The formation of a trail along the Greater Himalaya Range was precluded by access restrictions to certain areas in Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan requiring detours into the mid-hills away from the Greater Himalaya Range. These access restrictions were eased or lifted, and in 2002, with further restrictions being lifted in border areas of Nepal, it became feasible for the first time. Many expeditions have walked great distances across the Himalaya including:

1980s 1981: Peter Hillary (son of Sir Edmund), Chhewang Tashi and Graeme Dingle walked from Sikkim to the Karakoram. 1981–82: Hugh Swift and Arlene Blum completed a nine-month traverse from Bhutan to Ladakh in India. 1983: British brothers Richard and Adrian Crane ran the Himalayas, from Kanchenjunga to Nanga Parbat in less than 100 days. The route required a large deviation from the Great Himalaya Range to cross the Nepal-India border.1990s 1990: Sorrell Wilby and Chris Ciantar made a traverse from Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh. 1992: Brandon Wilson and Cheryl Wilson trekked 1,000 km on horseback from Lhasa, Tibet to Kathmandu, Nepal over 40 days. The Tibet border re-opened to travelers a day before their journey began. Their adventure/peace trek is documented in the book Yak Butter Blues.[1] 1994: From October 21 to December 1, 1994, French runners Paul-Eric Bonneau and Bruno Poirier clocked up 2,100 km and 55,000 meters of altitude, crossing from East to West, from Pashupatinagar to Mahakali, traversing in sometimes difficult weather conditions. 1997: Alexandre Poussin and Sylvain Tesson walked a 5,000 km route from Bhutan to Tajikistan. They completed it in roughly six months.2000s 2003: Rosie Swale-Pope ran the length of Nepal in the mid-hills and Great Himalaya range with a support team, covering an estimated 1,700 km in 68 days to raise money for the Nepal Trust charity.[2] 2007: Dr Gillian Holdsworth walked across Nepal with guide, Sonam Sherpa, to raise money for the Britain Nepal Medical Trust.[3] 2008–09: Nepal's Great Himalaya Trail route was first walked over two seasons by a team led by Robin Boustead, who did five years of research treks before walking the route. The walk took a total of 162 days and is documented in a book of the same title.[4][5] In acknowledgements to this book, the author mentions a team of three Sherpas named Pema Tshiri Sherpa, Lakpa Dendi Sherpa and Karma Sherpa who trekked with him "every step of the way."2010s 2010: Sean Burch, multiple Guinness World record holder, set an official world record by crossing an outlined idea of the Great Himalaya Trail in 49 days, 6 hours and 8 minutes.[citation needed] 2010: Three young travelers Dipesh Joshi, Surose Dangol, Raju Maharjan from a group named The Pathfinders completed Nepal's great Himalayan Trail section in one go. 2010: Katja Staartjes (first Dutch woman on Everest), together with Henk Wesselius and Chhiree Sherpa, started the Nepal Traverse. Their goal was to link the two ultimate ‘triple border passes’ (Tinkar La in the West and Jhingsang La in the North East) by a trail through Nepal. The trio failed, but restarted in spring 2011 and completed the trail – including the full GHT High Route - in four stages in 2013. Because of the extra loop in the undiscovered FarWest (to Hilsa), the total distance was 2000 kilometres. Katja wrote the (Dutch) book ‘Lopen over de grens’ (Walking along the border) about their Traverse. 2011: Justin Lichter and Shawn Forry were attempting to walk '8000 m East to 8000 m West' from Kanchenjunga to Nanga Parbat, they wrote a book after the walk.[6] 2011: Sunil Tamang solo-hiked an outlined area of the Great Himalaya Trail from Kanchenjunga in the east to Rara Lake in western Nepal in 128 days on his own route starting on his 20th birthday making him the youngest person to hike the so-called trail.[7][8][9] 2011: British ultra trail runner Lizzy Hawker attempted a solo cross of GHT but failed. 2012: Apa Sherpa, in April 2012,successfully led the very first expedition to complete the Great Himalaya Trail along with 3 companions, a 1,700-kilometre (1,050-mile) trek spanning the entire length of the Nepalese Himalayas. The Great Himalaya Trail is considered to be one of the world's most difficult treks. Apa Sherpa and his three companions set off in January on the Climate Smart Celebrity Trek, an expedition promoting tourism and highlighting the effects of climate change. They finished the trail in 99 days, 20 days ahead of schedule. 2012 : Saurav Dhakal, Storyteller from Story Cycle complete the Great Himalaya Trail along with Apa Sherpa in January-April 2012, 99 days a 1555 kilometre. 2012: Gerda Maria Pauler (partly accompanied by Temba Bhoti and a small group of porters) followed the Great Himalaya Trail High Route concept 1700 km across Nepal (Kanchenjunga BC to Hilsa) to raise funds for Autism Care Nepal. 2012: Paribesh Pradhan trekked a conceptual version of the Great Himalaya Trail from Kanchenjunga to Darchula in 98 days as a part of his project "The Great Himalaya Trail - My Climate Initiative". 2014: John Fiddler, Kathleen Egan, and Seth Wolpin traversed the proposed high route of the GHT and became the first team to cross all five technical passes without porter support. They trekked from Taplejung to Hilsa and finished in 87 days. Kathleen became the first woman to hike the high route self-supported. 2017: The Great Himal Race, a trail race, largely following the Great Himalaya Trail from near Kanchenjunga North Base Camp to the foot of Mount Kailash, was organized by French organisation Les Chevaliers du Vent. It was won by Jagan Timilsina in 45 days (315 h 37 m).[10]2020s 2022: Mangal Krishna Lama, a Nepali mountain biker and adventurer, traversed the upper route of the Great Himalaya Trail from Kangchenjunga Base Camp to Hilsa in Humla District on a solo mountain biking expedition, named GHT on Wheels,[11] in 88 days from April-July 2022, becoming the first person to solo-ride across the GHT.[12][13][14] 2023: Abdolreza Kouhpayeh from Iran (as the first Asian-except Nepalis) accompanied by Marc Niehaus from Switzerland trekked the whole Great Himalaya Trail, high route(1,600km) that includes all high passes in 100 days.(partly accompanied by Temba Bhoti and Nima Bhoti from Snow dragons Nepal Trek)