Dhaulagiri
Trek Guide

Dhaulagiri — the "White Mountain" — rises to 8,167m as the seventh-highest peak on earth and the first 8,000m giant ever attempted, back in 1950. The trek that circles its south and west flanks is one of the most committing teahouse-free routes in Nepal: no lodges above Dobang, two passes over 5,000m, real glacier travel, and nights spent camping beneath an amphitheatre of ice.

This is not a lodge-to-lodge stroll. The Dhaulagiri Circuit is a fully supported expedition-style journey with tents, a cook crew and porters — the reward is total wilderness, almost no other trekkers, and a front-row seat to one of the great mountain faces of the Himalaya. The shorter Base Camp trek delivers the south-face amphitheatre without the high passes, while the Dhorpatan approach adds Nepal’s only hunting reserve and its blue-sheep country.

Because it demands altitude experience, sound fitness and a self-sufficient camp, it suits strong trekkers who have already done a teahouse trek and want the next, quieter step up. Go in October–November or April–May; the passes are snowbound in winter and dangerous in the monsoon.