The plan for doing Dzongri-goechala trek this time started one evening during mid November. Well, I saied ‘this time’ because I planned for this route many a times before. In a mid November evening, me and Arindam were seating in a coffee shop and he was sharing his recent experience of Versey to Soreng trek. Though he did not have a nice experience in the trek due to lots of different reasons but still he showed his interest to do the Dzongri-goechala trek. I just accepted the proposal without any delay and the ball starts rolling…..
We started from Kolkata on 02.April and reached NJP without any trouble on the next day morning. We reached NJP at 0800 hour and reached Yuksom at 1900 hour! Normally it takes 6 hours from NJP to Yuksom. In our case, we had to wait almost 3 hours at the station, driver was not at all comfortable in driving in the plains, not carrying any driving license, caught by traffic police and one tyre got punctured at around 5:00 in the evening.
We had a booking at Hotel Demazong and just after having a cup of tea there we started discussing our plan in detail with our guide cum cook Sanman Subba. Within a few minutes we realized that Sanman has few words in his Hindi vocabulary and he expresses all of his feeling through those only (and the most common one was ‘thoda thoda, dekhna padega‘) . Some of the food items were already bought by Rob (hotel manager) and Subba, rest we finished within an hour . It was almost 10:00 when we could finish with another round of checking for necessary items and finalizing porters and Yaks. We decided to have one guide cum cook, one porter cum cook helper and three Yaks. Actually those are not Yaks, locally they call it Jo.
The trail till Tsoka was very boring. No view of any peak, no variation in the mountain faces, you continue to walk through a deep gorge and cross Prekchu river few times. Any way, we started from Tsoka by seven. Today we decided to have our lunch at Phedang, mid way to Dzongri from Tsoka. Mentally we were prepared to face a very boring steep continuous ascending to Dzongri. But after an hour walking from Tsoka we were through a lovely trail. First time we felt the charm walking in Himalaya. No peaks were visible, but the trail was much easy to negotiate and there were lot of rhododendrons all around. Though not much verity was there at that time, but still the view was pretty nice. But like any other good part of life it finished pretty soon and the ascend started. But again, like any other bad part of life it finally came to an end and we reached Phedang. It was around 10:30 in the morning, the place is basically a big flat green ground. Weather was pretty nice, clear sunny day, so I must say we were all in a good shape.
This is the first time we were at such an high altitude and more importantly we had to spend nights. We knew that there were high possibility of getting affected by high altitude sickness. So we spend one extra day at Dzongri. Did a lot of physical activities, that helps acclimatization. On the second day visit the Dzongri top. It’s a steep ascend of around an hour. The temperature out side was sub-zero and a strong chill wind was blowing. And the view point was almost 1000 feet high than the valley.
Thansing is a large valley having Prekchu river on its left side and an excellent place to enjoy the first view of Pandim and Kanchenjunga at almost 13000 feet. Morning light reaches the valley quite late due the high mountains surroundings and gives a lovely chance for morning shots! We started from Thansing around 8:40 and reached Lamuni within a little more than two hours. It was almost flat through the valley and with every step forward you will see Kanchenjunga appearing bigger. When reached Lamuni we realized we are at the base of Pandim. What excited me most was nothing in between me and Pnadim! On the right hand side Pandim standing high and in front the mighty Kanchenjunga. The feeling was awesome.
The rest of the trail was already known to us and walked easily except Kokchurang to Phedang. Its a long stretch without much ups and downs but stretches with gravels again! Also there are zones were the main trail is not visible due to land slide (not very serious) and you have to manage it carefully. In this case also Arindam started feeling uncomfortable. But finally we made it. And from Phedang to Tsoka was pretty easy. Last day Tsoka to Yuksom went pretty smooth and it took us a little more than seven hours. Just after we reached into the hotel it started raining and the next day continued also. But we had another day extra at our bag and explored Yuksome a bit. Visit Dibdhi monastery and the lake.
Now its time go back home after a nine day strenuous trek and we booked a car from Yuksom to NJP. This time the driver and the car both were nice and we reached NJP well ahead of train time.
The overall experience was excellent. Weather was quite supportive and we did not have any major issues during the trek. Our guide Sanman ji was a very nice person and unfortunately not a good guide. But as a cook he is excellent. The Dzongri-Goechala trek route is quite strenuous both due its sharp ascends as well as for the altitude. But the journey beyond the Dzongri valley is really rewarding. This route may not be a good choice as first trek.
- Duration: 8 to 9 days. Yuksom to Yuksom
- Best time to visit: Late March to early May or late September to late October
- Grade: Strenuous
- Max altitude: 14000 feet
- Temperature: Sub zero in night
- Lodging: Trekkers’ hut available except @ Lamuni
- Ration: Must carry of your own
- Guide/Porter: Must
- Electricity: Last @ Yuksom
- Cell phone: Yuksom and very unstable @ Tsoka
- Sleeping bag: Must
Day | Date | From | To | By | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
01 | 02.Apr.10 | Kolkata | NJP | Darjeeling Mail | |
02 | 03.Apr.10 | NJP | Yoksom | Hired Car | Full car reserved @ Rs. 2600/=; around 7 hours |
03 | 04.Apr.10 | Yoksom | Sachen | Trekking | 4 hours. Moderate Gradiant |
04 | 05.Apr.10 | Sachen | Tsoka | Trekking | 5 hours, including 1/2 hour break @ Bakhim. Stiff ascents |
05 | 06.Apr.10 | Tsoka | Dzongri | Trekking | 7 hours, including 1 hour lunch break @ Phedang. Toughest part of the trek |
06 | 07.Apr.10 | Dzongri | Dzongri | Rest | Rest day @ Dzongri. This is very important for acclimatization |
07 | 08.Apr.10 | Dzongri | Thansing | Trek | 6 hours including 1 hour lunch break @ Kokchurang. Stiff descends before Kokchurang |
08 | 09.Apr.10 | Thansing | Lamuni | Trek | 2 hours. Easiest part of the trek and best from the valley |
09 | 10.Apr.10 | Lamuni | Kokchurang | Trek | 2 and 1/2 hours. For Goechala/Samiti lake you need to start at mid night from this place. |
10 | 11.Apr.10 | Kokchurang | Tsoka | Trek | 7 hours, including 1/2 hour lunch break @ Phedang. Long distance to walk between Kokchurang and Phedang |
11 | 12.Apr.10 | Tsoka | Yuksom | Trek | 7 and 1/2 hours, including 1/2 hour lunch break @ Sachen. Long distance to walk, mainly descends |
12 | 13.Apr.10 & 14.Apr.10 | Yuksom | Yuksom | Rest | Explored Yuksom, visited Dubdhi Monastry and Yuksom lake | 13 | 15.Apr.10 | Yuksom | NJP | Hired Car | 7 hours | 14 | 16.Apr.10 | NJP | Kolkata | Darjeeling Mail |
I did this trek back in 2002,
NJP-Youksum
Youkum-Tskoa
Tsoka-Dzongri – styayed there 1 day for acclimatization
Dzongri-Thansing
Thansing – Samiti Lake ( I heard that the trekkers hut at Samiti is not there anymore)
Samiti – Goeachala and back ( We started at 3 in the morning and came back to Samiti at 12, descend to Kokchurang)
Kokchurang- Yoksum
Hi,
I have a plan to trek Dzongri-goechala 12th nov-2010. But we don’t want to carry tent here. Can you give the number of your guide. So that we can contact with him…
@Atanu:
Below is the number of our guide Sanman. Though he is en excellent person and extremely honest (like any other in those areas), he is not good as a guide. He is actually a very good cook. I would rather suggest you to get in touch with Rob (number given below) for any kind of service you would like to have @Yoksum.
Sanman Subba -> +919593265912 (Guide)
Rob -> +919775473687 (Hotel Demazong)
Thanks for the nice report.
We would be doing this trek on Starting on 16th April night from Kolkata, reaching NJP on 17th April.
Trek starting on 17th April.
Few questions
1. Do we require permit for Chaurikhang and Rathong Glacier (Kanchenjunga Base Camp), which is 2 days side trek from Dzongri.
2. Can you please provide contact info for UBAC. We would like to rent sleeping bag/tents.
3. Do you know, if tents/sleeping bags are available for rent at Yuksom, and what would be the cost.
4. Do you know, upto what point you get mobile connectivity.
Thanks…
@Jagdish
1. I am not sure about this
2. 033 23512628
3. tents/sleeping bags are available @Yoksom. Though I am not sure about the cost, it is expected to be higher than Kolkata
4. After Yuksom, cell connectivity is available @Tsoka. But signal is not stable there.
Wish you a happy and safe trek.