"When Mountains Call"

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trial" (Ralph Waldo Emerson).Being a professional mountain bike rider and trail explorer is not a easy job because 'Explorer always wish to explore a pristine trials to obtain an great adventure'.I always had a dream to explore biking trials around Langtang Valley and had a dream to pedal into the himalayan glaciers.Langtang's geographical structure was new for me to explore and I knew it's going to be a challenging task.Therefore,I gathered some photos and informations by few professional riders and trial experts who went there before.It helped me a lot but I found a blended thoughts about geographical structures and trails.Most of them followed the one way trekking trail and end back at same trail and some of them flew on chopperr and rode back down on same trekking trails and mentioned good and bad .Though,it's not enough to call an adventure until I explore a trials and leave a prints of my bike's tires around that mountains valley'.."Adventure is not outside man; It is within."(George Eliot).

Langtang region is special on its own and known as 'valley of glaciers' encircled by numbers of big mountains including Mt.Langtang Lirung (highest peak 7246m).Langtang valley is nature gifted place in Nepal.Though there are lots of popular destinations.It is situated at north of Kathmandu valley near to the border of Tibet in Rasuwa district.This district is also known as 'Land of Tamang' tribal people.Every year thousands of tourists visit this region specially for trekking to see a himalayan glaciers and big mountains infront of their eyes.Although, there are mythical stories about Yeti's (abominable snowman) existence and footprints in Langatang region but not verified.This region is naturally and culturally rich and well preserved as Langtang National Park.The park contains variety of animals including Snow leopard, Himalayan black bear,a goat like himalayan Tahr, Reshus monkeys and Red Pandas.
In 14th of November 2013,at early morning i headed to Langtang valley with my fellow riders Robert and Mertxe from Basque country France.He was summitter of Mt.Everest and Mt.Chisapangma and both of them runs the Adventure agency in Basque.The task was given by Trinetra Adventure Agency to explore a magnificient mountain biking trials around Langtang Valley. The tour was about 10 days because lack of time we shortened our days otherwise it would be like 13-14days.We had a very tight schedules but well equipped with map and gps device and hoped for great ride ahead.First day journey was about 8hrs in bus was quite a headache and pain but viewing green hills, landscapes and mountains were awesome to divert a mind but few sections of highway were insane and scary because of geographical structures.It looked like a lanslides rather than highway. First night at Syaphrubesi in Good hotel with wifi zone, which was good to use internet.We checked our bikes and made ready for tomorrow's ride.After of dinner we discussed about the trails to start our ride, so we put some marks on our maps and formulated an ambitious plan to traverse the region from Syaphrubesi (1460meter) to Tamang Heritage Trail,Langtang (3430meter) ,Kyanjin Gompa (3875meter) to Langshisha Kharka glacier (4084meter) and return back to Syaphru besi which leaded us to the circuit trials.
At morning Sun was up on the hills, after of brief breakfast we started to pedal uphill on dusty motorable road.Our baggages were carried by porters and they folllwed the trekking trials to meet us at lunch point probably faster than us but not.My fellow French riders had a good stamina to ride in high altitude but trail was unexpected, to reach at the top of hill,it took us 3and half hours to cross more than 14 uphill turns but after seeing a beautiful moutain ranges and valley at down,it made us worthy that we've cleared a beast hill.Lunch was ready with Pasta and fried eggs, watching at moving clouds in moutains and drinking beer was great.
The trail was ahead but I was curious about500years old Tamang village called Gatlang (2228meter) where we had to stay for a night.I had read the articles about this village and earlier, i had a conversation with locals too. (local language) According to the locals and articles i was sure village must be an ancient and we followed the descend trail inside of thin forest which leaded us to village.It was a quick ride and reached there before the dusk .We kept our bikes at lodge and went down to see village and followed a narrowpassages. After, seeing village my fellow riders were amazed and said "magnifique" (magnificient),it was phenomenal because village is the largest and old Tamang settlement made up of stone wall and wooden roof, Rich in Typical Tamang culture,houses and lifestyle resembling 16th century.They followed Buddhism and the evidence was the structure of their houses and crafts, which reveals their religious views and tradition.In globalize world they are not far from cummincation technology but they are still far from the land of concrectes and remained ancientness.
At morning, bunch of kids were at lodge to greet us and to see our moutain bikes.Children were curious about the bikes, touched our bikes, helmets and ran happily.Took a time for photos and got back to the bike to pedal inside the village narrow passages with typical stone steps watching smiling locals, shaking hands with goodbyes it was good moments to all of us.Kids were running behind the bikes untill we catched the technical single tracks Afterpassing small village's rice feild single track,We pedal to the supension bridge and stopped for while. coz the trail was a steep hiking trail , riding down would be awesome but no choices and moved ahead. My fellow riders were pretty tired and not able to cary their bikes probably because oldnes and aged above 50. However, strong enough to ride and hike but I called a porter Mana Gurung and his freind to help them for hike instead of carrying their bikes.Looked ahead uphill was still there and Stopped for lunch at the top.I carried my bike again with a hope to appear a rideable trail as soon as possible.After bearing a pains for 3hrs , rideable trail was there, I felt much relief and got on the bike and headed to Hot Spring water as Tatopani(2607meter). I ended my ride with swiss hikers up there who were watching me riding on those tracks and said you are insane, crazyand some said you are awesome that you brought your bike here for adventure and talked about riides and walked together with them till Mana Gurung (porter) arrived for help again.Rested for cup of coffee at lodge and went for Hot spring bath, too many locals and foreigners were there i did mixed with them at pool and stayed untill dark to ease a pains I had earlier.
Next day was hike and bike day, carried a bike for several minutes and rode to descend single tracks inside of forest, rode untill to the" kharka"which means open ground where locals kept their yaks to feed freely.Then trail leaded uphill whithout any option kept a bike on my back but in some section I rode my bike and pushed rather than carrying. Moves were getting slow because altitude was increasing slightly but need to be out of forest.Typical Houses appeared and locals were watching without a blink pointed finger at the top of hill, smiled and said you still have to carry your bike for 2hrs.I was shocked and looked at the the hill on the top, it looked near but it was freaking awesome.Without any delay rested near to the crashed Buddhist monastery almost 200years old with broken statues,some were without head and painted arts in old walls.It looked like a deserted monastry without any preservation though it was bad to see it destroyed.I checked my map and found a hill that local showed.It was in map with mark as Nagthali Gyang 3140meter and it was going to be hard with bike on my back but rode my bike in some section but mostly carried to the top.Bearing a pains for hours was worthy, after reaching at the top felt like i won the battle.It eas a moutians view point with big ground surrounded by big mountains and 300 years old Nagthali Gompa (Monastery). Few lodges were available but whatever you want to eat you will find it..it was easy check the menu and order...beer was a good option.While having a beer i went to check out our next track and went down to see a bit.Some section were dusty, slippery, technical but looks full downhill and guessed trail sections might appear randomly while riding in speed.We started our ride from3165meter (Nagthali Gompa) to 2338meter (Thuman village) for a night so we had to cross 827meter down.Riding on those trails was one of the memorable ride for us, some German and American hikers appeared while I was riding in speed, some were scared to see a bike unexpectedly, clapped and saluted for biking on those trails, and heard a same words again crazy, insane, awesome but they cheerred up and suggested us to ride carefully. Riding a bike on those trails doesnt mean I won't crash and I did while riding in sloppy sections though not a serious injury but just a crash and laughed untill I wiped out muds from my arms and butt,well falling from bike is normal and it happens to moutain bike rider.It took us 78 minutes to cross the downhill and I'm sure in future, riders will enjoy this amazing trail.It was just a begining of amazing trail and i was sure there will be more scariest and amazing trials ahead. At evening after of hot bucket shower,we went to see the traditional funeral at village with other Europeans .All of them were curious to see funeral though it was prohibited for foreigners but i convienced a locals to attend and they agreed but need to follow the rules, as not allowed to disturb and not alllowed to step inside where corpse was kept,probaly not allowed to take photos.We saw the monks anf local womens were chanting a scripts in Tibetean laguage,Corpse was going to keep there for more hours until monks finish reading his scripts.We stayed there for hours to watched their tradition of funeral which was similar to mine as Tamang but they are Tamang from north of Nepal and I was from east of Nepal.Northern Tamang ancestors were migrated at early of 16th century from Tibet so their Tradition, culture and religious views are same as Tibetean but eastern Tamangs has a different culture, tradition and artifacts but after of foreign invasion, they adopted the religions and customs too. According to the history and researches ,Tamang Tribe is one of oldest tribe in Nepal,even the tools, weapons and artifacts date back to the stone age (about 30,000 B.C.)in Nepal were the same those found in Govy of Mongolia,Asia and America(source wikipedia) I just anaylsed the differences though there are smilarities and differences but Village was beautiful with typical houses because we were at heritage trails.After of hour asked a permission with locals for photos ,got the few shots by Robert and back to the lodge for dinner. At morning Sun was early in Thuman Village and Moutains were shining through our eyes and the best thing was we were getting nearer to the mountain ranges and our porters were ready to move ahead, air pressure was low in my back tire probaly,got a snake bite and i got busy myself pumping air to pedal again to the narrow passage of village which leads down hill to the Bhotekoshi river.We needed to cross aboout 1200meter hill with thin forest and the trail was awesome I can say a best single track I ever rode before.Fully technical, rideable and breathtaking trail. Those European hikers didn't expected us to ride over those trials, they were waiting at suspension bridge and watching us from down. They thought that we won't be able to ride inside of that hill.but my fellow riders didn't take the risk to ride in all the sections of trail.I did it in my own will because i'm a professional rider and I had a experience of riding on those kind of trials though,it doesn't mean I'm a genius rider but I took the risk and rode with my Hard Tail bike.. The structure of hill and track was vital to ride fast,if you fall then probaly at 1200meter down to Bhotekoshi river and there will be no turning back pretty scary.The trail inside of hill looked like a zig-zag sketch on a wall.All the trail we rode was path of Mules, locals still use Mules as tranportation to bring their foods and other goods.But now, In corporation with chinese governement they constructed a road below the hills so not more mules, no traffic jam,easier and faster to brings foods and other needs.Good thing is they hadn't destroyed the natural tracks which were made in anceint time.After riding on amazing downhill single track we crossed the suppsension bridge, got ready to carry my bike to the Tea Shop for a launch.Carrying and pushing a bike had been normal to me,carried it till I crossed the village. It was a pretty bad day coz I had to carry my bike and back pack for hours but at last catched the desecnt single track inside of forest and went to the village called Khangjim for a night.The village was situated at the back of Langtang valley, from where we saw a villages and trails we rode earlier.Wherever we stayed for night we saw a moutains from every angel.and that really surprised us. To wake up at morning was tough,I slept more hours than usual because of tiredness.Guys came to knock at my room and went for pancake and coffe.Came back and packed my stuffs and got out of room with wearing helmet not to ride but to carry my bike and that really freaked me out.I went to ask locals about the uphill, and they said, you dont have to carry your bike for long, inside of 30minutes you will find the way to ride.That was kinda relief information to me and I bought a few snickers to eat on the way coz it helps a lot while carrying a bike.Well, it was not a hard morning after of 45minutes found a desecend single track but we had to focus while riding becuase deep down was river and we didnt know, at how many meter of height we were riding but it looked deep down to scare anyone. Few section were techincal with rocky garden and trails were inside of hill again,which leaded us to Sherpagaun.We were getting closer to the moutains and trails were cool enough to ride.At lunch point we changed our plan and talked to the leader of our porter and decided to catch the main trekking trail and stay at night at Thangsyap instead of Lama hotel. However, it will be easy and faster to reach Glaciers but it was going to be hard for our porters and me.In high altitude its really hard to walk for 8-9hrs with bike and bagpack but no options and i walked further to Thanshyap with my porters.Hiked and biked untill water falls appear and started biking again on descend trail inside of forest.We planned to reach our lodge at day light but in high altitude we were not able to ride fast. At evening we were at GhodaTabela (which mean horse stable) Langtang National park's last check point by Nepal Army,where we had to show our pass and need to register the names of visitors.Moutains were close and welcoming us for gallantry over those trails and from there we saw a place to stay at night, it looked very close but it was not.Trail was rideable in the bank of river and track leaded up to the village.Carried a bike in few sections and it was getting dark but at last w made it to the lodge.It was a tough day to me, I walked and biked for 9hrs but at night beer was in our priority list to reduce a pains.We talked with other hikers inside of typical dinning hall at night because we were already in main trekking trial so obviously there were lots of tourist.I briefed them about our ride but I had to give them answers because they were curious and asked me so many questions.I told them i'm going to ride to the glacier, if possible then I'm going to take my bike in Tsergo Ri peak (5033meter)but they were shocked and said, 'are you out of your mind' and i said if possible then I might ride down from the top and there was big laugh.Well it was a joke for them but my plan was to ride from there.That night I went to bed early because of tiredness and slept well at night.(note: I didnt ride from Tsergo peak in 2013probably, im gonna ride there in 2014 to set record).: Mule's bells were ringing and it just distubed me at morning, watched out of window Sun was there and checked my watch it was showing 8:20am pretty late for breakfast.I went out to check our bikes cleaned some of it parts and put some oils in chain and made ready for next ride.It was a beautiul bright morning ate some omlete and boiled noodles in breafast and pedal to the glacier. This day was the day that my dream was going to be true and I was so excited to ride in glaciers.The trail was desend and ridable, we crossed few suspension bridge on the way surrounded by moutains and it was so close to us, crossed langtang valley and carried bike for 29minutes and then rode faster to reach Kyanjin Gompa for launch. If we were able to reach faster then it will be more comfortble to ride in glacier.We were there for Launch so many moutains infront of our eyes, we were happy that we made all the way up there. even we crossed the Langtang valley and celerbrateed with bottles of beer together with launch and head to the Langshisha Kharka Glacier(4048meter)I was excited to, rode fast for while and single tracks were ahead but descend and followed the white river came from the moutains. It was amazing to ride below the huge moutains, so many tourists were there and I don't know how many of them took our photos but I can say a lots.We were at 4048meter and it was tough to ride fast but we went to the place where the moutains were infront of us.We felt like they were watching us and welcomed us for our insanity and yes, at last I left a print of my tires as a singnature on Valley of Glaciers.The moutains were huge and silents and it was beautiful to see near of us. We rested for while but i headed to pedal on Glaciers thats what i dreamed of before.According to the locals I was the first rider who reached to the glaciers with moutain bike.Lots of people did ride their bikes on Moutains trail but Riding very close ( below the 200meter down) to the mountains, was one of the best ride i ever rode before.At night we were back to the lodge at Kyanjin Gompa with happy faces and we all had a wonderful night.
Morning ride was over frozen waters with cracking sounds.For the last time we watched the moutains and took time for lots of photos and rode back.Trails started downhill ride, everybody loves downhill rather bearing a pains on uphill, we were heading down so altitude was decreasing and riders were pretty fast in down hill.So many tourist were on the way sometime we had to stop ourself and need to provide them some spaces to cross.At the day light we reached to the lodge for a night but the thing still confused me to end our tour.We had a two optional trials to end our ride so we discussed about the trail again.One leads to the main trekking trail but downhill and other leads to Khangjim village and then full single downhill track to the place where we stayed our first night but the problem was need to carry our bikes for couple of hours.My fellow riders choosed a main trekking trail because lack of time, they didn't wanted to take a risk.
At morning trail started from the bank of river and then inside of forest, trail section were rideable but not all.We catched few single tracks, some were scary with rocky garden, narrow trial inside of forest and rode in landslides trail up of the Bhotekoshi river. It was awesome ride all the way back to the place where we stayed our first night. We ended our ride after crossing the last suspension bridge.We all were happy for our safe ride and I was happy for completing my task.Last night was celebration night with promises to "Never stop exploring amazing trails" in future..

If anyone willing to join with me then follow me to the moutains trails a highest trails around the world to judge your strength and capabiliities for amazing adventure. The tour was organized by Trinetra Adventure one of the good adventure agency in Nepal.M.D Sunar Bdr.Gurung ( famous climber and Trekking trail expert),Director Harka Bdr.Gurung(climber and counselor) and Chandra Bdr.Chettri (Master XC race champion and Senior Mtb Guide)who trusted on my capabilties and supported me with their ideas about trails and gave me an opportunity to join with Trinetra Adventure agency to explore trails in Langtang Valley.

Practicalities:
When to go:The best time for biking is April-May and in winter September to the mid of November.There will be not so much snows but if you dare to ride then ride from Mt.Tsergo Ri peak (5033meter)will be amazing.Though it's not easy need to take a high risk for it.Trails include Tamang Heritage Trails and Moutain trails which will lead us to circuit trail with 13-14days to accomplish. How to get there There are flights but chopper only, but you can reach by highway in bus less than 8hrs from Kathmandu to Syaphrubesi.There are lots of good hotels around the Langtang region.From the second day ride will start til you reached your destination.It would be better to do a circuit trail rather than following the regular hiking trails.Coz you will love the geographical structures.
What to take:Well, there are some rules to follow inside of national park as:you are not allow to ride or hike alone, you need to take a porter and guides but there are so many hikers who used to walk alone and took a risk by theirselves.If you are willing to go alone then, you need Gps, maps, tools for your bike, better to have full supsension bike, it would be good, If you know the few words of local language.There are lots of bike companies in kathmandu, who provides good and branded bikes but Langtang is not in their priority list , few operates the tour to langtang valley and probably a circuite trail.Langatng is popular for Trekking and its getting popular for biking too.You can find tea houses everywhere and lodges too.Your heavy stuffs will be carried by porters just little bag pack is enough to carry by yourself or probably a camel bag only.
CONTACTS AND FUTHER INFO:you can follow me at https://www.pinkbike.com/u/ridersofnepal or contact me at bikash_frebs@yahoo.com.Tour will be organize by Trinetra Adventure, www.trinetra-adventure.com and arrange us trained guides, porters and rescue team at any time.