Sikkim Kangchenjunga Circuit

Sikkim, India · India

Expedition Grade18 daysAsia~£2,600 est.

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Overview

Kangchenjunga, the world's third-highest mountain, straddles the Sikkim–Nepal border, and the Goecha La trek is India's closest legal approach: eight to ten walking days from the roadhead at Yuksom through the Khangchendzonga National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The trail climbs through orchid and rhododendron forest — in full crimson bloom through April — to the yak pastures of Dzongri, where a pre-dawn scramble to Dzongri Top delivers the first full sweep of the massif: Kabru, Pandim and Kangchenjunga's summit pyramid burning orange. The push to Goecha La itself, at about 4,940 metres, starts at 3am from Lamuney, passing the glacial mirror of Samiti Lake to the viewpoint over the Talung face. Altitude is the catch — the itinerary gains height quickly after Dzongri, and the acclimatisation day there is not optional. Sikkim wraps the walk in bureaucracy done properly: foreigners need an Inner Line Permit plus trekking permits arranged through a registered agency in Gangtok, walking with a guide while yaks and dzos carry loads. An 18-day trip including Pelling's Pemayangtse monastery or Darjeeling either side runs about £2,600 land cost. March–May and October–November are the windows; the monsoon drowns the trail in cloud and leeches.