Which Treks in Nepal Are Open After the Rasuwa Flood? A Trail-by-Trail Answer

On the morning of 26 August a flash flood came down the Bhote Koshi river from the Tibet side and hit Rasuwa district, on Nepal's northern border. It destroyed the Rasuwagadhi border crossing and damaged the river corridor below it. Contractors, guides, cooks and porters who work with us were caught in it, and our people joined the rescue and the search efforts in the days that followed, in Rasuwa and beyond. So what follows is not compiled from news reports. It is what we know from the ground, and I will keep this page updated as things change.

The question every trekker with an autumn booking is asking me is simple: is my trek still on? For almost everyone, the answer is yes. Here is the honest trail-by-trail position, accurate as of 1 September 2026.

What is actually damaged?

The damage is concentrated in one river corridor in Rasuwa district. Specifically:

• The Rasuwagadhi border crossing to Tibet is destroyed and closed at present. Overland trips into Tibet, including the Kailash overland route, are suspended until further notice.
• A section of the Langtang region trail network near the flood corridor is damaged.
• The Rasuwa end of the Ruby Valley trek is damaged where it meets the same corridor.

That is the extent of it. The flood was violent but narrow, which is how these events behave: the destruction follows the river, and trails away from that drainage are physically untouched.

Which treks are completely unaffected?

Everything outside that one corridor. To be specific about the treks people are actually booked on this autumn:

• Everest region: Everest Base Camp, Gokyo, the Three Passes and the Everest panorama treks are unaffected. Lukla flights are operating normally, and our own groups fly through September and October as planned. See the Everest Base Camp trek.
• Annapurna region: Annapurna Base Camp, Poon Hill, Mardi Himal and the Annapurna Circuit are unaffected. See the Annapurna Base Camp trek.
• The Manaslu Circuit is unaffected.
• Upper Mustang, Nar Phu, Kanchenjunga, Dolpo and the far west are unaffected.
• Kathmandu Valley sightseeing, Pokhara, Chitwan and Bardia safaris, Lumbini, and every city and cultural tour are completely unaffected. Kathmandu itself was not damaged.

I want to say that last part plainly because international headlines rarely draw maps. A flood in one border district does not close a country. Nepal is 800 kilometres wide, and the trekking regions are separated by some of the biggest mountains on Earth.

What about Langtang itself?

Parts of the Langtang region remain open and parts of the trail network near the flood corridor are damaged, so this is the one region where the answer is genuinely "it depends on your route and your dates". We are checking conditions on the ground before every single departure, and where a section is not right we will say so and offer an alternative rather than walk you into it. If you hold a Langtang or Ruby Valley booking with anyone, the fair question to ask them is not "is it open?" but "which sections have you personally verified this week?"

How do you actually know a trail is safe?

A fair question to ask any operator right now. Three ways, honestly:

• Our guides and crew live and work in these valleys. Trail information in Nepal moves guide to guide, lodge to lodge, faster than any official bulletin.
• We call the lodges on the route before departure. A lodge owner will not talk a group into a valley their own village cannot reach.
• Our standing rule, told to every client in writing: the guide has final say on safety, over the itinerary and over the client's wishes. That rule does not change in a normal season and it certainly does not change now.

Should you still come to Nepal this autumn?

Yes, and I will give you the practical reasons rather than a slogan. The flood did not touch the regions where the overwhelming majority of autumn trekking happens. October remains the most reliable trekking month of the year. And tourism is precisely what keeps the families of these valleys standing after a hard monsoon. The lodge owners, porters and drivers of the unaffected ninety-five percent of the country did nothing wrong and are open for business.

If your plans touched Rasuwa, meaning Langtang, Ruby Valley, Tamang Heritage or the overland route to Tibet, write to me and I will tell you honestly what we can verify for your dates, and what we would change. And if anyone tells you all of Nepal is closed, or all of Nepal is untouched, be equally suspicious of both.

Written by Shreejan Simkhada, CEO of The Everest Holiday and third-generation Himalayan guide. TAAN Member #1586. This page was last updated on 1 September 2026 and will be updated as conditions change.