1

Yes you can easily get a jeep from Arughat to Seti Khola. Just go over the suspension bridge onto the other side of the river from Arughat bazaar, and you will see where the jeeps go from. There is a regular service that should take maybe 1 or 2 hours and should cost about 400NRS per person. Walking on the road route is not very interesting ( we did it ).

Macchakhola is a nice village and you would get there in 1 day from Arughat, with jeep ride partway as above. After that you could get to Tatopani by about lunchtime the next day. Lodges are very small and basic but we liked it. Perhaps you could go a little bit further and then get to Phillim next day ( nicer than Jagat in my view ).

You could go Phillim to Chomling in 1 day, but it's a tough old climb. If you are going slowly, lodge at Lokhpa is very nice, on it's own in it's own fields, great views and nice staff. One of the finest daal bhats I can remember.

Beyond Chomling you may be looking at quite basic lodges or homestay. If you have a guide, it would help if he/she spoke Tibetan as Nepali is not universally spoken in Tsum.

2

Guide is compulsory there, remember? Sherpa guides speak sherpa, which also is a dialect of Tibetan, but I do not know if it is close enough that Tsum people would understand.

3

In practice a guide is not required. I trekked to Tsum last year with just 1 porter between 2 of us. No guide.We only got hassled slightly at the police post at the river bridge below Phillim. At the MCAP office in Jagat they were not bothered at all. Our porter spoke Nepalese and Tamang but struggled slightly in the upper Tsum valley.

4

Update for Larkya pass condition.
I understand, that as for today (this Spring), nobody have crossed the Larkya pass because of the snow.
Sassi