At the start of the climb the Lemosho Gate Ajmal Sobhan from Newport News, Virginia, is a retired surgeon, former marathon runner with many treks under his belt. In this guest post Ajmal describes his climb of Kilimanjaro the tallest free standing mountain in the world and one of the seven summits.  -Kilimanjaro: The agony and the ecstasy Before going to Tanzania, I must have watched a dozen or more YouTube videos on Kilimanjaro. Most of them gave a good packing list, shots optional or mandatory,  different routes  some tougher and some easier. Not many described ..read more

Everest, the Lhotse wall and Ama Dablam from the high route between Phortse and Pangboche  I was in the Khumbu for around three weeks in October – November 2023. Here are some updates which would be useful for trekkers in the coming year. Trek Card There is a trek card now which is issued at Lukla. You can apply online for the trek card uploading your passport soft copy and your photo at https://trekcard.app/registration  When you reach Lukla you can get the trek card by paying Rs 2000 at the Lukla checkpost.  The Sagarmatha Park fees continue to be paid at the Mon ..read more

  The mighty Arun river at Karticke Ghat from the bridge - Tumlingtar is one hour from here by jeep  "For dreadfulness naught can excel The prospect of Bung from Gudel; And words die away on the tongue When we look back at Gudel from Bung." H W Tilman - Nepal Himalaya 1950 After completion of our Ama Dablam Base Camp trek with our South Col Expeditions group I decided with one of my guides to head down to Tumlingtar from Lukla to assess the trek route as well as the new roads which had come in from different directions. I wanted to establish whether this route still remaine ..read more

2 Sept 2023: Atop Lasermo La. Left to right -- Prasad, Ashesh, and Kunsal, and Stanzin (kneeling) posing for the regulation photo, clicked by Glory!   Ashesh Ambasta is a experienced trekker who has been with South Col Expeditions on numerous treks including many in Ladakh. In this guest post he recounts his experiences on the recently concluded Phyang to Hunder trek across the 5440 m high Lasermo La - from the Indus to the Nubra valley. I am sure that trails in Ladakh never fail to amaze and delight trekkers. For starters, it is possible to experience what can truly be call ..read more

  Feedspot recently published a list of the best Himalayan blogs and the link is available at https://blog.feedspot.com/himalayan_blogs/?feedid=5614136 The list covers 35 blogs and websites from the thousands of blogs on the web ... many of them also run tours and treks in the Himalaya. This blog www.sujoyrdas.blogspot.com is no 24 on the list.  For more information on my treks and photo workshops do visit www.southcol.com. For photographs on the Himalaya do visit www.sujoydas.com Best wishes to all for the upcoming festive season and enjoy the holidays ..read more

  Mulde View Point and Poon Hill Trek Route and Timings With a view to extend the Poon Hill trek by a few days we decided to go a recce of a new route to Dobato and Muldai View Point – the Muldai route can be extended to Khopra Ridge as well. February 28th 2023 - Flight Kathmandu to Pokhara drive to Ghandrung  Our Buddha Air flight to Pokhara was at 7.55 am but when we reached the airport we were told that there are not enough passengers for two flights so they sent us on the earlier flight at 7 30 pm. The flight was uneventful with views of Langtang, Ganesh Himal and then Himalchul ..read more

  Kashmir Tarsar Marsar Trek August 16 to 20th 2022 A detailed day wise route desctiption and timings of the popular Tarsar Marsar trek by South Col Expeditions in August 2022 - due to bad weather and lack of days we could not cross over the Sonomas pass to Sumbal but returned to Lidderwat/Aru the same way. August 16th 2022 Pahalgam to Aru to Lidderwat  We drove from Pahalgam to Aru 2440 metres in about 30 minutes and started out from Aru around 8 am. It had rained for 14 hours nonstop the previous day but the weather had cleared up and the sun was out with blue skies. The first pa ..read more

  Namche to Gokyo to Phortse to Pangboche to Namche October 2021 Route details and timings for this route is below October 21 Namche to Dole  We left Namche on a sunny clear morning after the rain with all the peaks  visible - the broad trail mostly level with a few ups and downs was a lovely walk with all the peaks from Taboche to Thamserku visible including Everest, Lhotse and Ama Dablam. We reached the beautiful Ama Dablam Lodge at Kyanjuma in about less than two hours with many photography stops on the way. After a tea break at the lodge we started out for Mong la. Within ..read more

 In the last few years a large number of new roads have come up in the Annapurna region (most of them remain as dirt tracks for four wheel drive jeeps) and these roads can reduce the trekking days for popular treks in the region. I list some of these roads below and give the cost of a reserved jeep in some cases where I have used them.   Pokhara to Kimche Kimche is about 1 hours walking below Ghandrung and this road goes upto Nayapul (black top) and then on a dirt track to Kimche – the black top section is quite good now and the whole journey by jeep takes about 2 hours. There are ..read more

 Members of the 1921 Everest Reconnaissance Expedition  This review was first published in The Hindu on  August 7th 2021 https://www.thehindu.com/books/books-reviews/the-hunt-for-mount-everest-review-the-giant-among-pygmies/article35759391.ece For most climbers and armchair mountaineers, the history of Everest begins with an Indian surveyor named Radhanath Sikdar rushing into the office of the Surveyor General of India around the 1850s, and announcing “Sir, I have found the highest mountain in the world!” Craig Storti  in his opening chapter “Peak XV” casts his doubts on t ..read more