Island and Mera Peak Climbing with Gokyo and EBC

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-one day plan, the Mera summit day, and then the Amphu Lapcha in detail — how the abseil is rigged, how loads are lowered, and what happens if the col cannot be crossed.

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 Hongu, with the group roped from here on.

From the col the route traverses north-east to a rock shelf at 5,800 m where the tents go up. Four to five hours with a moderate load.

The camp faces east at Makalu, with Everest and Lhotse north and Kanchenjunga on the horizon, and tomorrow's descent route into the Hongu laid out below. Dinner in a down jacket at four, sleeping bags by six. Overnight at high camp.

Tea at one, roped and moving by two. The glacier above camp is a broad slope of 25 to 30 degrees in the dark and the cold, relentless rather than difficult, with the sun arriving somewhere near 6,100 m.

The last obstacle is a short step of 40 to 45 degrees below the central summit, fixed the day before and climbed on a jumar. From the summit (6,476 m): Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu and Kanchenjunga, with Baruntse and Chamlang standing over the valley you are about to walk into.

Then the traverse begins. Instead of returning to Khare, the group descends the eastern flank of the Mera La onto the Hongu side, roped over gentler glacier ground, and camps at Kongme Dingma (4,850 m) on the valley floor. Eleven to thirteen hours. Overnight at Kongme Dingma.

The day held in hand, and on this route it has two possible uses. If Mera was turned back yesterday, the group is still at high camp this morning and climbs today, descending into the Hongu tomorrow instead.

If the summit went to plan, the day is spent here at Kongme Dingma, resting and acclimatising before three days above 5,000 m. It is a genuine rest in a place with nothing at all in it — no lodge, no trail sign, no other party, just moraine, the river and the wall of Mera behind you.

Your guide uses the day to check the weather picture for the Amphu Lapcha, which is the decision the whole second half of the trip turns on. 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. In a full day you are unlikely to see another person.

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

A short day, kept short on purpose. The route climbs north-west from the lakes onto rough moraine and glacier below the col, gaining 400 m in three to four hours.

Amphu Lapcha Base Camp (5,400 m) is a bleak, exposed camp on rock and ice with a direct view up at the notch you cross tomorrow. It is the coldest night of the trip.

The afternoon is preparation. Harnesses, crampons and descenders are checked one final time, the order of crossing is set, and our Sherpas go up to rig and fix the abseil on the north side so the ropes are in place before the group arrives. An early night — tomorrow starts at three. Overnight at base camp.

The crux of the trip, and a long day. Moving by four, the group climbs a steep snow and ice slope from camp to the notch of the Amphu Lapcha (5,845 m), roped and in crampons, arriving as the sun comes onto the col.

The far side is where the route earns its grade. The north face drops away as a wall of rock and ice, and the crossing is made by abseiling 100 to 150 m in stages on fixed ropes, with every rucksack lowered separately so nobody descends under load. At the bottom there is a bergschrund to cross onto the glacier.

Below that the route works down the Amphu Lapcha glacier and its moraine, and the character of the trip changes entirely — Everest, Lhotse and Ama Dablam appear ahead, and there is a trail again, and then lodges.

Chhukung (4,730 m) means a bed, a stove and a menu after six nights in a tent. Ten to twelve hours. Overnight at Chhukung.

A half day of walking. The trail leaves Chhukung south-east, crosses a stream on planks, and follows the moraine of the Imja and Lhotse glaciers up a broad, stony valley.

Island Peak Base Camp (5,087 m) stands on sandy flats between the moraine walls, and the cook crew has camp up before you arrive.

The afternoon is a refresher session on the glacier ice, focused specifically on the headwall — jumaring on a steep fixed line and abseiling back down it — and then rest. Around 3 to 4 hours. Overnight at base camp.

A short move up the rock shoulder above base camp, two to three hours with a light load while the crew carries the camp.

High camp (5,600 m) shortens tomorrow considerably and gets the group onto the headwall before the sun softens the snow. After Lobuche's high camp at 5,400 m, this one feels almost familiar.

An early dinner, boots and harness laid out ready, and sleep by seven. Your guide gives the timings and the turnaround. Overnight at high camp.

Up at one, moving by two. The first section is a steep gully of loose rock by headlamp, leading onto the ridge and up to the glacier at around 5,900 m, where crampons go on and the group ropes up.

The glacier weaves between crevasses to the foot of the headwall — around 100 m of ice at 45 to 50 degrees on fixed rope, usually with the sun arriving partway up. After Lobuche's ridge it reads as familiar ground rather than a leap.

The wall tops out on a corniced summit arête followed one at a time. From Island Peak (6,189 m) the Lhotse wall stands directly opposite, with Makalu, Baruntse, Ama Dablam and Nuptse around it — and Lobuche East, which you climbed eight days ago, clearly visible to the north-west.

Then abseil the headwall and reverse everything to base camp. Twelve to fifteen hours. Overnight at base camp.

The reserve day for the second peak, and the reason this itinerary is twenty-three days rather than twenty-one. A single reserve day shared between two summits means the first bad window costs you the second peak.

If yesterday was turned back by wind, fresh snow or a member's condition, this is the second attempt, and your guide makes that call at base camp on the evidence rather than the schedule.

If the summit went to plan, camp comes down and the group starts the walk out early, banking a spare day against a cancelled Lukla flight. Overnight at base camp or Chhukung.

The climbing is finished and the trip changes character today. Camp comes down and the group walks back down the moraine to Chhukung and on down the Imja valley.

It is an easy day after two summits and a col, and the first one in three weeks with nothing to be climbed at the end of it.

Dingboche (4,410 m) has lodges, bakeries and hot showers, and from here the itinerary follows the Everest Base Camp trail. Around 4 to 5 hours. Overnight at Dingboche.

North-west onto a broad ridge, then along the shelf above the Pheriche valley to Thukla (4,620 m) and the steep pull up the terminal moraine of the Khumbu glacier.

The top of that climb is the Thukla memorial, a field of stone chortens and plaques for climbers who died on Everest and the peaks around it, including Scott Fischer and Babu Chiri Sherpa. It is a quiet twenty minutes.

Lobuche (4,940 m) is a handful of lodges on the moraine beside the glacier, with Nuptse's wall filling the eastern sky. Around 5 hours. Overnight at Lobuche.

North along the lateral moraine to Gorak Shep (5,164 m), the last flat ground in the valley and the site of the 1953 base camp, where you drop your pack at the lodge.

Then out onto the glacier itself for two hours, picking a line through ice pinnacles and rubble to Everest Base Camp (5,364 m) — a city of tents in season, sitting directly beneath the Khumbu Icefall, which is loud and visibly moving and unlike anything else on the trip.

Back to Gorak Shep in the late afternoon. It is a long day at altitude, and after a month above 4,000 m it is a comfortable one. Around 7 to 8 hours. Overnight at Gorak Shep.

Out before dawn for Kala Patthar (5,545 m), a steep two-hour walk up a rocky bump on Pumori's southern ridge, timed so the sun comes onto Everest as you reach the top.

It is the classic view — the whole Everest, Nuptse and Lhotse wall across the glacier, with the Icefall pouring down beneath it. Base camp itself is hidden from below and visible from here as a scatter of yellow dots.

Back down for breakfast, then west off the main trail past Lobuche to Dzongla (4,830 m), three or four lodges on a shelf above the turquoise Chola Tsho with Cholatse's north face directly opposite. Around 7 to 8 hours. Overnight at Dzongla.

The second pass of the trip, and after the Amphu Lapcha it is a walking day rather than a climbing one. A steep, loose climb from Dzongla leads to a short crossing of a small glacier where crampons come out, and then the Cho La (5,420 m) itself, cairned and hung with prayer flags.

The western descent is rough and long, down moraine and boulder fields to Thagnak, and then across the Ngozumpa glacier — the longest glacier in Nepal — on a marked line through its rubble.

Gokyo (4,790 m) sits on the shore of the third lake, an improbable turquoise under Cho Oyu. Seven to nine hours. Overnight at Gokyo.

An early start for Gokyo Ri (5,357 m), a steep two-hour walk up the hill behind the lodges, done before the cloud builds.

The summit gives what many people consider the best panorama in Nepal: Everest, Lhotse, Makalu and Cho Oyu — four 8,000 m peaks from one small top — with the Ngozumpa glacier running south below and the chain of turquoise lakes beneath your feet.

The rest of the day is genuinely free, and after four weeks it is welcome. Some walk north to the fourth and fifth lakes; most sit by the third one. Around 4 hours. Overnight at Gokyo.

South down the Gokyo valley beside the Ngozumpa glacier's lateral moraine, past the second and first lakes and down through the summer settlement of Machhermo.

The valley narrows and drops, and somewhere below Machhermo the first juniper appears — the first vegetation taller than a hand's width in nearly a fortnight.

Dole (4,040 m) is a handful of lodges at the treeline. Around 5 to 6 hours. Overnight at Dole.

Down through rhododendron and birch to Phortse Tenga on the valley floor, then the steep climb back up to Mong La (3,975 m), a saddle with a chorten and a long view down the Dudh Koshi gorge.

From there the trail contours south around the hillside with Ama Dablam ahead and Everest behind, rejoining the main Khumbu trail above Kyangjuma.

Namche Bazaar (3,440 m) after a month means a hot shower, a bakery, an ATM and a beer, in roughly that order of urgency. Around 6 hours. Overnight at Namche.

The last walking day. Steeply down from Namche to the Hillary Bridge, then along the Dudh Koshi through Jorsalle and Monjo, where you check out of the national park.

Through Phakding and past the mani walls, then the final climb to Lukla (2,840 m), which always feels longer than it looks on the last day.

The evening is the end-of-trip dinner with the guide, Sherpas, cook crew and porters, and the point at which tips are given. Around 6 to 7 hours. Overnight at Lukla.

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

Delays are routine rather than exceptional, 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. Your summit certificates — one for each peak — are presented in the evening. Overnight in Kathmandu.

The trip 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.

If you are staying on in Nepal, we can arrange Chitwan, Pokhara, Lumbini or a Kathmandu valley tour. Safe travels — climbers who finish this trip usually ask about Kyajo Ri or Ama Dablam next, and both are the right step from here.