri and crossover to the nearest road head in Nepal (as done by Dhananjoy). After much deliberations, I chose to go via flight to Kathmandu from Delhi, followed by a domestic flight on the following day to reach Bhadrapur. From there, a jeep ride would take us to the town of Taplejung. We would pick up Dhananjoy from Kanyam on the route. After a night’s stay at Taplejung, we’d take a shared jeep ride on the following day to reach Sekathum. For the next thirteen days, we would reach Amjilosa (2,498 m), Gyabla (2,725 m), Ghunsa (3,415 m) and Khambachen (4,145 m). After an extra acclimitatization day there, we would reach Lhonak (4,792 m) and Pangpema (the north base camp 5,143 m) and retrace back to Lhonak. We also planned to go to Drohmo Ri (5,990 m) and had an extra day at Lhonak for that. The next two days would see us descending to Ghunsa and Amjilosa respectively.

The thirteenth day would take us down to Sekathum, followed by a jeep ride to Taplejung. On the fourteenth day, we would drive down to Bhadrapur (dropping Dhananjoy, once again, at Kanyam, en-route) to board a flight to Kathmandu. Tej assured that the trail was better than the area of Makalu, we could expect better tea houses and even charging and WiFi facilities. After some careful thought, I kept an extra day to account for unplanned delays before my return flight from Kathmandu. Much of the latter half of the plan was to change for multiple reasons, but that’s a story to be told later. One risk I saw for this plan was having to rely on Nepal’s domestic flights to and from Bhadrapur. Domestic flights in Nepal are notorious when it came to punctuality and reliability. Weather often holds the trump card. On two ocassions earlier (once in Lukla and another in Tumlingtar), our flights got cancelled and we had to return using alternative transport, adding to the delay. Tej Gurung reassured this time, that flights to Bhadrapur were more reliable (as it was in the Terai unlike the earlier locations where the air strips were located in the higher hills) and were less likely to be cancelled. For a moment, I pondered entering and exiting via India (by taking flights to & from Bagdogra) as many suggested doing the same. They did so because the Kangchenjunga area was very close to North Bengal and Sikkim. Somehow, I decided otherwise and stuck to Kathmandu (assurance about Bhadrapur flights from Tej Gurung was a crucial factor in that decision). I regret that decision for multiple reasons to this date (I’ll reveal the reasons later in this series).

For the moment though, things looked settled and I went about planning the logistics. Everything went smooth (a bit too smooth than I thought, which made me jittery). Flight tickets were bought, hotels were booked in Kathmandu. Rest was taken care of by Tej Gurung’s agency. Our guide was to be Dilal (who had been to the area multiple times). This was something I insisted with Tej. Tej would also supply an ice axe (which apparently might be needed during our hike to Drohmo Ri). The height of the place made me a bit skeptical, but Dhananjoy was ecstatic about the prospects of hiking nearly 6,000 m (something we’ve never attempted before) and Tej too, was confident about us being able to accomplish the feat. He suggested taking the decision on the route and if we couldn’t scale it for some reason, we could always use the extra day during our descent. All of it sounded quite rational and I was quite satisfied with the proceedings. The anxious wait started. The Himalayas were souding the bugles again. This time, all the more exciting, as it was Kangchenjunga, in the far-eastern corner of Nepal!