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Im looking at organising an mtb holiday in Nepal (probably around March/April time), its seems that there are quite a few companies about offering trips. Does anyone have any recommendations of who to go with?
Currently looking at the company below
: http://www.enduromtbnepal.com
Mike at mountainbikekerala does a couple of Himalayan trips. Based on experiences visiting Kerala with him, he'd be my 1st port of call
I used himalayansingletrack when I went, they were also great, we did the Kathmandu valley, it was great but the Annapurna is where you head for the gnat core riding. Our stuff was cc with a load of climbing, riding above cloud level. The country and people are truly awesome though.
Enjoy
You might want to clarify what you want to get out of the trip to help figure out who would best to go with. You will get the cultural experience whatever but do you want adrenalin or to test your climbing legs?
I went to Mustang with Tangi from Enduro Mtb Nepal 3 years ago - it was an awesome trip. His background is downhill, and his trips are focused more that way, so if that is what you are after then that is the right starting point. Around Kathmandu and Pokhara we had some uplifts as well as riding up, in Mustang there was a fair amount of up on foot and on bike but nicely balanced with tasty downhills.
He had plenty of stories about meeting people who had ended up on trips that involved mostly fire road type riding and were feeling disappointed - so if looking at anyone else, ask some questions about the nature of the trip. That said, the Upper Mustang trip on the Himalayan Singletrack website sounds frickin' awesome.
Also beware the risk of big mountain addiction. I'm just back from Mountain Bike Kerala's Singalila Ridge trip, and as above, Mike's trip was awesome too and I am sorely tempted to book up another trip with him. That trip (which is at the wrong time for you) does crisscross the Nepalese border but its quite a different experience from the rest of Nepal.
You can find pictures from the recent trip and Nepal in here:
[url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/garyhill/sets/ ]https://www.flickr.com/photos/garyhill/sets/[/url]
In summary - JFDI.
EDIT - almost forgot, if you do go to Nepal, you really must make sure you see more than just Kathmandu and/or Pokhara. Obviously there are a huge number of things to see around Kathmandu but it is also hectic and polluted. It was a real shock coming back to it on the way home.
Thanks for the replies, much appreciated. We would be looking for technical/singletrack riding as opposed to fire roads. Not looking for a full DH holiday but a nice balance of uplift and climbing would be good.
I have been with Mountain Bike Kerala and done part of Mike's Pindari Glacier trip, a similar type of riding to that would be perfect. The only reason I am not going back to do the full trip is that I don't think I can get the time off work when he run's the trips.
Tango prob has the best routes in Nepal and is a fantastic guy. If u add on a few days sonam from dawn til dusk bike shop rides in kathmandu with the Nepal locals most of whom are guides early mornings as is more than happy for people to join them. They tend to start 6.30 and as long as u get some tea in at the tea shop stop all is fine.
I agree that if you want big open skies and clear views of mountains then Annapurna / Mustang area is great. Worth combining it with some Kathmandu valley rides to see a different side of Nepal. The countryside in the 2 places is completely different. I have biked with Kumar at Himalbiking - but I think you may be after more hardcore biking than he would normally do. But maybe have a look at the photos? http://www.himalbiking.com/gallery/
andrew277 - I was toying with the idea of a similar trip at about the same time, if you needed extra bodies perhaps you could pm me? 🙂