About Us — Ratnange Trail Center
Nepal's First Trail Center. Built in the Shadow of Everest.
Forget everything you thought you knew about riding in the Himalayas. High above Phaplu, in the heart of Solukhumbu, 18+ trails carve 43 miles of raw, technical singletrack through pine forest, yak pasture, and alpine ridgeline — with Everest and Pikey Peak watching over every descent.
This is Ratnange Trail Center: Nepal’s first purpose-built mountain biking network, and one of the wildest rides on the planet.
Steep. Technical. Unapologetically remote. Every trail here was once a herder’s footpath threading between the villages of Garikhasa, Chhinakpu, and Bagam. Today, those same lines drop riders from 3,600m ridgelines down to the valley floor — loamy switchbacks, exposed rock gardens, and fast-flowing descents that don’t let up until Phaplu.
More Than a Trail Network — A Movement
Ratnange isn’t a resort built for tourists. It’s a community-owned project built by the people who live here.
Founded in 2023 by the Phaplu Mountain Bike Club, Ratnange Trail Center exists to do two things at once: deliver world-class riding, and give the villages of Solukhumbu a real, sustainable alternative to migration and unemployment. Every trail pass sold puts money directly into the hands of the community forest departments that steward this land — funding trail maintenance, signage, and forest wardens who patrol against illegal logging.
The result is a rare kind of trail center: one where riding a bike directly protects a forest and builds a livelihood.
For local youth, the club has become something bigger than a sport. It’s a source of pride, discipline, and opportunity — kids who once had few options beyond leaving home now train on the pump track, race in the club’s colors, and help build the very trails they ride.
And the ripple effect is real: families along the route have opened homestays and lodges to welcome riders, turning mountain biking into one of the region’s most promising new industries.
World-Class, World-Recognized
In 2026, Ratnange Trail Center was named one of TIME’s World’s Greatest Places — proof that a community with vision, grit, and a few shovels can build something the world takes notice of.
Every year, riders from Nepal and beyond descend on Phaplu for Enduro Ratnange, the club’s flagship race and the ultimate test of everything these trails can throw at you.
Visit Us
Getting to Phaplu:
- By road: Kathmandu to Phaplu is roughly a 9-hour drive via the Sindhuli Highway through Okhaldhunga — a scenic route through Nepal’s mid-hills, best done as a full-day journey.
- By air: Prefer to save time? Catch a 30-minute flight from Kathmandu straight into Phaplu.
- On arrival: Pedal straight up to the trailhead, or arrange a shuttle for you and your bike.
Riders typically base themselves in Phaplu, with lodges and homestays offering comfortable stays, warm Sherpa hospitality, and easy access to the trail network and the Pikey Peak routes beyond.
Come for the descents. Stay for the community. Leave part of yourself on the mountain.
