Traversing the Lamjura La in Nepal

This is day 3 and 4 of my 24 day trek through the Khumbu region of Nepal

It appears that trekking in the Himalayas, at least on the Jiri to Lukla trail, is all about climbing in and out of deep valleys via high mountain passes. It is what I had been doing for the first couple of days on the trail. Now, I had the largest of these to conquer – the 3530 metre Lamjura La. It would take two days to cross.

It wasn’t a great start from the earthquake damaged village of Bhandar. I had a rotten night’s sleep and was beginning this formidable task already tired, but walking out of the village and into the valley beyond in the fresh morning air, I soon cheered up and enjoyed the views looking out over the hazy landscape.

The trail followed the contour of the mountain, only gradually ascending for sometime before reaching the larger valley beyond and dropping down quickly through terraced fields. The views of the valley were beautiful, extending far north with small villages at the bottom and high green mountains above.

A good spot for a rest – the trail to Lamjura heads straight up the mountain before us and along the valley to the right

I descended for sometime until I reached the flat trail at the bottom of the valley, which I followed until I crossed the Likhu Khola via a suspension bridge. I was now at 1450 metres, having lost all of the altitude I had gained over the past view days, plus more. From here, I would have to ascend over 2000 metres in altitude to reach the Lamjura La. It was an intimidating thought.

Crossing the Likhu Khola

On the other side of the river I trekked up through a cardamon plantation, crossed a smaller stream and entered the village of Kinja in time for lunch. The village has a beautiful setting, sitting at the confluence of the Likhu Khola and Kinja Khola, with views north up the valley to the ice capped peak of Numbur. Unfortunately, it too was badly affected by the earthquake and there was only one teahouse operating. There were a few trekkers around and we all had to wait our turn for food. It was a good opportunity to rest my weary legs, but the day was wearing on.

Crossing the bridge into Kinja

Numbur (6950m) pokes out above the valley in Kinja

After lunch it was time to truly begin the climb to Lamjura, and from Kinja the trail does only that. It was a long, grueling climb up 900 metres in altitude to reach my stop for the night in Sete. At one point I thought I was going to be trekking in darkness, but to my relief I stumbled in to Sete just as the sun was setting.

Looking back down to Kinja on the way up to Sete

The Primary School in the tiny village of Chimbu

Sete, finally!

The following morning started off better than the day before as I slept well in a comfortable teahouse in Sete. My legs were a bit stiff as I started off in the cool morning, but they soon warmed up as I walked and I was able to develop a slow and steady rhythm, climbing up the mountain, one step at a time.

Getting ready for the day’s hike at the teahouse in Sete

The climb to the Lamjura La is really relentless. It is just constant with basically no flat sections to break it up and have a rest. It was tough work, slowly gaining on the 1000 metre ascent. There is only a couple of small villages on this part of the climb and the trail mostly ascends through mossy forest. The views behind were beautiful, but that all went away at the half way point when a sudden change in the weather set in. A thick fog quickly enveloped the mountain and the temperature dropped dramatically. I was sweating before and now I was suddenly freezing.

Looking back down the valley we have trekked up from – tough terrain.

The fog prevented me from seeing far up the trail, so with no summit in sight I had no idea how much further I had to go. It seemed to go on forever. My leg muscles burned, I was exhausted, and climbing up above 3000 metres for the first time on this trek, the air was beginning to get thinner.

Eventually, I reached what appeared to be a flat section of the trail and I had hoped that this was the top of the pass, but knew otherwise as I hadn’t reached the village of Lamjura yet. This flat section led along the contour of the mountain along a rocky trail to the village. From there, it is only another 100 metres of climbing to reach the pass.

Trekking through the fog on the trail to Lamjura

I was freezing by the time I trudged on into Lamjura and I had to dig out all of my warm gear to rug up against the cold. The village is made up of about three or four teahouses, but all were out of action from the earthquake. Only one wooden hut was operating to feed the trekkers coming through. We all piled in to try and get warm by the fire and get a feed of dhal bhat to try and replace the enormous amount of calories we had burned.

The village of Lamjura, shrouded in fog

I would have preferred to stay by the warmth of the fire, but I still had a long way to go.

From the village my legs protested as I made the final ascent through the fog to the top of the pass, where I had to stop for a minute and breathe a sigh of relief. It was such a tough climb, but I had done it. I had conquered the Lamjura La.

Starting off on the final approach to the Lamjura La

It may not look like much, but this is the top of the Lamjura La – 3530m

To finish off the day I had to make a quick, steep descent down through a beautiful moss covered forest of fir and rhododendrons, before following along the next valley through open fields where cows and goats grazed happily.

Trekking through the forest on the descent from Lamjura La

The trail to Junbesi

The day was wearing on and my legs, knees and feet were all weary when I rounded the end of the valley and entered the larger one beyond. There below I could finally see the village of Junbesi, my destination for the night.

Junbesi is finally in sight at the bottom of the valley.

A quick descent down through terraced fields brought me into Junbesi, once again, just before sunset. I stopped at the first teahouse I came to. I was utterly exhausted.

It had been a long, hard day of trekking, but I had done it. I had challenged myself and won. It was a good feeling.

That night I was asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Read on: Day 5 – Ups and Downs on the Trail to Nunthala