T
he Upper Mustang District in Western Nepal is on the radar of most adventure travelers. However, due to high permit costs and the expense to get there, not all make it to this beautiful corner of the Himalayas. The area still remains culture rich without having all the tourist paraphernalia and infrastructure you find at other popular tourist spots in Nepal. I had tried several times, unsuccessfully, to organize mountain bike trips into the region. So it was by chance my old friend, Scott Lindgren, with whom I’d been on many adventures, contacted me asking for help putting together a trip to the Upper Mustang. Scott, an Emmy award-winning filmmaker, wanted to shoot a section of a new film on which he was he was working with Freeride Entertainment and Red Bull called “Where the Trail Ends.” With the help of another good friend, a local operator in Nepal, we eventually secured all the
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documentation and permits for entering the Upper Mustang Kingdom and the incredible terrain that would be the backdrop for the film. The mountain bikers I’d be guiding on this fat tire adventure included Red Bull rider Darren Berrecloth from Canada, American Cameron Zinc and Canadians Garret Buehler and Kurt Sorge. Flying directly to Jomsom from Kathmandu on a charter flight and up the Kali Kandaki Valley is an adventure in itself. As you glide up the valley floor and peer out of the windows, 6,000-meter peaks dwarf you on both sides. From Jomsom, it’s just a short jeep ride to the entrance of Upper Mustang at the village of Kagbeni. This is a slight detour from the famous Annapurna Circuit that attracts trekkers from around the world. At Kagbeni, we loaded our gear onto donkeys and porters to start our trek toward Lo Manthang, scouting out spots for filming along the way. The stunning views of Nilgiri and Tilicho, two
SUMMER
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spectacular 7,000-meter mountains, shadowed us on our way up the valley where we camped at a village called Chele at an altitude of 3,000 meters. Although most of the group had been out on various far-flung adventures, this would perhaps be the furthest they had been without any modern amenities. Here they would be introduced to a bleak, yet beautiful landscape and a people with a rich culture who have learned to survive in this desolate environment. The landscape up here is simply breathtaking, with huge cliffs and bluffs worn down by centuries of erosion. The dry, arid conditions make it a brutal place to live for locals who expertly find the precious water that runs off the surrounding glaciers. Guided to water, it’s amazing to see patches of green appear in this hostile environment. In winter, most of the locals move down to the valleys below to escape the extreme weather, leaving just a few to look after the houses