Where the Larkya La lets you down
Larkya La is one of the longest passes in the Nepal Himalaya, a broad saddle at 5,106 m between Dharamsala, also called Larke Phedi, on the east and Bhimthang on the west. Long before trekkers, herders and traders crossed it with yaks and sheep between Nubri and Manang. The pass was hard, but it linked two valleys that are otherwise separated by many days of walking down and around. Herders still use the route in summer, and in the trekking seasons porters carry lodge supplies over it on their backs, often in trainers and with loads far heavier than any trekker's pack.
Bhimthang was the herders' meadow on the far side, a place to graze animals and rest after the crossing. Stone huts and walled enclosures still mark the old grazing grounds. When the Manaslu Circuit opened to trekking groups after the Manaslu Conservation Area was created in 1998, lodges appeared at Dharamsala and Bhimthang to serve trekkers crossing the pass, at first very simple and gradually improved. Even now there is no village here, only the lodges, a few herders' shelters and the moraine. Every sack of rice and every gas cylinder is carried in by porters or pack animals, which is why prices rise with every day you walk from the road.
Today the meadow sees most of its visitors in two short seasons, autumn and spring, when hundreds of trekkers cross the pass each week at the peak. In winter snow closes the pass and many lodges shut. The descent from Bhimthang through forest to Dharapani is a gentle end to the circuit, and the road beyond carries trekkers back toward Besisahar, Pokhara and Kathmandu. For many trekkers Bhimthang is where the effort of the whole circuit settles in. The pass is behind you, the air is thicker, and the walk down through forest feels like a slow return to green valleys, fields and villages after two weeks of rock and ice.
