Kanchenjunga Base Camp Trek

Two base camps, one mountain, twenty days

Kanchenjunga is 8,586 m and the third-highest mountain on earth. It sits in the far east of Nepal against the Sikkim border, about as far from Kathmandu as it is possible to get and still be in the country, and it is guarded by the longest approach of any trek we sell.

What makes this route unusual is that it reaches both base camps. Pangpema on the north side sits at 5,143 m directly under the north face. Oktang on the south looks up the Yalung glacier at the face that the 1955 first ascent climbed. No other trek in Nepal puts you at two base camps of the same eight-thousander, and the two are entirely different experiences.

The summit nobody stands on

Worth knowing while you are looking at it. When Joe Brown and George Band made the first ascent in 1955, they stopped a few feet short of the true summit and did not step onto the highest point. The expedition had given an undertaking to the Chogyal of Sikkim that the summit — sacred to the people on both sides of the range — would remain untrodden.

Most expeditions since have honoured it. It is a rare thing in mountaineering: a convention with no enforcement behind it that has largely held for seventy years.

The permit rules, which are strict

Kanchenjunga is a restricted area and this is not a formality.

Requirement	What it means
Restricted Area Permit	Issued only through a registered Nepali agency — never to an individual
No minimum party size	Since March 2026 a solo trekker can be permitted individually
Licensed guide mandatory	A condition of the permit, not a recommendation
KCAP required	Kanchenjunga Conservation Area entry permit, alongside the RAP
Fixed dates	The permit names your dates; changing them means re-issuing

All permits are included in the price and handled by us. The old requirement for two trekkers on one restricted-area permit was removed in March 2026, so a solo traveller can now be permitted — though the permit still has to be issued through a registered agency and a licensed guide is still required.

A conservation area the community runs

The Kanchenjunga Conservation Area is managed by local community councils rather than directly by the national parks department, which is unusual in Nepal and visible on the ground: the lodges, the trail maintenance and the enforcement of grazing and firewood rules are local decisions.

It is also serious snow leopard country — one of the more important habitats in the eastern Himalaya, along with red panda in the forest below Ghunsa. You will almost certainly not see either. The point is that the habitat is intact enough that the question is reasonable.

How hard is it?

Challenging, and the hardest thing about it is duration rather than any single day.

Twenty days, of which roughly sixteen are walking, most of them six to eight hours. You sleep above 3,400 m for over a week and reach 5,143 m at Pangpema. The trails are long, remote and in places rough — this is not a maintained highway like the Khumbu trail, and sections between Sekathum and Ghunsa cross landslide-prone ground.

There is no technical ground and you need no equipment beyond boots, poles and proper cold-weather clothing. What you need is the fitness to walk for sixteen days without a rest day feeling like a necessity, and the temperament to be a long way from help.

North and south — why they feel different

	Pangpema (north)	Oktang (south)
Altitude	5,143 m	About 4,730 m
Approach	Ghunsa and Lhonak, glacier moraine	Yalung glacier from Ramche
The view	The north face, vast and close	The face climbed in 1955
Feel	Bleak, high, exposed	Greener, more enclosed
Weather risk	Higher — more altitude, more wind	Lower

Most operators sell one or the other. Doing both means crossing between the two valleys — either over the high Sele La ridge, which is the classic full circuit, or by descending and re-ascending. Our twenty-day itinerary takes in the north base camp and the southern viewpoint with the Sele La crossing, which is the version worth doing.

It is worth being clear about the cost of that choice. Going to one base camp only would save four or five days and a serious ridge crossing, and some clients ask for it. We will quote it, but we will also say that the two sides are the interesting part — seeing one face of Kanchenjunga and not the other is a bit like reading half a book.

Where it sits against the other long treks

This is the longest walk-in of anything we run, and buyers comparing it against our other big trips usually want to know what distinguishes them rather than which is hardest.

	Kanchenjunga	Makalu	Dhaulagiri
Days	20	19	16
Highest point	5,143 m	4,870 m	5,360 m
Accommodation	Lodges throughout	Lodges, then tents	Ten nights camping
Restricted permit	Yes	No	No
Hardest element	Duration and the Sele La	Three passes in one day	Two 5,000 m passes, no exit

If lodges every night matter to you, this is the one to take — Makalu Base Camp puts you in tents in the upper valley and Dhaulagiri is a full camping expedition.

Getting there, which takes two days

A flight from Kathmandu to Bhadrapur in the far-eastern Terai, then a long drive up to Taplejung, then a jeep on rough road to the roadhead at Sekathum. It is the best part of two days before you start walking.

The Bhadrapur flight is the weak link, as domestic flights in Nepal generally are. We build a spare day into the return, and we would repeat the standard advice: do not book your international departure for the morning after you are due back in Kathmandu.

Lodges, and where they thin out

Simple teahouses run most of the route, which is more than the Makalu or Dhaulagiri approaches offer. Ghunsa is the largest settlement and the most comfortable night above the roadhead. Above it — at Khambachen, Lhonak and Pangpema — the lodges are rudimentary, seasonal, and few.

Capacity at Lhonak and Pangpema is genuinely limited and in October it is tight. We book, and we carry a contingency, because being turned away at 4,800 m is not a situation to discover on the day.

Season

Late September to November is the strongest window: settled weather, the high camps open, and the best chance of clear mornings at Pangpema. March to May works well and is the better season for rhododendron in the forest below Ghunsa, with more afternoon cloud on the peaks.

Winter closes the high camps entirely. The monsoon makes the Sekathum to Ghunsa section genuinely hazardous with landslides, and we do not run it then.

Where this trek goes

• Kanchenjunga — Three weeks into Nepal's far eastern corner to the base of the world's third-highest mountain
• Kathmandu Valley — Seven UNESCO Monument Zones within an hour of each other

Related activities: Trekking in Nepal.

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