Day 8 - Muktinath to Jomsom

The route back to Jomsom from Muktinath is an easy downhill trek that usually only takes 4 to 5 hours. However, it is wise to start our as early as possible as the high winds usually pick up by mid-morning. These winds can be extremely forceful along the flat riverbed portion of the trail to Jomsom and the gusts and blowing dust do not make it enjoyable.

The next day we were scheduled to fly out of Jomsom to Pokhara and had a rafting trip booked and paid for that was to start in three days. However, when we woke up in Jomsom the next day (October 24, 1997) there was about 2 inches of snow on the ground and it was coming down quite hard. Needless to say the planes in Jomsom were going nowhere that day and according to many airline agents and townspeople, likely would not be for several days. It was not reassuring to hear that Jomsom had not received snow this early in 100 years!!

Since we had a rafting trip booked and paid for that was due to start in three days we began to carefully review our options. After talking to the airlines we quickly realized that our confirmed tickets were now useless as all the airlines automatically cancel the tickets of all passengers who are booked on any cancelled flights. They do this to get rid of the backlog that would occur if they had to fly all the stranded passengers out when flights resumed again. The other two options were to walk out (3 days of long walking minimum) or to charter a helicopter with other stranded trekkers. Since we had neither the desire or the time to walk out we pursued the helicopter option and in the end we got out on a chartered helicopter the next day at a cost of $200 US each. Luckily we had the cash (no credit cards accepted here) to pay for the trip. There were many trekkers with neither the cash to charter out nor the time to walk out. Some people had non-refundable, non-changeable international flights booked out of Kathmandu the next day yet didn’t have the cash to pay for a helicopter flight out of Jomsom.

So a few tips to fellow trekkers going the Jomsom route:

If you can, fly into Jomsom and trek out. Some people may have trouble with altitude acclimatization as you go from Pokhara (800 metres) to Jomsom (2700 metres) and then trek to Muktinath (3800 metres) all in one or two days but for most people we met doing it this was it wasn’t a problem.
If you want to fly out of Jomsom remember that confirmed reservations and purchased tickets mean little when the weather goes down in Jomsom and your plane doesn’t fly. You then have to find another way out or go on the stand-by list (with all the other stranded trekkers) for the next flight out.
Give yourself time to walk out. Don’t book flights or other trips (i.e., rafting trips) for at least several days after you are supposed to fly out. We thought that giving ourselves 3 days between our trek and rafting trip was plenty of time but we were lucky to get out in time for the rafting trip.
If you don’t fancy walking out then carry extra cash or traveller’s cheques for such emergencies. I didn’t envy the few people who were in the unfortunate situation of having tight deadlines but no options (aka CASH).

Happy Trekking!!!

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Day 8 - Muktinath to Jomsom

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