Dhaulagiri Circuit trek in Nepal

Our October 2011 group successfully complete Dhaulagiri Circuit

2012-01-17T01:17:00.000-08:00

Photo: Mount Dhaulagiri

The Mountain Company's Dhaulagiri Circuit group in October successfully crossed French and Dhampus pass to Jomsom, this is the fifth time we have organised Dhaulagiri Circuit trek and third time in October.

To read more about our October 2011 trek around Dhaulagiri Circuit please see our detailed Trip Report on The Mountain Company's blog

Our Dhaulagiri Circuit trek in April 2012 is now guaranteed to run and there is currently availability so please get in touch soon if you would like to join this group.

Roland Hunter

www.themountaincompany.co.uk

Our April 2011 group successfully complete Dhaulagiri Circuit

2011-06-11T01:59:00.000-07:00

Photo: Chonbarden gorge on Dhaulagiri Circuit

The Mountain Company' Dhaulagiri Circuit group in April successfully crossed French and Dhampus pass to complete this challenging trek. Overall this is the fourth time we have organised Dhaulagiri Circuit trek and second time in Spring.

To read more about our April 2011 trek around Dhaulagiri Circuit please see our Trip Report on The Mountain Company's blog

I have copied one of the comments from our April group below:

“The trek was absolutely amazing so well organised and I thought that our western leader Lee did an excellent job leading the team and was brilliant at keeping the atmosphere of the trek happy and focused. All of the Nepalese crew were great especially our Sirdar Jhire Rai and Saila the cook provided delicious food throughout the trek. It really was a fantastic a trek and I would recommend your company without a moment's hesitation to anyone.”

Our Dhaulagiri Circuit trek in October 2011 is now guaranteed to run and there is currently availability so please get in touch soon if you would like to join this group.

Roland Hunter

www.themountaincompany.co.uk

Our Dhaulagiri Circuit trek in April 2011 is now a confirmed departure

2011-01-22T10:39:00.001-08:00

Photo: Dhaulagiri Base Camp

The Mountain Company's Dhaulagiri Circuit trek in April 2011 led by Lee Farmer is now guaranteed to run. If you are interested in this trek I suggest you read our Trip Reports from our last three treks around Dhaulagiri.

Please get in contact with us soon if you would like to join our Dhaulagiri Circuit trek in April 2011.

Roland Hunter

www.themountaincompany.co.uk

Our October 2010 group successfully complete Dhaulagiri Circuit trek

2011-01-22T10:21:00.000-08:00

Photo: house near Muri village

Fourteen members of our Dhaulagiri Circuit group in October successfully crossed French and Dhampus passes to complete this challenging trek. This is the second Dhaulagiri Circuit trek that I have led and third one organised by The Mountain Company.

We were very lucky as the weather cleared on the morning we walked over French Pass into Hidden Valley staying sunny and clear for the rest of the trek with superb views of Dhaulagiri, Annapurna, Nilgiri, Dhampus Peak and Tukuche.

Our acclimatisation schedule worked well by spending two nights at Italian Camp (3,660m), two nights at Glacier Camp (4,200m) and two nights at Dhaulagiri Base Camp (4,700m) then we crossed French Pass into Hidden Valley where we also spent two nights. For most people in the group the highlight of the trek was the day exploring Hidden Valley.

To read more about our October 2010 trek around Dhaulagiri Circuit please see our Trip Report on The Mountain Company's Blog

The Mountain Company is organising two Dhaulagiri Circuit treks in 2011, one starting in late April and the second departure starting in mid October, please get in touch if you are interested in joining one of these groups.

Roland Hunter

www.themountaincompany.co.uk

Roland Hunter will lead our Dhaulagiri Circuit trek in October 2010

2010-02-02T11:38:00.000-08:00

Photo: Dhaulagiri seen from French Pass

Roland Hunter will lead our Dhaulagiri Circuit trek in October 2010, please get in touch with The Mountain Company if you would like to join the group.

www.themountaincompany.co.uk

Gary Pfisterer will lead Dhaulagiri Circuit trek in October '09

2009-02-08T04:13:00.000-08:00

Gary Pfisterer will lead the Dhaulagiri Circuit trek for The Mountain Company, I have copied below some information about Gary's background and experience:

Gary is known as one of the great leaders in the mountaineering world (per EverestNews.com). He has led many expeditions, often with his late wife Ginette Harrison, including to K2, Kanchenjunga (three times!), Shishapangma, Makalu, Dhaulaghiri and Lhotse. All of these expeditions, with the exception of Everest, were achieved without the use of High Altitude Porters or supplementary oxygen.

Gary has summitted Everest, Cho Oyu, Ama Dablam, Kilimanjaro via the Heim glacier, Mt Logan (third unsupported alpine style traverse of East Ridge) among many others. He has led treks throughout the Himalayas and Karakoram including the epic Lunana Snowman and Snowlake Biafo- Hispar traverse.

For more information I suggest you take a look at The Mountain Company webpage for the Dhaulagiri Circuit trek. It would also be worth reading the Blog entry with Trip Report for Dhaulagiri Circuit May '08

Trip Report for Dhaulagiri Circuit May '08 led by Roland Hunter

2009-02-01T07:10:00.000-08:00

Roland led a reconnaissance trek around the Dhaulagiri Circuit in late April 2008 and this is his Trip Report that hopefully will answer some of these questions about the Dhaulagiri Circuit trek.

This trek has the reputation for being one of the most difficult in Nepal, I suggest you take a look at these external links for further background on the challenges involved:

Project Himalaya e Guide for the Dhaulagiri Circuit trek
Project Himalaya Appalled by the trek around Dhaulagiri

Having completed the Dhaulagiri Circuit with a group last year I thought that it was one of the best that I have done in the Himalayas.

This trek visits a remote area where there are few other trekkers, this is becoming increasingly rare in Nepal these days. At the beginning of the trek the trail passes through beautiful Gurung villages with views of the Dhaulagiri massif, then above these villages it follows a rough trail to the Italian BC.

Above Italian BC the trek is a an alpine experience walking along moraine covered glaciers to the main Dhaulalgiri BC then over the French pass to the beautiful Hidden Valley. The toughest day is crossing the Dhampus pass, with a long traverse on icy slopes before finally descending to Marpha and the busy trails of the Annapurna Circuit. To give you an idea of the scenery I suggest you take a look at our photo gallery for the Dhaulagiri Circuit trek.

I have discussed the main challenges of the Dhaulagiri Circuit and the ways we organise this trek to minimise these risks:

1) Lack of sufficient acclimatisation as a result of a rapid ascent between Italian BC (3,660m) and Dhaulagiri BC (4,700m) and from there to Hidden Valley (5,050m). Most trekking groups on “standard” itineraries go from Italian BC to Dhaulagiri BC in one day, this is a 1000m increase in altitude is significantly more than the recommended increase in altitude gain per day of 300 to 500m!

The Mountain Company has developed our itinerary to include two extra nights between Italian and Dhaulagiri BC. First of all we spend two nights at Italian BC then move up to spend the night at French BC at 3,870m (placement of the camp is important as there is some risk of rockfall). The next day we move to Glacier camp and spend the night at 4,200m, then continue to the main Dhaulagiri BC the following day.

In the Hidden Valley one camps at over 5,000m, if anyone gets altitude sickness you are in a potentially serious situation because you can only get to a lower altitude by climbing up over high passes.

To minimise the risk of altitude sickness in the Hidden Valley we recommend groups spend three nights at Dhaulagiri BC, this combined with the cumulative benefits of trekking slowly from Italian BC means people should be well acclimatised for the Hidden Valley. However, it is important that the leader carefully monitors the trekkers and crew and to turn people back if not sufficiently acclimatised.

2) Sadly there are still porters and crew working on the Dhaulagiri Circuit.trek with inadequate equipment. On many other treks in Nepal the crew can find shelter along the way so can survive without the right gear (of course still not right), however on the Dhaulagiri Circuit there are no porter shelters above Italian BC.

It is essential they are provided with porter tents, walking boots, sunglasses, down (insulated) jackets, wind & waterproof jackets & trousers, gloves, hats etc. This is the regular gear recommended by the International Porter Protection Group (IPPG) in their five guidelines for all treks, take a look at their website at http://www.ippg.net/guidelines

In addition to this equipment it is critical for all porters to be issued with crampons. After the descent from Dhampus pass there is a long traverse for over 3 hours on snow and ice slopes. From previous experience the Nepalese made crampons are not sufficient so at The Mountain Company we provide Edelrid 6 point crampons to all of our trek crew.

3) There is a risk of the French or Dhampus pass being blocked by snow and impassable for a trekking party. You can minimise this risk by selecting the optimal time of year to undertake this trek. In my view there are two times of year when you have a reasonable chance of completing this trek: late April and mid October.

There are advantages & disadvantage of both of these dates, during the pre monsoon season the temperatures are warmer meaning the night in the Hidden Valley will be more comfortable for trekkers & crew. More importantly it means that the snowline is higher and with the ground temperature warmer any fresh snow is likely to melt off quite fast. In post monsoon season, by the time you cross the passes in/out of Hidden Valley the temperatures will be dropping as winter approaches. If there are early storms the snows will most likely block the passes for a while.

The main advantage of post monsoon is that the weather tends to be more stable with better views of the mountains and normally settled sunny conditions. In the pre monsoon season there is often haze lower down and at higher altitudes clouds usually build up each day followed by afternoon convective precipitation. However the clouds usually clear over night to reveal blue skies by the morning.

Also there are likely to be more groups undertaking this trek in the post monsoon season so there will be other trekkers around, however it will be much quieter than most of the other trekking destinations in Nepal. In May ’08 during the whole trek we only met one other group of 5 or so people along the way and then a few expeditions at BC.

4) If you have only been trekking in the Everest or Annapurna regions with their well constructed trails and bridges then you will find the Dhaulagiri Circuit trail far more challenging! There is one section before Boghara village where the trail is very exposed with rope to pull yourself up a rock slab! However, it is possible to walk around this difficult section by taking a high route on a spur above but even here the trail is exposed and could be slippery on a wet day.

After Italian BC there is a very steep section down the lateral moraine onto the glacier. It is best to fix some rope at this point to secure the descent especially for the porters. There are a number of other sections where the trail crosses landslide zones. Due to the low numbers of trekkers and locals walking the trail it is unlikely repairs would be made very quickly after a fresh slide. You should be prepared for adventurous scrambling as well as having a rope handy just in case required! From Boghara village the bridges are of a basic construction often a just tree trunk over a river.

In summary.... without doubt Dhaulagiri Circuit is one of the great Himalayan treks. Hopefully this trip report explains the main challenges involved and the way The Mountain Company organises the planning and logistics to increase the chance of safely completing the trek.

George, one of the members of our trek last year, summarises his experience on the Dhaulalgiri Circuit:

"Dhaulagiri was great. The days from arrival at base camp, over Hidden Valley, and down to Marpha were outstanding and I will always remember them. Thanks very much for arranging it. It was all quite an adventure." George Muir, Dhaulagiri Circuit May 2008

The Mountain Company is planning to organise Dhaulagiri Circuit in October 2009 with Roland leading the trek again. Please get in touch with us if you are interested in joining this trek or if you have any questions.

Roland Hunter
http://www.themountaincompany.co.uk

Photos: Beni to Italian Base Camp

2009-02-01T06:56:00.001-08:00

Photo: farmhouse near Beni

Photo: suspension bridge beyong Darbang

Photo: children near Dharapani

Photo: typical Gurung house

Photo: Dharapani village

Photo: Takum village

Photo: terraced fields near Sibang

Photo: threshing wheat

Photo: Myagdi Khola

Photo: steep trail above Myagdi Khola

Photo: bridge over Myagdi Khola

Photo: walking through bamboo forest

Photo: sub tropical forest

Photos: Italian Base to Camp to Dhaulagiri Base Camp

2009-02-01T06:40:00.000-08:00

Photo: Italian Base Camp

Photo: Chonbarden gorge 1)

Photo: Chonbarden gorge 2)

Photo: approaching French Base Camp

Photo: French Base Camp

Photo: Upper Chonbarden gorge

Photo: Dhaulagiri West face

Photo: Approaching Dhaulagiri Base Camp

Photo: Dhaulagiri Base Camp

Photos: Dhaulagiri Base Camp to Hidden Valley

2009-02-01T06:21:00.000-08:00

Photo: Dhaulagiri Base Camp

Photo: Mt Dhaulagiri

Photo: Dhaulagiri glacier

Photo: approaching French Pass

Photo: porter approaching French Pass

Photo: porter approaching French Pass 2)

Photo: view from French Pass

Photo: French Pass

Photo: on top of French Pass

Photo: descent from French Pass into Hidden Valley

Photo: Hidden Valley

Photo: Hidden Valley 2)

Photos: Dhampus pass to Jomsom

2009-02-01T06:05:00.000-08:00

Photo: approach to Dhampus pass

Photo: descending Dhampus pass

Photo: descending Dhampus pass 2)

Photo: Yak Kharka

Photo: Marpha village

Photo: signpost in Marpha

Photo: Mt Nilgiri

Photo: Jomsom airstrip