Baruntse Expedition

You land at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu (1,400 m), where our representative meets you in the arrivals hall and drives you to your hotel in Thamel.

Nothing is required of you today beyond resting. Thamel's gear shops are a few minutes away and stock most of what gets left at home — down mitts, lithium batteries and glacier glasses in particular.

Your climbing guide calls at the hotel in the evening to introduce themselves and set tomorrow's schedule. Overnight in Kathmandu.

A long briefing, because this trip has two separate technical problems in it. Your guide covers the thirty-four day plan, the Mera summit day, and then the route above the Mera La in detail — the glacier, the camps, and the decision points on the way to the summit.

The equipment check is thorough. Boots are fitted with crampons, harnesses adjusted over climbing layers, and your descender and abseil technique discussed. If you have not abseiled under load before, your guide will know it today rather than at 5,845 m.

Our office lodges the NMA climbing permit and both national park permits, which need your passport and photographs. The afternoon is free. Overnight in Kathmandu.

An early flight into Lukla (2,840 m) — thirty-five minutes from Kathmandu, or a pre-dawn drive to Manthali and a twenty-minute hop in peak season.

The trail turns east almost at once while the rest of the flight heads north for Namche, climbing through rhododendron and pine on a path that empties within twenty minutes.

Chutanga (3,050 m) is a handful of simple lodges in a forest clearing below the Zatrwa La. The crew sorts the camping loads here — this expedition carries considerably more than a lodge-based climb. Around 3 to 4 hours. Overnight at Chutanga.

An acclimatisation day that pays for itself tomorrow. We walk up the ridge toward the pass, gaining 500 to 600 m to around 3,600 m, and return to sleep low.

The path climbs through moss-hung rhododendron into open ground, with a first view of the ridges you cross tomorrow and the Dudh Koshi valley falling away to the west.

Back at Chutanga by early afternoon. Your guide takes the first oxygen saturation readings tonight and the crew finishes repacking for the pass. Around 4 hours. Overnight at Chutanga.

Four to five hours of climbing on rough ground from Chutanga, through boulder fields and over a series of false crests that each look like the pass.

The Zatrwa La (4,610 m) is a narrow, usually windy notch marked with cairns and prayer flags. In fresh snow the crossing is serious and crampons come out. From the top the whole Hinku valley opens eastward.

A steep, loose descent leads to Thuli Kharka (4,300 m), a yak pasture with a couple of basic lodges. Seven to eight hours. Overnight at Thuli Kharka.

A deliberate descent of 700 m, and the single most valuable day in any Mera itinerary. Sleeping a thousand metres below yesterday's pass is what makes the rest of the acclimatisation work.

The trail traverses and then drops steeply through rhododendron, birch and juniper into the valley floor, following the Hinku Khola upstream on a path cut into the bank above the water.

Kothe (3,600 m) is a line of simple lodges on the riverbank between walls of forest. It is warm and green, and it is the last thick air for two weeks. Around 5 to 6 hours. Overnight at Kothe.

North up the Hinku Khola through the last of the trees, past the painted rock and small gompa at Gondishung, where a two-hundred-year-old shrine sits beneath an overhanging boulder.

The forest thins and the valley opens, walls rising on both sides — Mera's south face ahead, the Kusum Kanguru ridge behind.

Thagnak (4,350 m) is a summer grazing settlement of stone huts and a few lodges on the moraine. Around 4 to 5 hours. Overnight at Thagnak.

An acclimatisation day with a destination. We walk up the moraine to Sabai Tsho, a glacial lake at around 4,700 m held behind a wall of debris below the Hinku Nup glacier.

The lake burst its moraine dam in 1998, sending a flood as far down as Kothe. The scoured banks are still visible on the trail below, and standing above the lake is a direct lesson in what these valleys are capable of.

Back to Thagnak with 350 m gained and lost. Rest, four litres of water and more food than you feel like. Around 4 hours. Overnight at Thagnak.

A short day with a serious gain, walked slowly. The trail climbs the lateral moraine of the Dig glacier on loose rock, the valley narrowing and ice appearing on both sides.

Over the crest the ground opens into a bowl and Mera Peak comes fully into view, the broad white glacier of the route running to a summit that looks nearer than it is.

Khare (5,045 m) is the highest settlement in the valley — and, for this itinerary, the last building you will see for six nights. The crew makes its final resupply here. Around 4 hours. Overnight at Khare.

A full day on the glacier ice above Khare, and it covers more ground than it would on a straightforward Mera trip. Crampons, ice axe and self-arrest, roped team travel, fixed-line ascent on a jumar — and then, at length, abseiling.

The abseil practice is the point. In nine days you will descend 100 to 150 m of rock and ice on the north side of the Amphu Lapcha, and your guide wants every climber smooth on a descender before then. Anyone who is not gets the afternoon as well.

The rest of the day is rest and the final gear sort. Everything for six nights of camping goes up with the crew from here. Overnight at Khare.

Crampons on within an hour of leaving Khare. The route climbs steeply onto the glacier and up to the Mera La (5,415 m), the broad snow col between the Hinku and the Hongu, with the group roped as a team.

From the col the summit of Mera rises to the south-west and the route turns the other way, descending the eastern flank onto the Hongu side over gentler glacier ground.

Kongme Dingma (4,850 m) is a camp on moraine in a valley with nothing in it at all — no lodge, no trail sign, no other party. From here the expedition is fully committed. Seven to eight hours. Overnight at Kongme Dingma.

North up the Hongu on moraine and grass, following the river toward its source. There is no trail in any developed sense — the route is a line the crew knows, marked by the occasional cairn.

The valley is wide, silent and completely empty, walled by Chamlang to the east and the Mera massif behind, with Baruntse itself appearing at the head of the basin.

Seto Pokhari (5,035 m) is a chain of glacial lakes sacred to Hindus and Buddhists alike and visited by pilgrims in summer. Camp goes up on the shore. Around 5 to 6 hours. Overnight at Seto Pokhari.

A short day onto the moraine at the head of the valley, gaining 400 m on rough ground with the mountain filling the northern sky.

Baruntse Base Camp (5,400 m) is established properly today — mess tent, kitchen, storage and toilet tents alongside the sleeping tents — because this is home for the next fortnight.

The afternoon is spent settling in and reading the route from below: the glacier, the ice slope to the col, the shoulder where Camp 1 goes, and the long south-east ridge running to the summit. Around 4 hours. Overnight at base camp.

The puja is held this morning. A chorten is built, juniper is burned, and the climbing equipment is stacked at the altar to be blessed. No Sherpa on the team will go onto the mountain before it has been done.

The rest of the day is low effort: tents arranged, the mess routine established, radio schedules explained, and the water and charging arrangements sorted.

Prayer flags go up over the camp, and the silence of the Hongu — genuinely complete, with no aircraft, no engines and nobody else — takes most people a day to notice. Overnight at base camp.

A working day on the glacier ice below camp. Every climber is taken through crampon and axe technique on steep ice, ascending fixed line on a jumar with a pack, changing over at anchors, and abseiling.

Rope-team travel and crevasse rescue get a second look here as well, because the glacier below Camp 1 is broken and the group moves roped across it in the dark on summit push mornings.

Your leader is assessing as much as teaching, and anyone who needs more time gets the afternoon. Meanwhile the Sherpas are above, fixing the ice slope toward Camp 1. Overnight at base camp.

An easier day, split between acclimatisation and preparation. In the morning the team walks up the moraine toward 5,800 m and back, gaining and losing height on ground that asks nothing technical.

The view from up there is one of the arguments for the whole trip: Everest and Lhotse to the north-west over the Amphu Lapcha, Makalu east beyond Chamlang, and the Hongu running south with nothing man-made in it.

The afternoon is rest and packing for the rotation. Your leader reviews the satellite forecast in the evening and confirms the plan. Overnight at base camp.

The first time on the mountain. The route crosses the glacier roped in the cold of the morning and then climbs the ice slope on fixed line — steepening as it goes, five to six hours with a personal load.

Camp 1 (6,100 m) sits on a shoulder above the slope, with the Hongu spread out below and the summit ridge rising directly above.

The night here is the point of the exercise. Sleeping at 6,100 m before returning to base camp is what makes a summit push from 6,400 m realistic in a week's time, and it gives your leader a proper look at how each climber performs on the route. Overnight at Camp 1.

Down the fixed ropes and back across the glacier in three to four hours, off the ice before the sun has been on it long.

Descending to recover is deliberate. Adaptation from last night's altitude consolidates far better at 5,400 m than it would higher, and a team that rests properly now climbs faster on the push.

The Sherpas spend the day carrying loads and fixing the ground above Camp 1 toward the high camp. Overnight at base camp.

A genuine rest day, worked at rather than enjoyed. Eating past the point of appetite, four litres of fluid, an afternoon asleep, and staying off the legs.

There is equipment work too: crampons checked, harnesses inspected for wear after a day of jumaring, and boots dried in whatever sun there is.

At 5,400 m recovery is slow but it does happen, and the difference between a team that rests properly here and one that fidgets is visible on summit day. Overnight at base camp.

The last day before the push, spent on the plan rather than on the hill. Personal kit is split into what goes up and what stays, rope pairs are set, radios tested, and your leader briefs the four-day sequence with timings for each stage.

The Sherpa team reports on the state of the fixed ropes and the condition of the summit ridge, which is the information the go decision actually rests on.

The satellite forecast arrives in the evening. Baruntse's summit ridge is long and exposed and is defeated by wind more often than by anything else, so the wind numbers at 7,000 m matter more here than the precipitation. Overnight at base camp.

The summit push begins, and the ice slope goes noticeably faster the second time — four hours or so for ground that took five or six on the rotation.

Loads are lighter: the high camp is already stocked by the Sherpa team, so climbers carry personal equipment only.

Camp 1 (6,100 m) by early afternoon, with the rest of the day to lie down, drink and eat. Overnight at Camp 1.

A deliberately short day — three to four hours up onto the south-east ridge to the high camp, arriving by late morning so the team has most of the day lying down.

The camp is a handful of tents on the ridge, exposed and cold, with Everest and Lhotse to the north-west and Makalu to the east.

Dinner is early and minimal; appetite at 6,400 m is poor and forcing fluid matters more than food. Kit is laid out, rope pairs confirmed, and your leader gives the weather call and a hard turnaround time. Overnight at high camp.

Moving by two in the morning, roped and on the fixed line. The south-east ridge rises steadily above camp — snow and ice, never desperate, and completely exposed to whatever the wind is doing.

Higher up the ridge narrows and the corniced section begins, which is the technical crux of the route and is taken one at a time with the Sherpas probing the crest ahead. It is slow ground and it is not hurried.

The summit (7,129 m) is a snow dome, and the view is the reason people climb this particular mountain: Everest and Lhotse north-west, Makalu east across the Barun, Chamlang south, and the entire Hongu basin — your approach, your base camp, your fortnight — laid out beneath you.

The descent reverses the ridge and the fixed line to high camp, then continues to Camp 1. Ten to fourteen hours. Overnight at Camp 1.

Camp 1 comes down and the ice slope is abseiled, with the fixed rope stripped as the team descends — slow work and not optional, since nothing is left on the mountain.

The glacier is crossed roped in the cold of the morning for the last time.

Base camp (5,400 m) by midday, with thick air by comparison, a hot meal and the first unbroken sleep in four days. Four to six hours. Overnight at base camp.

The first of three reserve days, and on Baruntse they earn their place. The summit ridge is long and there is no shelter on it, so a windy forecast closes the mountain even in otherwise clear weather.

If the summit was missed, the team rests today and goes back up tomorrow with the ropes still fixed. Your leader weighs the party's remaining reserves as heavily as the forecast.

If the summit went to plan, this is rest — and rest at base camp after a 7,129 m summit day, five days from the nearest lodge, is a strange and rather good way to spend a morning. Overnight at base camp.

The second reserve day. Three of them exist because the Hongu is five days from Lukla, and an expedition that runs out of margin here cannot simply extend — the flights, the porters and the food are all committed.

If a second attempt is running, the team is at Camp 1 or the high camp tonight rather than here.

If the expedition is finished, today is when the camps above come down: the high camp and Camp 1 are stripped by the Sherpa team and everything comes off the mountain. Overnight at base camp.

The last reserve day and the end of the expedition's margin. If it is not needed for the climb, base camp comes down today.

The waste management is done properly and it is a substantial job: everything the expedition brought into the Hongu goes back out on porters and pack animals, and the Department of Tourism deposit is refunded against it.

The chorten from the puja stays with its prayer flags. Most teams sit out for a while after dinner, because the Hongu at night with no light and no sound anywhere is not something you get many chances at. Overnight at base camp.

Down the moraine at the head of the valley and back along the Hongu past Seto Pokhari, retracing the approach with a summit behind you and a great deal less to carry.

The valley reads differently on the way out. On the way in it was empty and slightly forbidding; walking south through it now, most people find it simply beautiful.

Kongme Dingma (4,850 m) in the afternoon, with the Mera La ahead for tomorrow. Around 7 hours. Overnight at Kongme Dingma.

Back up the glacier to the Mera La (5,415 m), roped and in crampons, and over the col into the Hinku for the last time.

The descent to Khare (5,045 m) is the moment most expeditions remember from the walk out: after fourteen nights in tents in an empty valley, a stone lodge with a stove in the dining room and a menu on the wall is genuinely startling.

Six to seven hours. There is beer at Khare, and NTC signal, and the crew will already have ordered the first round. Overnight at Khare.

A long descent and an easy one, losing nearly 1,500 m down the valley. The moraine below Khare gives way to the open bowl at Thagnak, and then the trail drops steadily along the Hinku Khola.

Somewhere below Thagnak the air thickens noticeably, the first juniper appears, and legs that have been working at 5,000 m and above for a fortnight start behaving normally again.

By Kothe (3,600 m) you are among rhododendron and birch with the river loud outside the lodge. Around 6 to 7 hours. Overnight at Kothe.

The last climb of the expedition, regaining the 700 m lost on the way in. The trail leaves the river and works up through forest, steep in places, back toward the pass.

It is a day that feels harder than its numbers, because the summit is a week behind you and the body has quietly decided the trip is over.

Thuli Kharka (4,300 m) gives a last evening looking east over the Hinku toward the Mera La and, somewhere beyond it, the Hongu. Around 5 to 6 hours. Overnight at Thuli Kharka.

An early start for the pass. Two to three hours of rough ground to the Zatrwa La (4,610 m), and the crossing is easier westbound because you are far better acclimatised than you were a month ago.

A last look back over the Hinku from the notch, and then a very long descent — 1,800 m through boulder fields, rhododendron forest and farmland to Chutanga and on to Lukla.

Lukla (2,840 m) in the afternoon. The evening is the end-of-expedition dinner with the leader, the climbing Sherpas, the cook crew and the porters, and the point at which the summit bonus and tips are given. Seven to eight hours. Overnight at Lukla.

Lukla flights leave early, before the valley wind builds. Thirty-five minutes to Kathmandu, or a landing at Manthali with a road transfer onward when the peak-season schedule applies.

Delays are routine rather than exceptional and can run to a full day, which is why no international departure is scheduled for today. If Lukla closes entirely, a helicopter seat can usually be arranged at your own cost.

The afternoon is free for a long shower and Thamel. The expedition reports to the Department of Tourism and your summit certificate is presented in the evening. Overnight in Kathmandu.

The expedition ends today. If your flight is a late one there is time for a last morning in Kathmandu — Boudhanath, Patan Durbar Square, or a slow breakfast on a roof terrace.

Our representative collects you from the hotel and drives you to Tribhuvan International Airport about three hours before departure. Any equipment being shipped home rather than carried is handled by our office.

Safe travels. Baruntse is the peak our climbers most often use as the step to an 8,000 m expedition, and Manaslu, Himlung and Makalu are the three that usually come up next.