Ghorepani Poon Hill Trek in January

The trail is dry and firm the whole way, which makes January one of the easier months underfoot. The Ulleri staircase, the long climb of stone steps above Tikhedhunga that is the physical crux of this trek in any month, is at its most pleasant in cold weather. People who find it brutal in May find it merely long in January.

Snow reaches Ghorepani a few times most winters and occasionally dusts the path up to the viewpoint. It rarely stops anybody, though the final steps to the tower get slippery when a frozen crust forms overnight. Ghandruk and everything below it stays entirely clear.

The forest between Ghorepani and Tadhapani is bare in January, and it is worth knowing what that means. You lose the rhododendron completely. You gain sightlines through the trees to Annapurna South that the spring canopy hides, and a quiet walk on dry leaves instead of a queue.

January is the quietest the trek gets outside the monsoon. Ghorepani has a large number of lodges built for peak-season volume, so in January you get a heated dining room, a full menu and your pick of rooms. The dawn crowd at the tower is a fraction of the October figure.

Every teahouse on the route stays open. This is a low, well-populated trail through working villages rather than a seasonal high route, so nothing shuts for winter. Rooms at Ghorepani are unheated and cold at night, which is the one thing to plan for.

January is the most reliable month for the Kathmandu to Pokhara flight that opens this itinerary. Skies are clear and cancellations are uncommon, though winter morning fog in Kathmandu can delay the first departures by an hour or two. If the flight does go, the road is a six to seven hour drive and the trek still works, which is a comfort no Everest-region itinerary can offer.