Shisapangma Base Camp Trek

After breakfast at the hotel, we will depart at 7 a.m. for a 123-kilometer drive through the lovely Nepalese countryside to Kodari on the Nepal-Tibet border. We will drive up a series of extraordinarily steep switchbacks to Nyalam after completing border formalities at both the Nepalese and Chinese immigration offices. The road passes through a mossy ravine with gushing waterfalls. We will be staying at a guest house for the night.

Tibet's average elevation is almost 3500 meters above sea level; therefore, we will take altitude sickness very seriously. We will spend today in Nyalam to acclimate before continuing higher. We will obviously take advantage of the opportunity to visit Nyalam Pelgye Ling, a modest temple associated with eleventh- and twelfth-century poet-lama and saint Milarepa, who is credited with bringing Buddhism to Tibet and the Phukdro ritro.

We leave Nyalam after breakfast for our first day of Tibetan trekking! We will travel up the Tshongde Phu river valley for a couple of hours before deciding whether to go straight to Draabochhan or take a diversion to Tara Tsho Lake. The pilgrimage route to Tara Tsho (lake) is steep, but well worth it! Tara Tsho is unique in that it has neither inlet or outlet and is estimated to be 40 meters deep. According to mythology, the lake was formed by a block of ice brought here by a lama returning from Western Tibet's holy Mount Kailash. The herders' camp at Draabochhan is where we spend the night.

Today we'll spend nearly an hour climbing to the top of a ridge. We will go parallel to the hill from here, passing through slopes filled with small rhododendrons. This afternoon, we will set up camp at Shingdip, a lovely meadow camp with a giant boulder at the intersection of two moraine valleys. While the Shishapangma Base Camp is close by, it is almost 450 meters higher in height, therefore we will spend the night here.

We will travel west from Shingdip Camp to Shishapangma Base Camp today. We will ascend to a hill and follow it for a while, enjoying spectacular views of Jugal Himal, which towers across the valley to the south. It's well worth the shortness of breath you might experience! After roughly two hours of walking, we will arrive at the Base Camp alongside a gorgeous tiny glacier lake.

While Shishapangma is just out of sight from the Base Camp, we'll have a break after our difficult hike yesterday and then relax today for exploration around the base camp.

This morning, we will go up to Advanced Base Camp and continue our explorations around Base Camp. On a boulder-plateau an hour above base camp, there are spectacular views of Shishapangma. We take the little backtracking we have in the afternoon, down to Shingdip, where we camp for the night today in familiar surroundings.

We will get up early this morning to cross the Kong Tso La, a 5180m pass between us and the beautiful Kong Tso, a holy lake associated with Guru Rinpoche and thought to be the Nyalam region's life-power lake. We can see how different this barren alpine landscape is from the lush area at Draabochhan, where we started trekking. In the summer, we'll be surrounded by juniper bushes and Blue Poppy blossoms. Mt Shishapangma and Pholha Gangchen will appear to climb straight up from the lake's shore, making this a wonderfully spectacular camping!

Today is a much easy day as we hike down to Ngora settlement. We will pass another beautiful glacier lake before continuing down the valley via alpine meadows. We also have the option to go to Ralo Phuk, the cave hermitage of Ra Lotsawa, a Buddhist scholar and tantric translator who lived in the 11th century. We will discover a good campground on the way down to Ngora and may want to stop by the small red-walled gompa before dinner.

We board our luxurious jeeps this morning for the ride down to the border crossing and re-entry into Nepal. We say our goodbyes to Tibet and drive to the Resort in the way for lunch in a beautiful canyon location. If you like, we can arrange for you to visit Nepal's only bungy jumping site, the world's largest swing, and a high ropes course (optional and extra). Otherwise, we'll return to Kathmandu for a farewell meal to celebrate our Tibetan journey!