Saturday, May 29, 2010

Best months to trek in Nepal


  I have been getting some enquiries about which are the best months to trek in Nepal. More specifically, people want to know which is the  most busy month and how does spring trekking (March/April) compare to autumn (Oct/Nov)? Weather wise post monsoon Oct/Nov is the most stable and clear but Oct is also the most crowded. I generally like to avoid Oct as lodges are busy, trails are full and there are far too many people around.
Recently we have been trekking in December which is suitable for the foothills but not ideal for the high mountains e.g. Kala Pattar, Annapurna Base Camp etc.
So my recommendations would be for high altitude treks in  Nepal try April or mid to late November. For foothills trekking November-December would be fine. In fact Everest Kala Pattar trek would also be good in November before the winter snows set in.
Here are the statistics of trekkers in Everest and Annapurna for the last five years which gives a good idea of the numbers on the trail:
EVEREST REGION
20052006200720082009
Jan426486566642576
Feb524455592853658
Mar 23431977302936883041
Apr24583439424646614513
May 937886167919861629
June201110284297298
July 204184209294229
Aug260352434450509
Sept10161190145821352535
Oct6242659577509260
Nov3448332341884830
Dec984103913791503
ANNAPURNA REGION
20032004200520062007
Jan18422106187725702555
Feb23253096152730293574
Mar 29555147462165756473
Apr54846021321682617324
May 22281794105130222377
June7827893901325680
July 864881712779774
Aug14891488144521862112
Sept43153353352553065231
Oct957693149547
Nov569851165319
Dec311022422954
The figures for Everest were collected from the entrance of the Sagarmatha National Park ( Jorsale) and the Annapurna data from the ACAP office at Birethanti.

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