Hiking the Himalayas: challenging trek offers views of Kanchenjunga, India’s highest mountain, and 13 other summits
- The Goecha La pass lies inside Kanchenjunga National Park in India, and provides dazzling views of the famous mountain range at its best
- But harsh conditions and tough ascents make this a challenging adventure
Nepal’s Himalayas may be well known, but Goecha La on the Indian side of the Eastern Himalayas is barely explored in comparison. While the trek there is challenging, it offers views of 14 summits, including Kanchenjunga, the highest mountain in India.
At 4,940m (16,207ft), Goecha La is a mountain pass that provides a glimpse of the Himalayas at their most pristine. It lies inside Kanchenjunga National Park, where the mountains are covered with dense forests of various green hues, waterfalls cascade from rocky ledges, exotic flowers blossom and shimmering snow-capped peaks rise in the distance.
The pass looks onto the south side of Kanchenjunga. At 8,586m high, Kanchenjunga is the third highest mountain in the world (until 1852, it was presumed to be the world’s highest).
The national park, spanning some 850 sq km, boasts a rich biodiversity and has been protected as a Unesco World Heritage Site since 2016, with unspoilt forests, glaciers and lakes.
I was keen to do this trek as I heard it was tough. At Yuksom, the base village where the trek begins in West Sikkim, I joined a group of four tourists travelling with trekking agency Red Panda, and spent a day in the village acclimatising to the altitude (which is at 1,786m here).