Lobuche Peak Climbing – 16 Days

Our team picks you up at Tribhuvan International Airport and takes you to your hotel, about 20–30 minutes away. Use the first hours to rest and drink plenty of water after the flight.

In the afternoon your guide comes to brief you on the trek and the climb. This is also gear day: they check that your mountaineering boots fit with thick socks, that your crampons are adjusted to them, and that your harness, helmet, ascender and descender are in good order. They also take your passport details for the climbing permit.

Anything you’re missing can be rented in Thamel this afternoon. It’s worth getting the boots right now, because you’ll wear them on the hardest day of the trip.

An early start. In spring and autumn the Lukla flight usually leaves from Manthali in Ramechhap, a 4–5 hour drive from Kathmandu that begins in the middle of the night; the rest of the year it goes straight from Kathmandu.

The small plane flies low over the hills and lands uphill on Lukla’s short, sloping runway, which ends at a wall of mountainside. The landing is over in seconds.

After meeting your porters, you walk down past Chheplung to the Dudh Koshi, whose name means “milk river” for its pale, glacier-fed water. It’s a gentle 3–4 hour walk to Phakding, a good way to get your legs moving without pushing the altitude.

You follow the river upstream through pine forest and small Sherpa villages, crossing several suspension bridges. At Monjo, the national park staff check your permits before you continue to Jorsalle for lunch.

Below Namche, the trail crosses the Hillary Suspension Bridge, high above the point where the Dudh Koshi and Bhote Koshi meet, and then the real climb begins. It’s about two to three hours of switchbacks through forest, gaining around 600 m, and it’s the first time you’ll feel the altitude in your legs and lungs.

Namche Bazaar (3,440 m) is the Sherpa capital of the Khumbu: tiers of lodges, shops and bakeries built around a bowl in the hillside. You stay here two nights.

Rest days at altitude work best when you go a little higher and come back down. In the morning you climb above Namche towards Hotel Everest View, where on a clear day you get your first proper look at Everest and Lhotse, with Ama Dablam to the right.

Back in town, check your climbing kit one more time. Namche’s gear shops rent and sell boots, crampons, down jackets and more, so it’s the last easy chance to fix anything that doesn’t fit.

The rest of the afternoon is yours. Namche has cafés, bakeries and what is said to be the highest Irish pub in the world, though you’ll want to keep the alcohol for after the climb.

The trail to Tengboche starts as a wide path cut into the hillside, high above the river, with Ama Dablam ahead most of the morning. After Kyangjuma it drops steeply to the river at Phunki Tenga, where most groups stop for lunch.

Then comes the climb: about two hours through forest of fir, birch and rhododendron, up to the ridge at Tengboche (3,867 m). The monastery here was built in 1916 with close ties to Rongbuk Monastery on the Tibetan side of Everest, and it’s the largest gompa in the Khumbu.

From the monastery grounds you can see Taboche, Everest, Nuptse, Lhotse and Ama Dablam. If you’re there in the late afternoon, you may hear the monks at prayer.

A quieter morning: the trail drops through moss-covered forest to Deboche and crosses the Imja Khola before climbing to Pangboche, the village closest to the base of Ama Dablam.

Above Pangboche the forest ends and the land turns to juniper, dwarf rhododendron and open grazing land. You follow the Imja valley east to Dingboche (4,410 m), a village of stone walls built to keep the wind and the yaks off the potato fields.

From here Lhotse’s south face fills the head of the valley, and Island Peak sits in the middle of it. You may notice a light headache or short breath tonight. That’s normal above 4,000 m, but tell your guide if it gets worse.

Another climb-high, sleep-low day. A rocky path zigzags up the ridge behind Dingboche to Nangkartshang Peak, 5,083 m above sea level and the highest you’ll have been so far.

From the top, Makalu, the fifth-highest mountain in the world, appears to the east, with Lhotse, Ama Dablam and the glaciers of the Imja valley around it. This hike is good training: it’s the same kind of steady, breathless uphill you’ll meet on Lobuche East.

Back in Dingboche, eat a good lunch, rest and drink plenty. Your guide will check your oxygen level with a pulse oximeter, as they do every day.

The trail rises gently above the Pheriche valley, across wide yak pastures, to Thukla for lunch. Then it climbs steeply up the end of the Khumbu Glacier’s moraine to the Thukla Pass, where stone chortens and prayer flags remember climbers and Sherpas who lost their lives on Everest.

Above the pass, the path follows the side of the glacier to Lobuche (4,910 m). The village sits right at the foot of the Lobuche peaks. Look up at the rocky south side of Lobuche East: in four days you’ll be standing on top of it.

Nights here are well below freezing. Fill your water bottle with hot water and take it into your sleeping bag.

A rough trail over rock and glacier rubble leads to Gorak Shep (5,164 m), which takes about 2–3 hours. Its name means “dead ravens”, and it was the base camp used by the Swiss Everest expedition of 1952.

After lunch, walk on to Everest Base Camp (5,364 m), a 1.5–2.5 hour walk each way over the moving rocks of the glacier. You can’t see Everest’s summit from here, but the Khumbu Icefall, where the climbing route begins, is right in front of you, and you may hear it creak and crack in the afternoon sun.

Return to Gorak Shep for the night. It’s cold, the air is thin and sleep can be broken, so go to bed early and rest as much as you can.

Start in the dark with headlamps and climb the steep, sandy slope of Kala Patthar, which takes most people 1.5–2 hours. At sunrise, the sun comes up behind Everest, and Nuptse, Lhotse, Pumori and the Icefall are all laid out below you. At 5,555 m, it’s the highest you’ll go before the climb.

After breakfast in Gorak Shep, you walk back down the glacier trail to Lobuche for the night. Going down a little helps your body recover before the climb.

A short morning walk of 2–3 hours takes you up the moraine to Lobuche Base Camp (4,950 m), where the tents are set up on flat ground below the peak.

After lunch your climbing guide runs a training session on the slopes near camp. You practise walking in crampons on snow and ice, using the ice axe, and going up and down a fixed rope with an ascender (jumar) and a descender (figure-of-eight). Ask questions now; it’s much easier than in the dark tomorrow.

Dinner is early, and you go to bed by 7 for a 1 am start. Lay out your clothes and pack your daypack before you sleep.

You leave camp around 1 am and climb rocky slopes and slabs by headlamp. It’s cold, quiet and slow; at this height the air holds only about half the oxygen it does at sea level, so you take a few breaths for every step.

Higher up you put on crampons and clip into fixed ropes for the steep snow and ice below the summit ridge. Most climbers reach the top in 6–8 hours, just after sunrise. Lobuche East has a false summit, and many teams stop there; the true summit is a few hours further along an exposed ridge, and your guide decides on the day whether that’s possible.

From the top, Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse, Ama Dablam and the Khumbu glaciers spread out around you. Then you climb back down to base camp, pack up and walk on to Pheriche. It’s a 12–15 hour day, and you’ll sleep very well tonight.

After yesterday, today feels easy. From Pheriche, home to a small Himalayan Rescue Association hospital that opens in the climbing seasons, the trail follows the river down to Pangboche and on through the forest.

There’s a short climb back up to Tengboche and a drop to Phunki Tenga before the last stretch around the hillside to Namche. Treat yourself to a hot shower and a slice of cake.

The trail drops steeply from Namche to the Hillary bridge and follows the Dudh Koshi back through Monjo and Phakding. You’ll pass the same bridges and mani walls, but in thicker air and with much lighter legs.

The last hour climbs up to Lukla. It’s your final night in the mountains, and a good evening to thank your guides and porters.

Morning flights from Lukla are the most reliable, before cloud and wind build up. In the busy seasons you land at Manthali and drive the rest of the way to Kathmandu, arriving in the afternoon.

In the evening we celebrate your summit with a farewell dinner. Lukla flights depend on the weather, so please keep 1–2 spare days before your flight home.

Your trip ends today. Our driver takes you to Tribhuvan International Airport about three hours before your flight.

If you’re staying on, Chitwan National Park, the old palace squares of Patan and Bhaktapur, or a few lazy days in Pokhara are easy to add.