Tsho Rolpa Trek

Welcome to Nepal. You land at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu (1,400 m), where our representative meets you in the arrivals hall and drives you to your hotel in Thamel.

Your guide joins you for the briefing, covering the twelve-day plan, the long jeep day to the trailhead, and what to expect from Rolwaling's lodges — which are simpler than most trekkers are used to. We check your kit against the list; anything missing can be bought or hired within a few minutes' walk.

The rest of the day is yours. Overnight in Kathmandu.

A long drive east out of the Kathmandu valley on the Araniko Highway, then north on the road to Charikot in Dolakha district.

The Araniko Highway is the road to the Tibetan border and carries the freight traffic to match, so the first two hours are slow. Beyond the turning at Khadichaur the road climbs steadily into Dolakha, and the terraced middle hills open out with the Rolwaling and Gaurishankar peaks standing on the northern skyline.

The route runs through terraced middle-hill country with the Rolwaling and Gaurishankar peaks appearing on the skyline as the road climbs. Beyond Charikot the surface deteriorates and the road drops steeply into the Tama Koshi valley.

Singati (1,000 m) is a busy bazaar strung along the river, supplying everything that goes up the valley beyond it. Around 7–8 hours including stops. Overnight at Singati.

A short drive and then the hardest climb of the trek.

The jeep continues up the Tama Koshi to Gongar (1,440 m), where the road ends and the porters load up. The trail crosses the river at Chetchet on a suspension bridge and then goes straight up — around 800 m of continuous ascent on stone steps and switchbacks through subtropical forest, with the valley falling away behind you.

It is a hot, hard two to three hours, and it is the price of admission to Rolwaling. Take it slowly and drink steadily.

Simigaon (2,000 m) sits on a shelf at the top with a gompa above the houses, potato and barley fields, and the first clear view of Gaurishankar (7,134 m). Around 4 hours including the drive. Overnight at Simigaon.

The day the valley takes over, spent almost entirely under trees.

The trail turns east into the Rolwaling Khola and enters a gorge of rhododendron, oak and bamboo. In spring this is one of the great forest walks in Nepal — rhododendron in red and pink for hours at a time, with waterfalls coming off the walls on both sides.

The path rolls rather than climbs, crossing side streams on log bridges and traversing sections cut into the cliff. It is narrow and occasionally exposed, and there is nobody else on it.

Dongang (2,790 m) is a clearing beside the river with a couple of seasonal lodges. Around 6–7 hours. Overnight at Dongang.

A steady climb out of the forest and into the high valley, gaining 900 m.

The trail follows the river upstream, the trees thinning to birch and juniper and then giving out altogether. The valley opens as it climbs and the walls step back, revealing the peaks that were hidden by the gorge.

Beding (3,690 m) is the main village of Rolwaling: a single line of stone houses along the river, a monastery on the slope above, and stone-walled fields of potato and barley. Around a hundred people live here in season, and many of the men are working mountaineers — this valley has produced a remarkable number of expedition climbers.

Gaurishankar stands directly above the village. Around 5–6 hours. Overnight at Beding.

A day at the same altitude before pushing on to Na, and a good one to spend in the village.

The acclimatisation walk climbs the slope north of Beding towards the shoulder below Chekigo, gaining three or four hundred metres for a view down the length of the valley and across at Gaurishankar's south face. Three to four hours at an easy pace, back for lunch.

The afternoon is for the village itself. The gompa above the houses is several hundred years old and the caretaker will usually open it. Beding is a working settlement rather than a trekking stop, so the pace of the place is set by the fields and the animals, not by lodges.

Your guide checks the group for appetite, sleep and headache tonight — Na tomorrow is another 500 m up. Overnight at Beding.

A short, gentle day up the valley to the last settlement in Rolwaling.

The trail follows the river through open country, past stone-walled potato fields and mani walls, with the valley floor broad and flat and the peaks standing straight up from it. This is easy walking after two hard days, and the altitude is the only reason it takes as long as it does.

Na (4,180 m) is a summer settlement: forty or fifty stone huts on a flat pasture, occupied from spring to autumn while the yaks graze and the potato crop grows, and empty in winter when the families move down to Beding. A handful of the huts operate as lodges in season.

The amphitheatre around the village takes in Chekigo, Yalung Ri and the peaks of the Tibetan border. Around 3 hours. Overnight at Na.

The day the trek is built around: out to the lake and back with only a daypack.

The trail runs east up the valley floor and then climbs onto the lateral moraine of the Trakarding Glacier. It is loose underfoot in places and the last section is a steady pull, but the walking is straightforward and the group moves at an easy pace.

From the crest of the moraine Tsho Rolpa (4,580 m) opens below — three and a half kilometres of grey-green meltwater with icebergs at the far end where the glacier calves into it, the largest glacial lake in Nepal. The wall at its head carries the Tashi Lapcha (5,755 m), the pass into the Khumbu, and you can usually pick out the route.

Your guide will point out the outlet channel and the early warning installation, part of the long effort to manage the flood risk from a lake dammed by loose moraine.

Around 6–7 hours there and back. Overnight at Na.

A long descent back down the valley, covering two days of the approach in one.

The walking is easy through Beding and then steeper as the valley narrows and the trail drops back into the treeline. Losing 1,400 m in a day is hard on the knees and poles earn their place.

Going down gives you the valley in reverse and it looks like a different place — Gaurishankar behind you rather than ahead, the forest closing in rather than opening out, and the air thickening with every hour.

Dongang (2,790 m) in the late afternoon. Around 6–7 hours. Overnight at Dongang.

The last full walking day, back through the rhododendron gorge to the shelf above the Tama Koshi.

The trail rolls west along the river, retracing the cliff sections and log bridges. The forest is the highlight again, and in spring you walk the whole way under flowering rhododendron.

Simigaon (2,000 m) arrives in the afternoon with its gompa and terraced fields, and after a week above the treeline the warmth and the greenness are welcome.

This is where the porters finish and tips are given. Around 5–6 hours. Overnight at Simigaon.

An early start for the steep descent and the long drive home.

The path drops off the shelf on the same switchbacks you climbed on day three — about an hour and a half of steady downhill to the bridge at Chetchet and the roadhead at Gongar (1,440 m), where the jeep is waiting.

The drive back down the Tama Koshi to Singati and up to Charikot is the rough section; from there the road is paved through Dolakha and along the Araniko Highway into Kathmandu (1,400 m).

Around 9 hours in total including the walk. You arrive in the evening and transfer to your hotel. Overnight in Kathmandu.

Your last day in Nepal. If your flight leaves later there is time for Boudhanath or the old town at Bhaktapur, both an easy drive from most hotels.

Our representative collects you from your hotel and transfers you to Tribhuvan International Airport around three hours before departure.

Rolwaling is one of the few valleys this close to Kathmandu that still feels genuinely remote. If you want to come back and cross the head of it, the Tashi Lapcha route continues from Tsho Rolpa over the pass into the Khumbu — a serious mountaineering trek rather than a walking one. Safe travels.