Yala Peak Climbing

Overview

Yala Peak Climbing is one of the most popular trekking peaks in the Langtang valley in the north-central part of  Nepal. It is just a 5500m peaks which is the best option for new climbers and a great opportunity for acclimatization for the high mountains expedition.

A journey to Yala Peak Climbing begins with the day's walk to Yala Peak Base Camp via the Langtang valley. From the top of the peak, we can witness eye-catching sceneries of the several mountains of the Langtang region along with Shisapangma (8027m).

A journey to Yala Peak climbing is the perfect introduction to Himalayan peak climbing; a safe way to get an authentic alpine peak experience, even for novice climbers. All travelers having well physical fitness can safely summit this peak.

The final scramble to the summit is fairly straightforward and only an additional 700 meters. Yala Peak, the smallest of all the trekking peaks in Nepal, can be done in the shortest time, while still at a pace to allow proper acclimatization. Being the trekking peak, Yala peak is moderately difficult, and you need no technical gear or technical ability to conquer this peak.

Trekkers will move through the rocks but we do not need technical gear and equipment such ice axe, harness, or helmet for completing the journey. Although it depends on the time of the air and the weather atmosphere to summit any peaks in Nepal and almost every Himalayan land, climbing Yala Peak is much easier than other technical peaks such as Island Peak and Ama Dablam. It is similar to Tent Peak Climbing.

The journey to Yala Peak Climbing begins with an 8 to 9 hours drive to Syabrubensi (1505m) from Kathmandu (1338m) through the windy roads on the banks of mighty rivers. From Syabrubensi, we begin our trek and gradually enter the Langtang valley passing the several green hills, several ethnic Tamang settlements, large yak pastures, sub-tropical forests with panoramic views of the high mountain massifs that are indulged in the Langtang mountain ranges and others.

As we climb higher into the Langtang Valley the forests grow thinner and the valley widens. Approaching Langtang Village (3300m), on the second day, there are great views of Langtang Lirung (7246m), Lenpo Gang (7083m), Dorje Lakpa (6990m), and even the mighty Shishapangma (8013m) which is Tibet’s only 8000+ meter mountains. Continuing the journey, on the 4th day of our trek, we reach Kyanjin Gompa (3970m), where we can see the Buddhist shrine ( monastery). Along the way, we can see a lot of chortens, mane walls, prayer flags, alleys, and prayer wheels.

Spending an extra night at Kyanjin Gompa, we ascend to Langshisa glacier or Kyanjin Ri (4350m) to get more mesmerizing sceneries of the mountains, valleys, glacial lands, and more.

Now, we walk to Yala Peak Base Camp (4800m) following the easy and almost straightforward trail with magnificent scenarios of the surroundings.  From just above base camp we can see the rocky south face of Yala Peak and the Yala Glacier on the southwest face.

From the base camp, we make our final ascent to the Yala summit which is more challenging than the previous day’s walk. Following every step of our climbing experts, we make our final push to Yala Peak.

The trail moves upward to rocky ridges, and then drops and finally ascends steeply on boulders. There is a flat area before the final 40m of vertical snow/rock cliff leading to the narrow summit ridge.

Upon reaching there, we celebrate our achievement, we attach our new prayer flags, to the summit pole which are covered with flags from the previous climbers.

The mountain views from the summit are just amazing from where we can have magnificent views of the Langtang Lirung to the west. Yansa Tsenji (6500m), a mountain on the Nepal-Tibet border, Shishapangma in Tibet, Morimoto Peak (6750m), and Langshisa Ri (6800m) to the east. By the time we start our careful descent to Kyanjin Gompa, the Yala Glacier will be groaning in the heat of the sun.

Enjoying the moments, we descend to Base Camp and further to Kyanjin Gompa. Then, we follow the same route of ascent and trek back to Langtang valley and further to Syabrubensi to finish the trek and we drive back to Kathmandu to complete the entire adventure.