GHT | Kanchenjunga & Olangchung Gola to Makalu Barun - Nepal

Kim is the founder of Kamzang Journeys and leads almost all of the Featured Treks as well as a few Himalayan bike rides. She is also a partner in Project Himalaya Treks. She has been based in Kathmandu for the past 12 years and takes care of everything from creating & upkeeping the website, writing & researching the trek itineraries, taking the photos, answering emails and doing the accounting to creating the Kamzang dining tent decor and even shopping & packing for the treks. She also manages the Kamzang Fund.

Kim has been looking for a spot to build the perfect bamboo hut since graduating from Colagate University in 1988. Her search has taken her on many years of travels throughout Asia, Africa, Australia & NZ, the South Pacific and cross-country in the States, but although she now has a basement (her parents') full of ‘curios’ to fill several houses, that idyllic dwelling still eludes her and her semi-nomadic lifestyle continues. She now spends most of her time in the Himalayas, often in her 'Kamzang Style' tent (gur) ...

Kim grew up in the East Coast of the US, but lived afterwards in Hawaii, California and Colorado, where she spent most of her time outdoors biking, hiking, windsurfing, surfing, skiing and, of course, collecting funds for further travels. After trying out the corporate world of marketing for Geographic Expeditions in San Francisco and briefly volunteer teaching in the Everest region of Nepal, she met the Project Himalaya team, Jamie & Joel, and has been creating and leading treks in Nepal, India, Tibet and Bhutan ever since.

Join us for our second year of Kamzang Journeys exploratory treks in the Kanchenjunga region!

Our route follows the Great Himalayan Trail through the diverse, sublimely beautiful Kanchenjunga region in Nepal’s far east and continues via the extremely remote and challenging Lumbha Sambha route to the Makalu Barun National Park. The spectacular landscapes, traditional villages, diverse topography and amazing Himalayan panoramas make this one of Nepal’s all-around best treks …

Kanchenjunga (8598 meters) is the world’s third highest mountain, surpassed only by Everest and K2, and known in Tibetan as ‘the great treasure house of snow’. It is certainly one of the most spectacular massifs in the Himalayan range, rising majestically from the borders of Nepal and Sikkim (India). The region, inhabited by Tibetans and Limbus living in remote mountain villages, can be approached by both the Nepal and the Indian sides.

We start our journey in Suketar Airport and Taplejung, one of the gateways to the Kanchenjunga region. Trekking through lively Rai villages, lush rainforest and a patchworks of farmland peppered with traditional mud-brick houses we head north into an alpine world of forests, peaks and mountain streams. Beyond the tree line the landscape changes again as the Kanchenjunga massif exhibits some of the most impressive high mountain scenery on earth.

We continue northeast through remote Tibetan and Limbu villages, hiking along the Kanchenjunga glacier to the spectacular north base camp at Pang Pema. Kanchenjunga is the homeland of the Limbu people, who speak a dialect of Tibetan and follow a mixture of Buddhist, Hindi and animist beliefs. After taking a day to hike to the spectacular Jammu viewpoint we explore the Tibetan village of Ghunsa before crossing the Nango La (477m) to remote Olangchung Gola.

The exploratory section begins! We trek along the remote, northern route close to the border of Tibet to cross the Lumbha Sambha pass, and finish the trek in the Makalu Barun National Park region, flying out of Tumlingtar. En route we pass through the habitats of some of Nepal’s endangered species such as the snow leopard, red panda, Himalayan black bear, clouded leopard and Assamese macaque.

This is a challenging trek through remote and high regions of Nepal. Contact us at Kamzang Journeys (www.kamzang.com, kim@kamzang.com) for more info.

Come explore the Kanchenjunga & Makalu Barun regions of the Nepal Himalaya with us!