LATEST NEWS for permits to Lachen & Lachung, Sikkim

SIKKIM PERMIT

Mod Note

I am making this thread a sticky.


Those planning a trip to North Sikkim, kindly note this post by mountaingirl.

Does anyone have the latest news on the weather in North Sikkim? I am planning to be there starting 29th April.

Not sure about the present condition.
But my friends visited North Sikkim between 6-10 April and they could not make it to either Yumthang or Gurudongmar and Thangu and Chopta Valley was fully covered in snow.
But the condition is not consistent. People visited Gurudongmar just the day before they tried to reach Gurudongmar. But snowfall in previous night blocked the road for my friends.

As on 18th April, 2012 Gurudogmar is not accessible. You can not go up to Yumthang also. Cars are stopping in a snowline before Yumthang. I cancelled my plan for North Sikkim due to this. It is raining heavily at Gangtok and snowing at the higher altitudes. I returned back to Darjeeling yesterday. Even here in Darjeeling it is very windy.

@ soumikbanerjee50 and others

even today the roads are closed for tourist due to snow and army restriction to Yumthan, Gurudongmar and even Baba Mandir

We have planned for N Sikkim from 25th April - 28th April but considering bad wheather conditions and road block I have few queries in my mind -
1. Do you suggest to avoid N. Sikkim and visit W. Sikkim instead? or it is better to wait till 25th to see exact whether condition etc? but in that case we loose days to get info on W. Sikkim and making travel arrangements.
2. Is it worth even travelling till how much ever possible to Gurudongmar/Yumthang even with current road blocks ,snow etc? I mean you get that beautiful scenary on way even though you couldn't make to final destination?
3. If we change plan to W Sikkim do we need any permit? How we proceed with hotel/ car bookings etc since it is the peak season? Please help to plan for W sikkim from 25th April - 29th April.

no

yes

yes......"no" in case you dont like snow

no (in general sense for normal/common tourist places)

hundreds of agents in Gangtok....you'll find accommodation.......dont worry

there are lots of hot & other threads on W Sikkim.......please do a search and make a list of names where you want to be.........then it'll be easy to have an itinerary

We could visit Gurudongmar on 17th April and we were lucky to get a sunny weather on that day and no rainfall the previous night.. Yumthang was not accessible because of the avalanche blocking the access..

As far as I know Gurudongmar was accessible on 18th April also i.e people who reached Lachen on 17th could access Gurudongmar on 18th.. The lake could not be accessed on 19th because of heavy rains and a 30 hr long road block near Chungthang on 18th that prevented people from reaching Lachen.

We too could visit Gurudongmar on 26th April and Yumthang & zero point on 27th April.Luckily wheather was very clear until 27th April but while returning from Yumthang it started snowing and raining.

@rainbow9 - Nice to know that you could visit Gurudongmar and Yumthang. I m sure you would be missing the heavenly North Sikkim views after being back to the concrete jungle! Even though its been abt 2 weeks since we returned from Sikkim, we still are in the N.Sikkim hangover! Do post some photos!

@neha - We just returned 3 days back and still when we close eyes those huge snow covered moutains and beautiful teesta comes in front of eyes. It was wonderful trip. Hope you also enjoyed it. We have decided to explore other parts of the Sikkim probably next yr. Will upload snaps over the weekend.

Can anyone tell me the following

1. Status of roads in North Sikkim at Present
2. Getting a permit for Motorbike trip for North Sikkim