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GOECHA LA 

TREK

The trek to Goecha La offers two key highlights. From the midpoint at Dzongri Top at 4100m one gains a most wide view of the peaks in Western Sikkim. Two further days on from Goecha La at 4600m's one feels a sense of being immersed in the mountains virtually staring at the the Kabru Peak cluster and Kanchenjunga itself.

REgion

West Sikkim

FIRST TRIP

April 2016

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Trip Grading

3

Trip DURATION

12 days

Best Period

April, October

Side TRIPS

Attempt to reach

View Point 2

TRIP HIGHLIGHTS

  1.  One of the classic treks in the Indian Himalaya

  2.  Multi terrain approach which include forest sections & moraine 

  3.  Superb views of Kanchenjunga and Kabru peak cluster

  4.  Unwind in Pelling after the trek

Goecha La Gallery

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The trek to Goecha La started from the sleepy town of Yuksom located in Western Sikkim.

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For the first couple of days the trail would ascend through dense vegetation as prevalent in the Eastern Himalaya.

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Tsokha just shy of 3000m was camp two on the trail up to Goecha La.

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Day 3 with a height gain of nearly 1000m was a challenging day on the trek.

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Finally by late afternoon on Day 3 Dzongri at 3950m came into view.

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Day 4 began with a short but steep climb to Dzongri Top offering a most dramatic 360 degree view of the area.

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The most dominating view from Dzongri is of Kanchenjunga the 3rd highest mountain in the world.

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Day 4 was a rest day for acclimatisation and was spent lazing around in the sun.

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Day 5 offered dramatic viewing options with Mt. Pandim 6991m dominating the views towards the east.

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From Dzongri the trail descends to the Prek valley which would later offer up and close views of Kanchenjunga.

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As the views open up the Kabru cluster was visible towards the west, Kanchenjunga towards the north and Pandim towards the east.

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Early morning on day 6 we began the approach to Goecha La and at dawn we were rewarded by seeing first light on Kanchenjunga.

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Smiti Lake at 4300m’s is a most scenic spot and comes bang on the route heading up to Goecha La.

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Smiti Lake at 4300m’s is a most scenic spot and comes bang on the route heading up to Goecha La.

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Goecha La view point 1 required a 4am start and a height gain of 750m’s to reach a point of 4600m.

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The descent from Goecha La would see us drop more than 3000m’s in just over two days.

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The town of Pelling in West Sikkim offers a number of top tier hotels to wind down after 10 days in the mountains.

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