Is Langtang Valley Trekking Possible Without A Guide?

Brief Summary About Langtang Valley Trekking

The Langtang Valley Trek falls within the boundary of the Langtang National Park, situated in the Rasuwa district of Bagmati province in the Central Development Region, Nepal. Langtang is the name of one of the mountain ranges in the country that has some beautiful peaks:

• Langtang Lirung (the highest peak in the range, 7,234 m/23,734 ft)
• Langtang Ri (7,205 m/23,638 ft)
• Dorje Lakpa (6,966 m/22,854 ft)
• Loenpo Gang (6,979 m/22,897 ft)
• Changbu (6,781 m/22,247 ft), etc

Regarding the ethnic groups along the trail, Tamang and Tibetans inhabited most of the region. Therefore, you will experience the Buddhist culture during the trek. Furthermore, you will get the chance to witness some wildlife species, such as snow leopards, Himalayan Tahr, musk deer, etc.

The trek is one of the closest to the capital city, Kathmandu (1,400 m/4,600 ft), usually takes eight days to complete and is moderate in difficulty. It is considered one of the easiest treks in the country according to the trail, which is well-defined from the starting point, Syabrubesi (1,503 m/4,655ft) to the highest point, Tserko Ri (5,033m/ 16,500 ft).

So, it is an ideal trek for the beginners or first-timers. Despite its easy route, altitude may be a threat during trekking, as you will ascend above 5,000 m.

Langtang Valley Trekking Guide Necessity

Langtang Valley Trek is one of the best adventure experiences that first-timers can ever have. But it does not mean that the trek is not sufficient for experienced or extreme hikers. The trek offers picturesque views of Nepal's Himalayas, Buddhist culture, and jaw-dropping landscapes along the trail, making all categories of adventure lovers enjoy their journey.

A trekking guide always plays a vital role in making your journey memorable. They are not just a necessity for beginners but also for experienced hikers.

This is because experienced ones can cover a long distance by carrying a heavy backpack with no problem most of the time while trekking. Nevertheless, several factors can make your journey challenging even though you have already done many treks in your life before.

Below are the several benefits of hiring a guide for Langtang Valley Trekking:

Guidance In Remote Area

The trek mostly contains lush forests, making it sometimes confusing, especially for inexperienced hikers. However, the first thing is a new environment whether it has huge forests and rough trails or not, it always makes you feel awkward at first, mainly in remote locations like the Langtang Region.

At the same time, if you have a professional guide with years of experience, they will help you out by doing several things:

• They make sure that you are on the right side of heaven.
• They make you aware of the things you encounter along the route.
• They lead you to the main point of the trek and bring you back safely.
• They help you to communicate with the locals by translating words into your language, which sometimes even experienced hikers have problems dealing with.
• They take care of your life and belongings till the end of the adventure.

Safe And Emergency Help

At high-altitude locations, altitude sickness and nature-related issues like landslides, floods, etc., are common, including in the Langtang Region. Even experienced trekkers can go careless sometimes in the heat of excitement and get sick as they gain height gradually.

On the other hand, no matter how much the weather is clear, it is always considered unpredictable and can turn on us all of a sudden at any time. But if you have an experienced guide by your side during the trek, they will not let you go through such circumstances in the first place, and even by any chance, if you go through them, they will fix your problem in no time.

Cultural And Local Awareness

As mentioned earlier, the Langtang Region is occupied by Tamang and Tibetans, meaning you will find the practice of Buddhist culture most of the part while trekking. Thus, hiring a guide for Langtang Valley Trekking will be useful because they share information about the local culture and history, creating an environment for learning about it.

Permits And Paperwork

To trek the Langtang Valley, you are required to have some permits: a Langtang National Park permit and a Trekkers' Information Management System (TIMS) Card. However, applying for these permits might be confusing for you because of the new place and the language barrier.

Especially if you are a non-English speaker and even if you speak it in your daily life, not every person is smoothly speaking English here though the language is already common. In such conditions, a trekking guide would be very helpful for you because they will do your paperwork to make you feel hassle-free.

Environmental Responsibility

We, sometimes, are careless while trekking and enjoying nature. Regardless of the fact that it is not our intention, we leave our waste behind because in such enjoyable situations all we care about the nature's beauty and later, we regret it.

Our goal is to promote sustainable tourism, and for that, first of all, we should be responsible for the place we are visiting. Trekking guides help you remember it during the trek to preserve the region's beauty.

What Is Altitude Sickness On Langtang Valley Trekking?

Altitude sickness is a situation where you struggle to acclimate to the lower oxygen levels at high elevations when you ascend carelessly and rapidly. Regarding the Langtang Valley Trek, which stretches from 1,460 m (4,790 ft) to 4,984 m (16,352 ft), you should take precautions when you reach 1,800 m (5,906 ft).

That is where signs of altitude sickness may begin to develop. Once you reach elevations above 3,000 m (9,843 ft), the susceptibility to sickness increases substantially.

The three forms of altitude sickness you may have on the trek, in order of harshness, are: Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS), High-Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE) and High-Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE). AMS is the mildest form and the most commonly experienced sickness, while HACE and HAPE can be severe and fatal.

If you want to know how to identify altitude sickness in yourself or others in your group, here are the signs of each illness:

AMS

• Headache (most common)
• Dizziness and nausea
• Loss of appetite
• Fatigue and weakness
• Insomnia
• Shortness of breath with exertion

HACE

• Severe headache and confusion
• Loss of coordination
• Hallucinations or altered mental state
• Difficulty walking
• Loss of consciousness

HAPE

• Extreme shortness of breath (even at rest)
• A persistent cough (may produce pink, frothy sputum)
• Chest tightness or pain
• Bluish lips and nails (cyanosis)
• Weakness and dizziness

Going on Langtang Valley Trekking without a guide will be extremely difficult if you suffer from altitude sickness. No one will be there to take care of you in such circumstances. Many solo tourists have lost their lives during their trek due to altitude sickness in Nepal.

Hence, it is also one of the reasons why you should hire a guide for the trek. Trekking guides have years of experience and good knowledge regarding this thing due to which they can identify the symptoms in no time and bring you down to at least 500 m immediately for safety.

Langtang Valley Trekking Accommodation

Langtang Trek is among the popular trekking trails in Nepal. So, there are plenty of hotel businesses available along the way from the starting point to the valley. All the tea houses and hotels are full of modern facilities, such as:

Electricity

Electricity is one of the major needs in human life. Without it, it is hard to imagine a life even in a dream. Therefore, although the Langtang Region is one of the remote locations in the country, there is electricity available in every tea house, making your stay easy during the trek.

It is not as good as in the city areas. Nevertheless, it is great to have in such places. At least, you will be able to charge your modern gadgets like camera batteries, mobile phones, power banks, etc.

Internet

The Internet is another major need in our life after electricity. It is a very useful thing that humans have ever created. Our current condition is like no internet no life.

If there is no Wi-Fi connection available at any place we stay in the Langtang Region, we'll miss so many things. This is because almost everything runs online nowadays.

Even to stay updated with the weather forecast, which is the most important thing to monitor during trekking, we need the internet to check it daily. With the help of it, you can also do some of your other important jobs and stay in touch with your beloved people while enjoying a trek to the Langtang Valley.

Hot Showers

After a long day of hike, you certainly get dirty and tired. In the meantime, if there is a hot water facility to take a bath at a tea house where you plan to stay overnight, it will help you get fresh, relaxed, clean, warm, and proper sleep at night. At every hotel along the route on the Langtang Trek, there is this facility available for you.

Multiple Food Options

During the Langtang Valley Trek, you don't need to be worried about what kind of foods are available at hotels. All the hotels along the trail have multiple cuisine options from authentic Nepalese to Western food. For this reason, you can order food according to your choice and budget and don't need to compromise with your meal.

How To Book A Room At Tea Houses in Langtang Valley Trekking?

Since it is also a famous trail there are enough tea houses available along the route, which makes your adventure even more smooth and easy to some extent. As stated above, all these hotel businesses are equipped with modern amenities, such as electricity, Wi-Fi connection, hot showers, and a variety of food options on the menu.

All these hotels stay open every season except during monsoons (June to August), as it is way more challenging to trek in the Langtang Region due to the high risk of natural disasters, such as landslides and floods, which often happen in the rainy season in Nepal. Accordingly, very few trekkers go for the trek to this region or any other in the country. We can say almost no trekking happens during this time, which is why most of the hotels along the way remain closed.

Winter (December to February) is also considered off-season like monsoons. But it is somehow safer than trekking during the rainy season, especially in December. The weather is not that harsh in the daytime because the sun is bright most of the time, providing you with warmth while hiking.

In the morning and at night, the temperature is undoubtedly freezing. Nevertheless, we can manage to stay warm by wearing warm layers of clothes while we are resting at tea houses. That is why most of the hotels remain open during winter as well.

But spring (March to May) and autumn (September to November) are considered the best seasons for the Langtang Valley Trek and during these times, you may struggle to find a room at a hotel for your overnight stay. All you will need to do is book a room early at least a couple of days ago to stay on the safe side.

However, you don't need to be worried about this too as long as you have the trekking guide along your side. You can enjoy your adventure to the fullest and at the same time, your guide will work out on booking a room for you for your convenience because an experienced guide has a good link with all the hotels along the way and their contact numbers.

Langtang Valley Trekking Tips For Beginners

In spite of the fact that the Langtang Trek is moderately difficult, it could be challenging sometimes if there is no guide with you while you are in your beginner phase. Moreover, it is also important to have some self-research about the trek before you plan to start it.

A well-planned and well-researched trek with a professional guide will definitely make your travel successful. Consequently, we have some useful tips for first-timers that can help you prepare for the adventure. They are as follows:

Stay Hydrated

Water is the most important thing in our life. To stay fit and healthy, you should make a habit of drinking water of at least 2 to 3 litres a day. During trekking, it is mandatory to stay hydrated or else, you will be the prey of high-altitude sickness.

The more you drink water, the more your urine gets clean, which is a sign of being hydrated and maintaining your distance from altitude sickness. Additionally, avoid drinking alcohol during trekking, as it dehydrates your body, which leads you to danger.

Consume Healthy Foods

There are so many healthy foods for us; however, consuming as many calories during the trek is always a smart move. You should eat high amounts of carbohydrates like rice, pasta, and potatoes because calories are very high in these foods.

Carbohydrates are considered heavy and take a long time to digest. During trekking, you need to cover long distances with a heavy backpack on your shoulder. For that, you need energy all the time and foods with high calories provide your body with excessive energy.

Keep in mind that you should avoid oily and over-fried items and smoking cigarettes during the trek. Furthermore, consume food with a high portion of water like apples and cucumbers.

Daily Workout

If you are already a daily workout person, then it is okay. However, if you don't have a habit of doing exercise regularly, you should better start doing it at least a couple of weeks ago for an hour a day from the date of your adventure. Your body should be fully stretched and full of stamina.

Try doing exercises such as stretching, running, and squat. These three workouts really assist you in having a flexible body, strengthening your legs, and boosting your stamina so that you can walk a long distance with a minimum feeling of tiredness and reduce the danger of getting sick or injured.

Frequent Breaks

During the trek, you should always walk at a slow pace because the faster you walk, the quicker you get exhausted, and that is when altitude sickness stands a chance to live in your body rent-free. For that reason, you should act smart to trick altitude sickness by walking slowly and taking enough breaks frequently at least for 7 to 8 minutes while hiking.

You should also spend an extra day at the same point after you make it up to 3,000 m (9,843 ft) to acclimatize your body. Trekking should be done with no rush, as haste is the devil's work. It will bring you no benefit but only harm.

Enough Sleep

You should be careful with your sleep during trekking. Always go to bed on time after dinner in order to completely recharge your body. Sleep at least 7 hours at night.

Please note that you should not hit the bed directly right after you reach the hotel at the destination of your overnight stay just because you are spent. Doing so will have a high chance of getting sick.

Instead, get fresh and drink enough water (best if it is warm), have some snacks, and wait until dinner is on the table. Dinner usually gets ready by 7 PM at tea houses on the trekking route.

At high-altitude locations like the Langtang Valley, you should give your body time to get familiar with the environment and air. Hence, sleeping directly upon reaching the hotel will be one of the worst things to do during the trek.

Carry Enough Cash

Currently, online payment service is in trend in Nepal. Where there is internet service available, you can make a payment by scanning the QR. Despite the fact that there is also an internet facility at all the existing hotels along the Langtang Valley trail, you still need to carry enough cash for 8 days of trek because after the starting point, Syabru Besi, there are no ATM boots available everywhere.

Also, in such a remote location, an internet connection can have technical errors at any time, making you unable to pay the hotel's bill online. So, better if you carry enough cash with you as a backup.

Langtang Valley Trekking Essentials

Some basic and essential gear that you should have for trekking the Langtang Valley are listed below:

• A sturdy backpack with a minimum size of 55L.
• Two trekking T-shirts (long sleeves are best) and trekking pants.
• Two T-shirts and pants for the hotel stay.
• A warm-down jacket is rated for temperatures down to -15C.
• Trekking poles to protect your knees.
• Thermals and high-neck sweaters are nice for stays in the hotel.
• Comfortable wear such as slippers, sandals, or extra shoes for the hotel.
• A raincoat and windproof jacket, as the weather is unpredictable.
• Personal care supplies like lotion, lip balm, face wash, toothbrush and toothpaste, soap, shampoo, and sunscreen (SPF 50).
• Light socks for trekking and thick socks for warmth when staying in the hotel.
• Quality trekking shoes.
• A small First Aid Kit.
• A hard plastic water bottle for normal water and hot water.
• Extra undergarments for the trek.
• Snacks such as dry fruits, protein bars, bars, and cookies.
• A Power Bank for your electronic devices.
• UV-protection sunglasses to prevent harmful rays from the sun and snow from hitting your eyes.
• Windproof gloves to keep your heat in.

Note: A First Aid Kit is not that necessary to carry while trekking with an experienced guide because they usually have the kit with almost all the needed medications for the trek in it. However, for your personal use or as backup, it is better to bring one with you.