Island Peak Climbing

On reaching Kathmandu airport meet the guide and staff for the transfer to respective hotels around Thamel area, with rendezvous with other members of the group for orientation and briefing with welcome dinner at authentic Nepali dinner.

Morning transfer to Kathmandu domestic airport for a short scenic flight of 35 minutes to Lukla the gateway to Everest and higher Khumbu area, from here after a break to refresh meet the guide, trekking staff and porters and continue to walk past Lukla town on the easy path with views of Kwangde peak and village of Muse and Chowri Kharka, the walk with few ups and down following the Dudh Kosi River passing villages of Choplung, Ghat till Phakding is reached for an overnight stop.

From Phakding morning walk is pleasant through nice woodland of pines and rhododendron trees with few ups and down with views of Kusum Khanguru, Kwangde and Tharmasarku peaks crossing the bridge over Dudh Kosi to reach Monjo and to Jorsalle after the entrance of Sagarmatha National Park, at Jorsalle for lunch. From here walking on the riverbed for some time and heading uphill in the forest to cross the last bridge over Imjatse and Bhote Kosi that joins Dudh Kosi river at this point. A long winding uphill with first views of Mt. Everest, Lhotse, and Nuptse (on a clear day) this winding climb finally reaches Namche Bazaar after a few hours of hard uphill walk from lunch place. At Namche check into one of the fine designated lodges with time to browse around the shops and vendors or just relax.

A great place for rest and free day and necessary for acclimatization before heading higher beyond Namche, at Namche optional short hike to a viewpoint and the museum provides information of this area from flora/fauna, geography, mountain and Sherpa history, culture and religion offering tremendous views of Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse, Ama Dablam, Thermasarku, Kwangde, holy Khumbi-la peak and of valley and gorge below. Optional hike to Everest View Hotel above Namche at 3,880 meters by Syangboche old airstrip or a half-day hike visiting the quiet and sleepy villages of Khumjung with monastery and Khunde.

After an enjoyable rest at Namche, the journey continues on the nice and scenic trail with views of Mt. Everest, Ama Dablam, and other range of peaks walking into green tree lines a good walk with downhill to Phungetenga a small place in a gorge after crossing the Imjatse River for lunch at Phungetenga. From here a steep uphill haul through the nice forest surrounding with views of Thermasarku and Kangtenga peaks, and then with a long climb of fewer than two hours reaching at famous Tengboche monastery with awesome views of surrounding peaks including Mt. Everest and Ama Dablam. Here as per the time set for a visit inside the monastery where you can observe monks, priests, and lama on prayer time in the late afternoon. All major expeditions to Mt. Everest and other high peaks visit here to get a blessing from the high priest for a successful and safe climb. Then we continue trek to Debuche.

On leaving Debuche walk leads through the nice cool woodland passing to reach a bridge over Imjatse river gorge, from this bridge the last of trees lines and lush vegetation, walk leads to a gradual climb through rows of prayer and mani wall, stupa with fantastic views of Ama Dablam as the walk progress reaching Pangboche (the last permanent village on route Everest Base camp and another high area of Khumbu).
From Pangboche walk leads to a short steep climb to Shomare a small temporary village serving as a lodge, teahouse, and popular lunch stop on route Dingboche and Pheriche with close views of AmaDablam.
From here a slow climb towards Orsho where the walk gets gentle and the path splits from this place the other high trail to Pheriche, the lower path east to Dingboche, our route heading east crossing the icy Khumbu river tributary of Imjatse and Dudh Kosi river, and then a steep climb for 45 minutes to reach the ridge with prayer stones, a pleasant walk from here brings at Dingboche with many lodges around where the areas are guarded with stone walls located on the southern Imajatse valley beneath the towering North Face of Ama Dablam with views of Lhotse, peak 29 and Island / Imjatse peak towards east.

A pleasant place for an extra rest day before starting the real adventure crossing passes of Khongmatse and Tsho-la, here optional hike to Nangkartsang a high hill offering superb views of surrounding snow-capped peaks including world 5th highest Mt. Makalu and Amphu Labtsa peaks as well. Rest of the afternoon at leisure the last place with an assist to cybercafé in one its many lodges around.

Starting the morning walk with a slow climb uphill to the ridge with prayer flags and Buddhist monument of the stupa, overlooking superb views of snow-capped peaks and on the pleasant trail with gradual up and downhill reaching the raging streams fed from the Khumbu glacier at a small place of Thugla (Dugla). A popular lunch stop place where the trail from Pheriche and Dingboche joins with an hour break a steep climb of less than an hour reaches the top ridge of Thug-la with great views of Ama Dablam north face with Tawache and Cholatse, an interesting spot with memorials of late mountaineers who died climbing Everest, Lhotse, Pumori or other peaks of this area. From here the walk continues on the gradual path towards Lobuche in the comfort of a nice cozy lodge after a good day.

Today we reach our goal by trekking to Everest Base Camp at an altitude of 5363m. After appreciating our efforts and photographing the achievement we return to Gorak Shep.

From our base at Gorak Shep we continue to climb this time hiking up Kalapathar. Leaving as early as possible to take advantage of the morning light, the panoramic views of Everest and the surrounding mountains, as we reach our destination of the Kalapathar viewpoint. Following this we descend to Dinbuche.

The route to Base Camp, the path at first climbs quite steeply to the south before following the moraine east along the main valley below the southern or true left bank of the Lhotse Glacier. The trail then follows glacial streams to the snout of the Imja glacier. At this point, the path swings northeast and crosses a dried-up lake bed between the Lhotse and Imja Glaciers, from a base camp at Pareshaya Grab. A well-acclimatized party in good condition can make the summit and return in a day back to Base Camp.

A necessary rest or free day for acclimatization with preparations sorting out gear for the climb, afternoon short hike around on this beautiful surrounding enclosed with snow capped peaks.

This is an additional day in the itinerary to compensate for any possible delays on the trekking/ climbing or cancellation of the flights. We extremely recommend that you have at least 2 extra days after the itinerary so as to maintain any possible delays or cancellation of the flight. If everything goes without any problem, you can utilize those extra days doing some other activities.

A Big Day! Starting before dawn after having breakfast and then scrambling up an open gully leads between two well-defined ridges of a small hanging glacier at 5,280m /17,323ft. Care should be taken to avoid possible avalanche danger from the ice above.
From this point of left-hand ridge scramble across the broad open gully and gain the right-hand ridge. Following this, this gives easy scrambling to the snow-covered glacier above. A route needs to be found out leftwards, avoiding seracs and crevasses before turning back northwards over snow-covered scree in the margin between the glacier and the base of the main summit ridge. After crossing a gully with some stone and icefall danger, a steep snow and ice ramp leads upwards for nearly 100 meters (300ft), to the summit ridge. The last moves on to the ridge often prove difficult and many climbers leave a fixed rope in place to aid descent. The ridge itself is a classic and undulates towards the main summit which is reached by a final tricky snow pitch. Standing atop we have the stunning close-up view of the South face of Lhotse (8,501 m.) in the vastness that looms before us. We have impressive dramatic views of the mountains -Amadablam (6,856 m.), Chamlang, and Baruntse on the far horizon. Descent is made by the same route to the base camp.

Today’s part of the trek is, even more, easier as we will be walking gently for only five hours along with the solitary company of deep woods. We will first reach the village of Pangboche from where we will get a beautiful view of the Dudh Koshi river basin below.

We will bid farewell to the Sagarmatha National Park just before reaching Namche Bazaar as we exit from the park entrance/exit gate. The rest of the trek is a glorious walk to Namche Bazaar with a 360 view of the mountains on all sides.

This is second last day in the Everest region. We will see many Sherpa villages on our way being the largest. There are many monasteries, stupas, prayer flags, and prayer walls in and around these villages.

The houses in the village are close together to keep the community warm and are impeccably clean. The Sherpa people are very friendly and well-known mountaineers.

The last day walk of this adventure to Lukla, the path follows the Dudh Kosi for some time passing Benkar, Tuc Tuc, and Phakding villages, and then slowly reaching Choplung where the trail from Jiri and Lukla joins.
From here the last 50 minutes climb of this trip to Lukla, on reaching Lukla in the comfort of a nice lodge and preparing for the last night’s dinner and party with fellow trekking guides, staff, and porters.

Morning as per the flight schedule transfer to Tenzing, Hillary airport, Lukla for the scenic short flight back to Kathmandu with parallel views of snow-capped mountains all the way to Kathmandu, on reaching the airport transfer to respective hotels around Thamel area, with rest of the afternoon free at leisure.

The trip ends, our Airport Representative will drop you to the Kathmandu international airport for your final flight departure from Nepal. Driving 15 km – 10 minutes