Island Peak Climbing – 14 Days

Someone from our team meets you outside arrivals at Tribhuvan International Airport and drives you to your hotel. Have a rest and a light meal; jet lag and a long climb don’t mix well, so the first evening is about recovering.

In the afternoon your guide goes through the 14-day plan, takes your passport details for the climbing permit and checks your kit. For Island Peak that means mountaineering boots that take crampons, a harness, helmet, ascender and descender, plus warm layers and gloves for summit day.

If something doesn’t fit or is missing, Thamel’s rental shops can sort it out the same day.

The flight to Lukla is short but memorable: in spring and autumn it usually leaves from Manthali in Ramechhap after a night drive from Kathmandu, and it ends on a steep, uphill runway at about 2,840 m.

Your porters meet you in Lukla, and the walking starts gently, mostly downhill to the Dudh Koshi. The trail passes Chheplung and a string of small villages with stone houses, potato fields and walls of carved mani stones.

Phakding sits on the riverbank at about 2,610 m. Arriving early gives you the afternoon to rest, and sleeping lower than Lukla helps your body adjust.

The trail climbs and drops along the Dudh Koshi, crossing it on suspension bridges, to Monjo, the entrance to Sagarmatha National Park. The park covers 1,148 square kilometres of the upper Khumbu, from forest to glacier.

Past Jorsalle the valley narrows and the path crosses the high Hillary Suspension Bridge. After that comes the toughest part of the day, a long climb through pine forest to Namche Bazaar. Take it slowly, sip water and let the porters and yaks pass on the inside of the trail.

Namche, at 3,440 m, is the busiest town in the Khumbu, with lodges, shops, cafés and a lively market scene. You’ll stay here two nights.

A rest day in name only. In the morning you walk up the steep path above Namche towards the Syangboche airstrip and Hotel Everest View, gaining about 400 m. On a clear day Everest, Lhotse and Ama Dablam line up across the horizon.

Sagarmatha National Park is home to snow leopards above 3,500 m, as well as musk deer and Himalayan tahr, though the big cats are almost never seen.

Back in Namche, sort out any last gear. The shops here rent boots, crampons and down jackets, and it’s the last place on the trail with a real choice.

Today’s walk follows the side of the valley high above the river, then drops to Phunki Tenga for lunch and climbs steadily through fir, birch and rhododendron to Tengboche.

Tengboche Monastery, at 3,867 m, is the largest in the Khumbu. Each autumn, around October or November, it hosts the Mani Rimdu festival, with masked dances that draw visitors from all over the region.

In the evening, the ridge is one of the best places on the trek to watch the light change on Ama Dablam and the tip of Everest above the Lhotse wall.

Below Tengboche the trail drops into forest, crosses the Imja Khola and climbs to Pangboche, then on through low juniper and grazing land as the valley widens.

Dingboche (4,410 m) is where Island Peak got its name. In 1953, members of the British Everest expedition looked up the Imja valley from here and saw the peak standing alone like an island in a sea of ice. You get the same view this afternoon.

Above 4,000 m most people feel the height a little: a dull headache, a racing heart on small climbs or a poor night’s sleep. Drink 3–4 litres of water today and tell your guide how you feel.

A short, easy walk of 3–4 hours up the wide Imja valley, past stone huts and yak pastures, brings you to Chhukung (4,730 m).

Chhukung is a handful of lodges, almost all used by climbers heading for Island Peak. The setting is wild: the huge south face of Lhotse rises straight above the village, and glaciers spill down from the peaks on every side.

Spend the afternoon resting and drinking plenty. A short walk on the slopes above the lodges helps, as long as you come back down to sleep.

Today’s hike up Chhukung Ri is the key acclimatization day before the climb. A steep, rocky path gains about 800 m to the summit at 5,546 m. It takes 3–4 hours up and less coming down.

From the top you look straight across at the Lhotse wall, with Makalu, Ama Dablam and Island Peak around you, and the Imja and Lhotse glaciers spread out below.

Back in Chhukung for lunch, rest for the afternoon. Your guide checks your oxygen level and your gear and talks you through the next two days.

The trail to base camp follows the moraine of the Lhotse and Imja glaciers. On the way you may see Imja Tsho, a glacial lake that was only a few small ponds in the 1960s and now covers more than a square kilometre. In 2016 the Nepal Army and the UN Development Programme built an outlet and drained more than 4 million cubic metres of water from it to lower the risk of a flood.

Island Peak Base Camp, known as Pareshaya Gyab, sits at 5,087 m. After lunch your climbing guide runs a practice session on a nearby slope: crampons, ice axe, and climbing and coming down a fixed rope with your ascender and descender.

Dinner is early, and you’re in your sleeping bag by 7. The alarm goes around midnight.

You leave camp between midnight and 1 am and climb a steep, rocky gully by headlamp. Around the high camp area at about 5,600 m, you put on crampons and rope up to cross the glacier. Crevasses are crossed with care, and in some seasons there’s a short aluminium ladder over one of them.

Then comes the headwall: a steep slope of snow and ice that you climb on fixed ropes, step by step, with your ascender. It leads to the narrow summit ridge and the top at 6,165 m. Most climbers get there in 5–7 hours, early in the morning.

From the summit, the south face of Lhotse rises right above you, with Makalu, Baruntse and Ama Dablam around you. After photos, you come down the ropes, cross back over the glacier, pack up at base camp and walk down to Dingboche. Expect 12–14 hours in all, and a very good night’s sleep.

A long walk down the valley, 6–7 hours, but with thick air and tired legs it feels easier than it sounds. You pass Pangboche and Tengboche again, drop to Phunki Tenga and climb the last stretch to Namche.

This is the time to enjoy what you missed on the way up: the forests, the bridges and the villages, without the altitude pressing on you.

The final day on foot. The trail drops steeply to the Hillary bridge and follows the river back through Monjo and Phakding, and the last hour climbs up into Lukla.

It’s your last evening with the crew who carried your bags and helped you to the summit. Most climbers give their tips tonight.

Flights leave Lukla in the morning, when the air is calmest. If you land in Manthali in peak season, the drive to Kathmandu takes another 4–5 hours.

In the evening, join us for a farewell dinner. Lukla flights are often delayed by weather, so a spare day or two before your international flight takes the stress out of the journey home.

Your trip ends today. After breakfast, our driver takes you to the airport about three hours before your flight.

With extra days, you could add a jungle safari in Chitwan, a walk around Kathmandu’s old palace squares or a rest by the lake in Pokhara.