About the trail

Overview

The Great Himalaya Trail is a new a challenging route through some of the most rugged and breathtaking landscapes on earth.

The 1600km Nepal section of the trail begins near Kanchenjunga on the eastern border and heads west navigating the domains of eight of the world’s 8000m peaks, from the famous Everest to the beautiful but lesser-known Makalu. It is not the easiest nor most direct route across Nepal, rather the highest feasible trail possible taking in glacial passes reaching altitudes of over 6000m. The Nepal section ends either in Humla on the Tibetan border or further south-west on the border with India, close to Darchula.

The route offers an incredible diversity in terms of landscapes, flora & fauna, people and culture: from snow leopards to red pandas; from sub-tropical jungle to fragile high-altitude eco-systems; from the famous Sherpas, to Shamanism, to the ancient Bön Buddhist culture of Humla.

“Nepal’s mountains are minimally developed, but they offer a wealth of trade and pilgrimage routes. The GHT elegantly connects these existing paths without blazing a single new trail.” – James Vlahos.

The Nepal section is part of a longer alpine adventure traversing the spine of the Himalaya from Bhutan to Pakistan. These sections are not yet fully researched and trekked. There still is a great deal of Great Himalaya Trail exploring yet to be done!

Mission

The Great Himalaya Trail in Nepal promises to become one of the great long distance paths of the world and completing it would be both a tremendous adventure and achievement.

Getting out into the wilds has other benefits too.

Nepal is a poor country and tourism contributes an important 4% of GDP. However this is concentrated, as far as trekking is concerned, in the 3 most popular areas of Solo Khumbu (Everest) region, Annapurna region and Langtang.

By trekking away from the beaten trail, you will be bringing extra, very useful income, if only a little, to families with limited income.

About this website

This website aims to promote the Great Himalaya Trail and the remoter regions of Nepal. The medium of a website on the Internet is the natural choice to do this given that adventurous travellers like you are few and are scattered far and wide.

Many people come to Nepal to get away from the crowds and to seek adventure. That is more than possible in Nepal and we wish, as the site progresses, to provide more structured information about the lesser known but very worthwhile treks and activities that get crowded out on web searches.

While not everybody will have the time or resources to attempt the whole route, it is possible to walk sections or do short treks in the areas the GHT passes. There are many more places to visit in Nepal that just Annapurna, Everest or Langtang, beautiful as they are and we hope to bring further information about these possibilities in due course.

Lastly a website is a great way to get feedback. If the curious post questions and the experienced share that experience, then this site will improve to become a useful, up-to-date resource for all.