Kanchenjunga with White Magic – the best of the best

I just got back a couple of days ago from my second trip this year with White Magic Adventure Travel, my go-to and absolute favourite climbing and trekking company.

And yes, I am indeed one very lucky gal, having 2 brilliant mountain adventures in the space of a few months.

This time round, I went on a trek – the Khangchendzonga Round Trek – a lovely 2 week trip through the uninhabited mountains of Sikkim, into Nepal, and back into Sikkim. It is a beautiful trek, taking you through rhodendron forests, up above the tree line, offering you heart-stopping views of the Himalayas (think Everest glistening on the horizon) and sunrise views of Khangchendzonga (or Kanchenjunga).

And all without going through any villages.

Practically no connectivity.

Very few people on the trails, especially for the first 2/3 of the trek, where we went for days without meeting anyone at all.

This is one gorgeous true-wilderness experience.

My roomie (tent-ie?!) Sara photographing a frosty sunrise.

In June I went on a climbing expedition to Kedar Dome with WM, and it was a delight to be reunited on this trek with 2 of my teammates from that trip, Pushkar & the one and only Ming Temba, a calm, resourceful, helpful gem of a man.

Our trip leader was Sanjiv Rai, a lovely man who is not only a super calm, super encouraging man, but a smashing photographer as well, and he’s also very knowledgable about wildlife, especially his beloved birds. This was my 4th trip with Sanjiv (but my first trek) having climbed Banderpoonch in India, and two Nepalese mountains, Mera Peak and most recently Lobuche with him.

Sanjiv led us up and down, and down and up!

One of the most impressive things about White Magic is that on every single trip I have done with them, there are always repeat clients. I have never been on a WM trip where everyone was a first-timer, which speaks volumes about their loyal client base. This time, we were 6 trekkers, and all of us were repeat clients. I knew 3 of the women from earlier trips – Anu and I have now done 3 trips together; Gita and I two trips, and the same for Sara. As I said, a loyal client base.

So, how was my experience?

First class from start to finish.

The trek itself is beautiful, and as I mentioned earlier, we went for days not meeting anyone else at all – such a rare occurrence in India. We hiked through forests, across grassy plains, tackled moraine-strewn slopes, and got up at unearthly hours to watch the sun rise over Kanchenjunga.

We camped in 2 person tents, except for the first night in Kalimpong and the last night in Yuksom, where we stayed in hotels. There were 2 toilet tents for the 6 of us, a mess tent, a kitchen tent – everything we needed to enjoy ourselves. We had mules and dzos to carry our luggage and supplies.

An inquisitive mule…

…and yours very truly posing with one of our dzos.

The food was excellent – it always is on WM trips – but our cook this time produced miracles, including the traditional end of trip cake, cooked in a tent 🙂

Who doesn’t love a freshly baked cake for brekkers?

He also produced the following artistic creation (below) at least a week into our trip 🙂

Talk about style at altitude!

Oh yes, after one gnarly, pretty hair-raising descent, and before crossing a landslide, the cook rocked up with a tea-pot of hot lemonade for us all.

As one does 🙂

We were blessed with superb weather, no rain, just a wee bit of fog around Dzongri, and though cold, it wasn’t brain-freezingly cold.

No health issues, and when one of the trekkers decided to leave early (from foggy Dzongri) she went down with Sanjiv’s tent (in case the rest hut at the campsite was full), the #2 guide (the lovely Rahul), 2 horsemen and a lot of our pack animals. She must have cut quite a dash, walking down the mountain leading the dzos and mules!

All the standard WM protocols were in place. Daily checks of our oxygen saturation levels. Hand wash station outside the mess tent. Hand sani available.

Flawless, in other words.

Everything was fabulous, but seeing the sunrise over Kanchenjunga, after getting up at 3am was pretty special.

As ever, I paid my own way. I paid for my porter. And though they know I blog, White Magic has never once asked me to write about them.

They are a class act. And with their low-key professionalism, I trust them with my life.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go check out their website, to see where I’m headed in 2025, with the best of the best.