Island Peak Climbing

Your arrival in Kathmandu is the first day of the trip. We will welcome you at the arrival gate of Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu and transfer you to the trip hotel. You will have free time mostly on your own today. We will surely offer you necessary guidance on wandering around on your arrival time. We will also brief you about the entire adventure trip and answer your questions if you have any. Feel at comfort; relax and try to acclimate in the Nepalese atmosphere. Things may look and feel completely strange to you but that’s the beauty of a new place so find yourself at easy and slowly soak into the local ambience.

Kathmandu has a history of more than 2,000 years. We will take you for a tour of the historical, cultural and spiritual places in Kathmandu that are enlisted in the cultural heritage list. A guided visit to Swoyambhunath, Patan Durbar Square, Pashupatinath and Boudhanath will give you an understanding of the history, culture, spiritual practice and lifestyle of Kathmandu valley. It will be a good starter of the trip. An insightful day of exploring the cultural and historical wonders of Kathmandu will come to end after returning back to the hotel around late afternoon.

We drive to airport for our morning flight to Lukla. With the excitement of being in the region of the highest mountain in the world, we board a small, fixed winged aircraft and set off on an adventurous yet worthy aerial journey to Lukla. Soon after an incredible flight experience, we will find ourselves at the amazing mountain town of Lukla, the gateway to Everest. We will meet all our supporting crew members at Lukla before setting off on the first day of trek. Once we sort out our stuffs, we start the trek to Phakding today. After about 4 hours of easy trek on gentle and gradual downhill trail, we reach Phakding on the bank of a beautiful mountain river called Dudh Koshi. The very first day of Everest trail walking will take us past some beautiful cultural and spiritual wonders in the forms of prayer flags, chhortens, mani walls etc.

We enjoy our breakfast with the serene sound of flowing Dudh Koshi before starting our second day of the trek to Namche Bazar today. The walk today mostly involves uphill effort with some steep going up. We cross several suspension bridges today on the trail as we proceed towards the destination. We check into the Sagarmatha National Park entrance check point just above the beautiful village of Monjo before continuing up towards Namche bazar. Once we reach Namche bazar, a prosperous mountain trading town in the Everest region, we will be able to observe and experience more of the amazing culture and life style of beautiful and famous Sherpa people. A nicely settled town in the terraced slope, Namche bazar showcases some spectacular views of mountains like Thamserku (6,6232m) and Kongde Ri (6,187m) to its west.

We spend an extra day here at Namche today for acclimatization as we are already at 3,440 meters above sea level with a large portion of the stretch left to go higher in the days to come. As this is an acclimatizing day, we will go for a hiking trip to Everest View point right above Namche bazar to have the very first glimpse of the Mt. Everest. This spectacular view point brings the wonderful mountain views including Mt. Everest that keeps us motivated to go higher towards the base camp. Once we return back to Namche bazar after the hike, we can explore the town going through one end to the other of the town. We can indulge in some conversation with locals there; surf internet cafes; or simply relax and save the energy for the days to come.

We start the day early after breakfast and proceed towards Tengboche, a beautiful village in the Khumbu region on a hill in the confluence of Dudh Koshi and Imja River. The uphill walk passes through forest and involves ridge walking. After about 6 hours of uphill walk, we reach Tengboche village. Once we reach Tengboche village, we can enjoy Mountain View of the peaks like Tawache, Nuptse, Lhotse, Ama Dablam including Everest. Once we settle into our accommodation, we can set out on an exploration of Tengboche Monastery, the biggest Buddhist monastery in the region where Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, the first man to summit Mt. Everest along with Sir Edmund Hilary, was sent to be a monk once. The galore magnificence of the monastery is simply overwhelming.

Dingboche is the destination for today. After we finish our breakfast with view, we set off on the trekking journey for the day. We follow the downhill trail towards Diboche and past it we reach Pangboche village. We will take some time to explore the village and an ancient and beautiful monastery. Pangboche is a beautiful and the biggest Sherpa settlement in the region. After starting ahead from Pangboche village, we head towards Dingboche leaving the route to Pheriche. After spending about six hours on the trail past forest, villages and beautiful sights to see, we reach Dingboche village where a breathtaking view of the Himalayan peaks awaits us.

We are already at the elevation of 4,410 meters above sea level thus a good full day is what we need to adjust with the high altitude climate here and above. This extra day at Dingboche works as an acclimatization and rest day as well that is essential to go further higher. Even when we are calling it a rest day, we are not staying idle. We will go for some hiking to higher elevation and return back to Dingboche for overnight stay. This full day of exploration around Dingboche will expose us to the overwhelming beauty of the place and surrounding mountain peaks.

As we are already above tree line on our trek, we now walk through pastures, glacial moraine, boulder strewn path and like of the terrain all the way to Lobuche. The walk today involves crossing a small pass called Dughla also known as Thukla with several memorial shrines for the brave mountaineers who lost their lives during their climbing expeditions. Although the walk is slow paced on uphill trail, made difficult by the increasing elevation, it brings wonderful views of the mountains to our sight that help us forget the strenuous effort we are taking up in the impressive mountain landscape. A well spent seven hours of the effort in the rugged Everest trekking trail that many other adventurers are treading takes us to the small settlement of Lobuche to spend overnight before striving for one more day to reach the base of the highest mountain in the world.

We are eventually going to make it to the Everest Base Camp today after these many days of trekking in and amidst the wonderful Himalayan peaks. Our determined and sincere effort to be at the base of the highest mountain in the world is going to materialize this afternoon. We are going to stand at the place where many climbers have spent days and nights training, preparing and attempting the summit of the formidable Mt. Everest. We walk to Gorakshep, a small settlement on the glacial lakebed in the Everest region, where we are going to spend overnight today as the highest overnight stopover for the trip. After relishing our lunch at our tea house, we set off on the walk to the Everest Base Camp. A slow paced walk on the moraine and boulder strewn gradual path up to base camp is going to test our excitement and stamina. Anyway we are going to get to the base camp regardless of the difficulty of walking at the elevation. We click countless pictures and enjoy the moment of being at the classic Everest base camp before making a return trip to Gorakshep for overnight stay.

We get up early, really early, in the morning to hike up to Kalapatthar, the highest elevation on the trip, for a breathtaking view of Mt. Everest, Lhotse and other Himalayan panorama up close with spectacular sunrise over those mighty peaks. This never-seen-before view and sunrise on earth is going to blow our mind away alluring us to stay there forever. Alas, we wish we could! We have to make a return trip back to Gorakshep for breakfast. We start the trek back to Lobuche after breakfast. We stay overnight at Lobuche for the day and prepare for a high pass trek to Chhukung tomorrow.

We will trek to Chhukung today via Kongma La. It is going to be a little challenging walk up to the Kongma La pass that stands at the elevation of 5,535 meters above sea level. But the difficulty of the challenge gets spectacular views from the pass as rewards. We descend to Chhukung from the pass.

We again go over 5,000 meters above sea level when we reach the Island Peak base camp on our walk today. About 4 hours of walk takes us to the base camp for the lunch. Once we reach there; set up the camp and take our lunch, we will have a detailed orientation session about the climbing adventure that is just ahead of us. We get prepared well for the highlight of the trip that is to start as soon as the next day starts.

We are all set for the most awaited and exciting part of the trip. We are going to start the summit push very early in the morning, actually sometime after midnight. We slowly ascend the mountain aiming the summit. The rocky trail that leads us higher towards the top transforms completely into ridgeline that is covered in snow. While we struggle up on the ridgeline and on a glacier towards the top, the day light slowly dawns upon us and brings some gloomy views of the surrounding mountains. The glacial part of the ascend needs a little bit of technical knowledge of climbing as it consists several deep crevasses. After few hours of challenging ascension, we reach the summit of the Island peak to enjoy the breathtaking view of the mighty Himalayan peaks. After a few fascinating moments at the top, we start descending towards the base camp.

One extra day is needed here in case of any delay on the summit push because of the weather condition and any other circumstances.

We return back to Pangboche today. The excitement and satisfaction of the accomplishment of the summiting the Island peak fills us with immense energy. We trace the trail to Imja Khola and cross it to ascend towards Pangboche for overnight stay. We can visit a monastery in Pangboche once we reach there. We enjoy the rest of the time of the day exploring the beauty of Pangboche village.

The walk for the day takes us back to Namche Bazar. We take the trail to Namche Bazar via Tengboche. The walk gives us a different perspective and understanding of the mountains than that of the going up towards the Everest Base Camp a few days earlier. We reach Namche Bazar to relax and chase the tiredness away.

It’s the last day of trekking when we trek to Lukla today. The lower we walk, the farther we are leaving the iconic Everest base camp behind physically but we are carrying a beautiful memory of being there. We cross suspension bridges and walk past Monjo and Phakding and advance towards Lukla. Once we reach Lukla to bring our trekking part to an end, we duly thank our supporting team members. If it were not for their amazing effort, our journey would be very difficult. We celebrate the joy of making it to the base of the highest peak in the world.

We take a morning flight from the Lukla airstrip leaving the mighty mountains behind us. Another exciting flight with adventure takes us back to the city civilization. Once in Kathmandu, we spend leisurely time back in the chaos of the city after so many days of serene mountain air and incredible adventure.

As the last day on this beautiful adventure trip, we will drive you to the airport for your departure flight as per your flight schedule. If this is not your departure day, the service for this trip ends here. If you have extra days to spend in Nepal and need any other assistance, please do let us know. We will certainly help you in whatever way we can.

The walking and climbing adventure to the Island Peak goes through the trail that meanders up and down the mountains frequently. Although this is not an extremely difficult trip, you will certainly feel some challenges of walking in the high altitude during the trip. We would rate it as a difficult trip in difficulty level for it involves climbing adventure. You definitely need to go through the challenge of walking several days in the mountain wilderness and climb a beautiful mountain peak.

Walking hours vary from day to day on this trip. You walk from 4-8 hours every day depending on the distance you cover. You can expect the walking hours to be around 6 hours on average. But the Island Peak climbing day will be a longer one.

In addition to the walking adventure to the Everest Base Camp, this adventure goes for Island Peak climbing. So, you need to have a little knowledge and skills of climbing. But climbing Island peak is not as difficult as other expedition peaks like Mt. Everest. You will traverse the way up to the top without having to use technical climbing skills in most of the stretch of the mountains. Having climbing skills is surely an advantage on this adventure.

The walking route to the Everest base camp is a well-trodden and popular trail. You will find enough guest houses and lodges along the trail where you normally spend the overnights. Guest houses and lodges along the route are basic accommodation with dining facilities where the trekkers spend overnight. These guest houses and lodges are comfortable but not super luxurious. The overnight at the Island Peak Base Camp, however, will be on the tented camps. The overnight places for each day are specified in the itinerary. However, your trip guide can change the overnight places on his/her sole discretion if s/he thinks it necessary for your comfort and better experience.

Dal Bhat is the staple food in the mountains. This combo of rice, lentil soup, vegetables, curry etc. is available everywhere you go. In addition to this Nepali food, you can enjoy momos, noodle soup (Thukpa), chowmein, pizza, sandwitch, Sherpa bread, soup, bakery etc. along the trail. Options of vegetarian and non-vegetarian foods are also available. We highly recommend you to go for vegetarian food during the trek.

When you go for the walking adventure trip, you will pack two different bags – one big backpack that your porter will carry for you and the other, a small daypack for yourself to carry with necessary things that you need for the day. You can refer to our Things to Carry page for a complete guide on what you need to have when you are in the mountains.