Mustang & Annapurna
Pasang Lama
Born in the Kali Gandaki wind, and the reason our Mustang cycling days start at six in the morning.
- Based in
- Jomsom, Mustang
- Years guiding
- 14
- Certification
- NMA trekking guide · Mountain bike leader · Wilderness first responder
- Languages
- Nepali, Loba, Tibetan, English
Pasang has spent his working life in a valley where the wind is a timetable rather than weather. Every route he designs is built around it: ride and walk in the morning, spend the afternoon somewhere with walls.
He led jeep-supported trips through Upper Mustang for years before deciding the road had ruined the thing it was built to reach, and now runs Aroha's Mustang itineraries on the old caravan trails instead — quieter, slower, and considerably better.
He also maintains the bikes himself, which is why the mountain-bike trip has never had to abandon a day for mechanical reasons.
The road took four days off the journey and took the journey out of it. We walk the old way.
Pasang Lama
- 48Thorong La crossings
- 14Seasons in Upper Mustang
- All of themBikes maintained personally
Guide profiles are fictional. The photographs beside them show the terrain each guide works in — they do not depict the people described.
3 journeys
Trips Pasang leads.
Book any of these and this is who meets you at the airport.
The full Annapurna Circuit
16 days · Max 12 travellers · Mar–Apr · Oct–Nov
Subtropical valleys to Tibetan high desert in two weeks, crossing Thorong La on the old high trails rather than the new jeep road.
Lower Mustang by mountain bike
8 days · Max 8 travellers · Mar–May · Sep–Nov
Eight days riding the old caravan trails of the Kali Gandaki, with a support jeep, hardtails that are actually maintained, and mornings that start before the wind.
Poon Hill sunrise escape
5 days · Max 12 travellers · Feb–May · Sep–Dec
The best sunrise in Nepal for the least effort — five days from Pokhara, through rhododendron forest and Gurung villages.
The rest of the team
Other guides.
Private departures
Travel with Pasang.
Name a guide when you enquire about a private trip and we will build the dates around their calendar wherever we can.