27°32'N 86°29'E · 3,990 m
Signature · Khumbu (Everest)
Renjo La, Dudh Kunda, Pikey Peak — the Everest region's great descents, reached by air and ridden to the valley floor.
The first days ride the Kathmandu Valley's rim — Nagarkot's ridgelines, the rooty descent off Phulchowki — before the expedition flies east into the Solu hills for two days at Ratnange, a hillside of purpose-built trail cut by a local nonprofit and still barely ridden from outside Solu. Then the big flights: Dudh Kunda's sacred lake, and the crown of the trip, the lake below Renjo La — a landing above 5,100 metres — descending glacial rock gardens into Thame.
This is a route through living villages — Junbesi's stone houses and monasteries, Thame's mountaineering lineage, Namche Bazaar's amphitheatre of colour, coffee and apple pie. The hospitality is not a stop on the itinerary; it is where the expedition sleeps, eats and rests between descents.
This is not a traverse but a set of descents, each reached by air: Pikey Peak to Phaplu, Dudh Kunda to Thupten Choeling, and Renjo La to Thame. The helicopter does the climbing between them. Around those three, Ratnange is ridden as shuttle laps on a hillside of cut trails, and day nine rides down from the Gokyo lakes to Namche Bazaar. The day-by-day figures are confirmed with you when you reserve.
Mangal Krishna Lama leads this tour. In 2022 he made the first solo mountain-bike traverse of the Great Himalaya Trail high route. It was 88 riding days from Kangchenjunga to Hilsa, over twenty-two passes above 5,000 metres, as his log shows. He rode the Ratnange hillside before its trail centre was built. The guides who plan your trip are the guides who ride with you.
Enduro bike · reinforced tubeless tyres · dropper post essential · warm layers for alpine starts
The helicopter sets the calendar here in a way it does not on our other routes: every lift needs a flyable sky, so this expedition runs in spring and autumn only. Outside those windows we still work in the Khumbu — a custom trip, on request, built around what the weather and the aircraft will actually allow that month.
Recommended
Mar · Apr · May
March to May is one of the two windows the helicopter can rely on for lifts to Renjo La, Dudh Kunda and Pikey Peak — one of the two seasons, alongside autumn, this expedition actually runs.
Closed
Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep
The helicopter needs a flyable sky, and the monsoon in the high Khumbu rarely gives it one for long enough, so the expedition does not run in these months.
Recommended
Oct · Nov
October and November are the other window the helicopter can rely on, on the settled far side of the monsoon — together with spring, this is when the expedition runs.
Closed
Dec · Jan · Feb
The same holds from December through February: at these altitudes, deep winter does not give the helicopter the conditions it needs, so the expedition does not run.
Route profile
Pikey Peak 3,990 m · Phaplu 2,500 m · Dudh Kunda 4,630 m · Thupten Choeling 3,010 m · Below Renjo La 5,110 m · Thame 3,800 m
Day by day
Day 01
Arrive Kathmandu, meet the guides, build the bikes. The evening is a welcome dinner and the expedition briefing — flights, altitude plan, and the shape of the twelve days.
Day 02
shuttle → ridden
ridgeline trails · forest singletrack · natural berms · technical sections
Descents off the valley rim, the shuttle taking the climbing. Ridgelines above the valley, pine forest and fast descents. The first of two days to loosen up.
Day 03
shuttle → ridden
rooty forest singletrack · rocky switchbacks · technical descents
The shuttle climbs; you ride. The valley's highest hill, and the long descent off it — dense forest and rocky switchbacks, top to bottom. A second day to settle in.
Day 04
helicopter → ridden
alpine meadows · pine forest · village trails
The first flight: step out above the clouds with a horizon that runs from Dhaulagiri to Everest, then a long descent through alpine meadows, pine forest and villages to Phaplu.
Day 05
shuttle → ridden
short, steep descents · one rolling trail · one long descent · one climb
forest singletrack · purpose-built trail · shuttle-served descent
Above Phaplu the hillside turns purpose-built — sixteen numbered trails cut since 2023 by a local nonprofit trail club, almost every one of them a pure drop with a shuttle doing the climbing. Mangal has ridden this ground since before the club existed, on lines that have never made it onto any map.
Day 06
shuttle → ridden
short, steep descents · one rolling trail · one long descent · one climb
forest singletrack · purpose-built trail · steep descent
A second day, new combinations across the same sixteen. One line runs seven kilometres and drops the better part of a kilometre — nothing else on the hill comes close — and one line alone climbs, the network's single ascent, which is its own kind of joke told by whoever built it. Quiet villages sit between the laps.
Day 07
helicopter → ridden
rugged alpine terrain · ancient Sherpa trails
Helicopter to Dudh Kunda, the sacred alpine lake revered by Hindus and Buddhists, then a descent on ancient Sherpa trails towards Thupten Choeling and Junbesi — stone houses, old monasteries, warm hospitality.
Day 08
helicopter → ridden
glacial landscapes · rock gardens · technical alpine terrain
The crown of the trip. The helicopter sets you down beside a high lake below Renjo La, above 5,100 metres, and you descend glacial landscapes and rock gardens into Thame, a quiet Sherpa village steeped in mountaineering history.
Day 09
helicopter → ridden
alpine terrain · ancient trading routes · suspension bridges
A short helicopter hop from Thame to Gokyo (4,790 m), then a long ride down the valley to Namche Bazaar (3,440 m). Gokyo sits by its turquoise lakes under Cho Oyu; the way down follows old trading trails and crosses suspension bridges. Namche is the heart of the Everest region, with its amphitheatre streets, coffee and famous apple pie.
Day 10
helicopter
A final helicopter flight over the Himalaya back to the capital. The afternoon is free — rest, explore, celebrate.
Day 11
A flexible day among courtyards and old squares — or a spa and nothing at all.
Day 12
Airport transfer and the onward journey.
From the route
Rider questions
The Khumbu's finest descents start where no road goes. The helicopter replaces days of walking with a morning flight, so the expedition rides down from Renjo La, Dudh Kunda and Pikey Peak rather than pushing up to them.
The highest point is the helicopter's landing beside the lake below Renjo La, at about 5,110 metres. Before the two high flights, the nights are in the middle hills, at about 2,500 to 3,000 metres. So the high days work differently from a trek. You spend a short time up high, then ride straight down, and you never sleep at a landing. The guides watch every rider for symptoms at each landing. If they do not ease, the rider goes down at once.
Graded advanced. The descents are long, rocky and high — glacial terrain off Renjo La, rooty forest on Phulchowki — with shuttle and heli access taking the climbs out. A guide talks you through each day before your place is confirmed.
An enduro bike with reinforced tubeless tyres and a dropper post. Cold starts at altitude mean warm layers matter as much as suspension setup; the full kit list comes when you reserve.
Two, for the high valleys of Thame, Gokyo and Namche — Sagarmatha National Park entry and the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality permit. Both are arranged as part of the expedition and carried by your guide.
Not one trail but a hillside of them. A local nonprofit, which calls itself Nepal's first trail centre, has cut sixteen numbered trails there since 2023, almost all of them pure drops served by a shuttle, so the two days are lap after lap rather than a line from A to B. Which lines a day rides is Mangal's call on the ground — and he was riding this hillside before the trail centre existed, on lines that still appear on nobody's map.
Departures
Before you reserve
The detail a high-altitude expedition deserves — answered here, and talked through with you personally before your place is confirmed.
Every departure is led by experienced local guides who know this ground. Safety is more than equipment. It is close coordination with the villages, lodges and families along the route, and a local network that gets word and help moving fast. The pace is set by the slowest rider. Altitude is taken step by step. Where a tour climbs on the bike, there are nights at altitude before the high passes. Where a helicopter lifts riders high, they stay up only a short time and ride straight down. The rule on the mountain is simple: if symptoms do not ease, we go down. If a rider has to leave the mountain, the team arranges the rescue, and the rider's insurance pays for it.
These are graded rides at real altitude, with long days in the saddle and sustained descents. We talk through your riding history honestly before a place is confirmed. Be honest with us about how you ride; it helps us match you to the right trip.
Bring your own bike, or hire one from us. Hire is priced by the type of bike: a hardtail at $20–30 a day, a full-suspension trail or enduro bike at $50–80. An e-bike, at $100–150 a day, is by request: we arrange the logistics, charging and support included, where the route allows. We recommend the right type for each tour and for what you like to ride. If you fly your own, check your airline's rules for a bike box and declare the bike at customs in Kathmandu. Your bag, up to 15 kg, travels by vehicle, porter or mule while you ride. Spares and tools ride with the guides, and the kit list comes once your dates are set.
In Kathmandu and Pokhara you stay in comfortable city hotels; on the route, in family-run lodges — simple, warm, shared washrooms at altitude — with breakfast, lunch and dinner included, and a serviced camp on the nights a tour sleeps beyond the lodges. Tell us about any diet when you reserve; dal bhat, noodles, eggs and fresh bread are on every menu. Bring a bottle and a filter or tablets — your guide shows you where to refill.
Breakfast early, on the bike by eight, lunch in a village or on the trail, and at the lodge by mid-afternoon on most days — the light and the weather are kindest before noon. The vehicle or the mules carry the bags; your guide sets the pace to the slowest rider and briefs the next day over dinner. If you need a rest, you ride in the vehicle where there is a road, or walk with one of the team where there is not.
Insurance is a condition of riding: it must cover mountain biking at the altitudes on your route, helicopter evacuation and rescue, medical treatment, and trip cancellation and delay. We check every certificate before departure.
A 30 per cent deposit holds your place, and the balance is due two months before departure, by bank transfer — no card is entered here, and nothing is charged through this site. What happens if you have to cancel is set out in full in our booking terms. Read the booking terms →
We guide you through Nepal entry and arrange every permit your route needs — park or conservation-area entry for the ground it crosses, any local permit the valley adds, and a restricted-area permit wherever the route enters a restricted area. They are carried by your guide, not by you.
One scale for every tour and ride, set by the hardest riding and the altitude together. If you are unsure where you sit, tell us what you ride at home; a guide will say plainly whether a trip suits you.
Intermediate
Red trails in the UK and Europe, blue to black in North America
Three to five hours a day, with most climbs shuttled
You ride red trails with confidence and can do it again the next day.
You have not yet ridden off-road for several days in a row.
Advanced
Red to black trails in the UK and Europe, black in North America
Four to seven hours a day, descents of a thousand metres or more, and some carrying
You ride black trails cleanly, are comfortable on loose rock and steep switchbacks, and can push or carry a bike for an hour at altitude.
Steep, exposed or loose ground still makes you walk.
Expert
Black and double-black in North America; the hardest natural trails in the Alps
Six to nine hours a day, remote, with long hike-a-bike over 5,000-metre passes
You have done multi-day trips in the mountains, ride technical descents tired and cold, and have been above 4,500 metres before.
This would be your first trip at altitude.
Where a day is graded, it carries three scores, each out of five.
“He knows the mountain inside out, every little road, trail, bump — it's fascinating. … I loved the perfect balance between riding time and time to explore the cultural sites and towns.”
The per-rider price falls as the group grows. Everything listed below is included; the figure is confirmed in writing when you reserve, and nothing is charged through this site.
Group sizePer rider
Included
Not included