Dolpo to Jomsom or Upper Mustang

Difficulty: Strenuous
Trek duration: 21-30 days
Max. elevation: 5,550m
Accommodation: Camping
Start/end point: Juphal/Jomsom

You want adventure? Here it is: The epic three to four-week long Dolpo to Jomsom or Upper Mustang trek. Starting from the airstrip at Juphal head north to Phoksundo Lake (you can also go via Do Tarap), over the Sehu La (5,160m) to Shey Gompa and then east, up and over several massive 5,000m-plus passes, through desolate high-altitude desert. The only other people you’ll meet will be the occasional herder with his flocks, or a yak caravan and trader returning from Tibet. There are one or two tiny villages along the way. Almost completely cut off from the rest of the world, this is a fascinating insight into old Tibetan culture.

There’s no set route and any company offering this trek will largely create their own. Make sure they have guides who know the area. The route to Jomsom takes you into the shadow of mighty Dhaulagiri and is the slightly shorter walk (three weeks all in). It also doesn’t require quite as many restricted area permits, which makes it a little cheaper. The more rewarding route though would take you up along the border of Tibet to Lo Manthang in Upper Mustang, and from there back down to Jomsom. Allow a month for this walk. You will need the Inner Dolpo and the Upper Mustang permits.

This trek is a true expedition and should not be attempted by inexperienced trekkers.

At a glance

Destinations

Dolpo region

Activity

Adventure, Hiking & Trekking, Active, Walking

Physical Level

Strenuous

Duration

21 days

Related Guides

Guide

Trekking in Nepal

Stuart Butler

I clearly remember the day, thirty years ago, when walking down the street during my first visit to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, I looked up at the clouds towering above the northern end of the city and it suddenly hit me that they weren’t clouds at all but were the snow-capped peaks of the mighty Himalaya. A week later, and after three long days of walking, I stood within a giant amphitheatre of rock and ice, totally enveloped by those same mountains.

Stuart Butler

Stuart is an award-winning travel journalist and guidebook author who has been visiting and trekking in Nepal for over thirty years. One of the world's leading authorities on Nepal trekking, he is the author of Lonely Planet’s Trekking in Nepal, the Rough Guide to Nepal, the Tibet chapter of the Rough Guide to China and the Bradt guide to Kashmir & Ladakh. He is also regularly published in The Independent, BBC, Time Out, The Telegraph, among many other UK and international publications.