Monsoon Mountains
To Nepalis of the lowlands and midhills: try the high-Himal in mid-summer, rain or shine. Especially rain.
Trekking in the monsoon. For more than a decade the idea has been touted by the odd travel writer looking for something new to say and by trekking agents looking to expand their repertoire of packages. It has not yet caught on, and perhaps it is better that way. For the monsoon is the time that Nepalis might keep for themselves in order to get to know their own highlands. In the soft light of the monsoon, the High Himal conies into its own. The tourists stay away, the Sherpas, the Tamangs or the Bhutias who live along the main trekking trails find time to revert to the slower daily rhythms of the monsoon season.
I always tell my Kathmandu-based friends who are increasingly caught in the frenetic life of the city that monsoon is the time to emerge from their cocoons and understand their country. Not having to compete with the foreign tourist even on the main routes, they have the landscape and the trails to themselves. Monsoon is when the Nepalis who inhabit the high, wet valleys east of Dhaulagiri (east to west: Ramsher, Ghunsa, Walangchung Gola, Kemathang, Mumbuk, Hongu, Khumbu, Rolwaling, Panch Pokhari, Helambu, Langtang, Cheakampar, Larkya, Manang, Kagbeni, Dhorpatan) move up the mountain with their sheep and yaks. This is the time that the above-16,000 feet passes are free of snow, so there is maximum local traffic on the trail: trade, pilgrimages, and visiting families and in-laws.