Plan of approach

The best time to visit the region is Autumn. The weather is relatively stable then. Naya Kanga can be attempted anywhere between mid October and mid November. We aimed to summit on 4 November.

Our approach was to cross the Tilman's Pass before going to Naya Kanga. That meant that we would be adequately acclimatized, because we crossed a high col (5300 m) and we slept at high altitude (4800 m). We knew that the route to Tilmans Pass would not be easy. We just hoped to be able to find the pass and cross it. That was our first and most important objective, Naya Kanga was number 2.

For Naya Kanga we planned to take the route over the North-East ridge. This ridge is rated PD+/AD- (French grading). There is a steep snow section of some 200 meters which may need some secured climbing. When we were there we found a fixed rope which we only used for descent. And the last few meters to the top needs belaying or another fixed rope. Our guide installed a fixed rope to the summit and we used our jumars to help ourselves up.

Actual itinerary

Below you will find the itinerary as we executed it. On day 8 and 9 we went the wrong way. That caused some delay. We eventually found the right track again but were one day behind at that time. We planned to have a rest day in Tilmans Pass Base Camp (to allow the guide to install fixed ropes to the pass), but we decided to skip that rest day. The guide installed the ropes in the afternoon of the day before, so we managed to cross Tilmans Pass on the planned date. From then on everything went smoothly apart from day 20. That day we learned that there was no water to be found and also not the first half of the next day. That forced us to walk half a day further than anticipated. And on day 21 we got a very short day!

Day Activity Sleeping Altitude Gain Hours
1 Drive to Syaule and hike to Sanu Okreni 1990  
2 Kami Kharka 3044 1054  
3 Pauwa Bas 3250 206  
4 Hille Bhanjyang 3500 250  
5 Nasimpati 3667  
6 Panch Pokhari 4040 373  
7 Acclimatisation day 4060
8 Camp P4260 (plan was: Bheri Kharka at 4150 m, but we got lost) 4260 200
9 Camp P4250 (plan was: Tin Kunda at 4215 m, still lost) 4250 -10
10 Balephi Glacier Camp Low camp (plan was Balephi Glacier High camp a.k.a. Tilmans Pass BC) 4260 10
11 Balephi Glacier High camp a.k.a. Tilmans Pass BC (plan was an acclimatisation day) 4827 567
12 Tilman's Pass (5300) and down to camp near glacier lake 4750
13 Langshisha Kharka 4120
14 Kyanjin Gompa 3870  
15 Rest day 3870
16 Naya Kanga Base Camp 4300 430  
17 Naya Kanga High Camp 4920 620  
18 Naya Kanga summit - High camp 4920
19 Ganja-La (5100) and down to Yangri Kharka (plan was Keldang but we were tired) 4416  
20 Kharka just before Yangri Peak (plan was Dhukpu, but no water) 3417  
21 Tarkeghyang 2550  
22 Kakani 2000  
23 Melamchi Pul and drive to Kathmandu 1350  

Elevation profile

And this our actual elevation profile which was recorded with our GPS data logger. You can clearly see the 2 passes. The ascent of Naya Kanga was not recorded.

Eleveation profile

Google Earth

Below you find an overview of our actual route in Google Earth.

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