is late august better than early, in terms of monsoon

[ns0588]

Hi there

Im going to be doing EBC trek sometime in August next year (i know, i know it'll be raining cats and dogs), but have a 3 week flexibility on september, so would you say that the weather may be even slightly better near the end of August?

or does it not make any difference?

I ask because I trying to sort out what to do when..it's all nepal and north india, so a lot of rain coming my way!

Cheers

[Lonely Janet]

hi there....

I think that in most years, the rains usually continue pretty steadily until about mid-September....and it is not uncommon for the monsoon to continue a bit beyond that either...I think this means that the first 2-3 weeks of September will probably be much the same as August...to miss the rains, you really need to wait until October most years......

happy trails....

L J

[Per]

I ask because I trying to sort out what to do when..it's all nepal and north india, so a lot of rain coming my way!


I doubt early or late August makes much of a difference. It might, but on the other hand, how much it rains depends on meterological factors, on weather patterns that vary a lot from one year to another. I crossed the Thorung La in late July it was free of snow, third week of August snow fell in Manang (though it melted the same day).

We have done quite a few treks during the monsoon, Langtang once, Annapurna area four times, and Solu Khumbu (EBC) once. We had no major problems, on the contrary we really appreciated the greenery and that we could hike really high without arctic gear.

Here is a link to an album from our trek to Solu Khumbu http://www.lowdin.nu/Treks/Khumbu/Khumbu92trek1.html

If India is an option you could consider Zanskar Ladakh, Nubra, Rupshu and Spiti. The whole area is in rain shadow, so the weather is splendid for hiking, pleasant warm days with mostly clear skies. Occasionally a few monsoon clouds spill over, but you never get the persistent rain you have in most on Nepal. The best time to hike in Ladakh is really in August, early September will be ok too, but then it gets really chilly.

http://www.lowdin.nu/Treks/Nubra/Film0193.jpg

Digar La between Ladakh and Nubra

[ns0588]

thanks for the advice :)

im going to be going to ladakh as well...its a pretty much 3 month north india/nepal tour!

[Per]

im going to be going to ladakh as well...its a pretty much 3 month north india/nepal tour!

Ahh, lucky you, there is splendid hiking in Ladakh June, July and August. In my opinion it is better in some respects than in Nepal, though trekking in Ladakh demands far more logistics. A really nice way to leave Ladakh is to hike down from Karzok by Tso Moriri to Spiti, http://www.lowdin.nu/Treks/Tsomoriri/TaklingLa98.html, stunning landscape, and the route saves you from an evil bus ride.