Nirekha Peak Climbing

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.

Rest is the only item on the schedule. Thamel's technical gear shops are a few minutes away if anything is missing from your kit.

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

The briefing runs through the nineteen-day plan and then the route — the crevassed glacier, the fixed slopes, the corniced ridge and the abseil descent, with the turnaround time explained rather than announced.

The equipment check covers boots and technical crampons, harnesses, axes and descenders. Your guide will also ask directly about your glacier experience, because rope-team competence is the entry requirement for this peak rather than a nice extra.

Our office lodges the NMA climbing permit and park paperwork with 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.

Loads are sorted with the porters over tea, and the trail drops north through Chaurikharka and Ghat past mani walls and prayer wheels turned by the river.

Phakding (2,610 m) lies below Lukla, which makes an easy first night at altitude. Around 3 to 4 hours. Overnight at Phakding.

Five prayer-flagged suspension bridges across the Dudh Koshi, then a climb through blue pine to Monjo and the Sagarmatha National Park entrance.

Past Jorsalle the Hillary Bridge crosses high above the confluence, and beyond it the trail turns uphill for 600 m of steady work, with a first view of Everest partway up on a clear morning.

Namche Bazaar (3,440 m) has bakeries, an ATM and the last serious gear shops. Around 6 hours. Overnight at Namche.

Climb high, sleep low. The morning goes up to the Everest View Hotel (3,880 m) and on to Khumjung and Khunde beneath Khumbi Yul Lha.

From the ridge above Khumjung the head of the valley opens out, and the wall running west from Cholatse — the ground you will be under in five days — is visible for the first time.

The afternoon is free in Namche. Your guide takes the first oxygen saturation readings tonight. Around 4 hours. Overnight at Namche.

Two hours of near-level balcony trail out of Namche, high above the Dudh Koshi, with Ama Dablam ahead almost the whole way.

At Phunki Thenga the trail drops to the river and climbs 600 m through rhododendron and birch to the saddle — a long pull with the altitude beginning to tell.

Tengboche (3,860 m) holds the largest monastery in the Khumbu, and its afternoon prayer ceremony is open to visitors. Around 5 to 6 hours. Overnight at Tengboche.

Down through Deboche, over the Imja Khola above a gorge, and up to Pangboche (3,930 m), the oldest permanent Sherpa settlement in the Khumbu.

Above Pangboche the last trees give out and the valley opens into a wide grey trough of moraine and grazing land, walled by Ama Dablam, Lhotse and Taboche.

Dingboche (4,410 m) sits among stone-walled potato and barley fields at the junction of the Imja and Khumbu valleys. Around 5 hours. Overnight at Dingboche.

The key acclimatisation day. We climb the ridge behind the village to Nangkartshang (5,083 m) — steep, non-technical, two to three hours on scree and rock.

Reaching 5,000 m and sleeping 600 m below it is the mechanism that makes the summit possible. Makalu appears over the eastern ridge, with Lhotse, Ama Dablam, Taboche and Cholatse arranged around you.

Back for a late lunch and rest. Four litres of water, more food than you feel like, and an evening saturation check. Around 4 to 5 hours. Overnight at Dingboche.

North-west out of Dingboche onto a broad ridge, then along a high 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 for climbers lost on Everest and the peaks around it. From there the trail turns west, away from the Everest Base Camp route and its traffic.

Dzongla (4,830 m) is three or four lodges on a shelf above the turquoise Chola Tsho, with the north face of Cholatse standing directly over it. It is one of the finest positions in the Khumbu. Around 5 to 6 hours. Overnight at Dzongla.

A short day west from Dzongla on the Cho La trail, following the moraine into the cirque below the pass, and then leaving the trail for the flat ground where camp goes up.

Nirekha Base Camp (5,000 m) sits under the peak with the glacier above it and the Cho La to the east. Pass-crossers walk by in the morning and are gone by ten; after that the cirque is yours.

The afternoon is a first skills session — crampons, rope-team spacing and the abseil setup — on the ice below camp, with a fuller day tomorrow. Around 3 to 4 hours. Overnight at base camp.

The main training day, and on this peak it is dominated by glacier work. Rope-team travel with correct spacing, holding a fall, the basics of crevasse rescue with a hauling system, and probing and marking a route through broken ground.

The reason is straightforward: several hours of your summit day are spent roped on a crevassed glacier in the dark, and that is a skill the fixed rope cannot substitute for.

The afternoon adds fixed-line ascent and abseiling, then a short acclimatisation walk to around 5,300 m. Meanwhile the Sherpas are above, marking the glacier route and fixing the steep slopes. Overnight at base camp.

A steady 500 m up moraine and scree to the lip of the glacier, three to four hours with a moderate load while the crew moves the camp.

High camp (5,500 m) stands on rubble-covered moraine at the glacier edge, exposed and cold, with the route laid out above: the glacier crossing, the fixed slopes, and the ridge at the top of them.

The afternoon is preparation. Kit is laid out, rope teams assigned, the order of climbing set, and your guide gives the weather call and the turnaround time. Early dinner, asleep by seven. Overnight at high camp.

Roped and moving by one in the morning. The first two to three hours are the glacier crossing, weaving between crevasses on the line the Sherpas marked yesterday, moving as a team in the dark with the rope where it should be.

At the far side the ground steepens into snow and ice at 45 to 55 degrees, climbed on fixed rope for several hours as the sky lightens over Makalu. It is sustained rather than desperate, and it goes on long enough to be the making or breaking of the day.

The top of the slopes gives onto the corniced summit ridge, followed one at a time. From the summit (6,159 m): Cholatse and Taboche immediately south, Ama Dablam beyond them, Everest and Lhotse east, and Cho Oyu over the Ngozumpa to the north-west.

The descent abseils the fixed sections and reverses the glacier. Ten to thirteen hours to base camp. Overnight at base camp.

The day held in reserve. On Nirekha the reason to use it is usually fresh snow: new powder on the glacier hides the crevasse route the Sherpas marked and slows the crossing enough to lose the summit against the clock.

If yesterday was turned back, the group returns to high camp today with the ropes and the glacier route already in place, and climbs tomorrow.

If the summit went to plan, this is a rest day at base camp or an early start down toward Dzongla and Pheriche, banking a spare day against the Lukla flights. Overnight at base camp or Dzongla.

Camp comes down after breakfast and the group retraces east to Dzongla and down past the Thukla memorial chortens, then takes the steep descent beside the glacier snout into the Pheriche valley.

Through Pheriche, where the Himalayan Rescue Association clinic gives its afternoon altitude talks, and on down the valley on a good trail beside the river.

A gentle final climb reaches Pangboche (3,930 m), where juniper and birch return and the air feels almost thick. Around 7 hours. Overnight at Pangboche.

Down through Deboche and up the short climb to the Tengboche saddle, worth a last stop at the monastery for the view of Ama Dablam.

The steep descent to Phunki Thenga is hard on tired knees, and then the balcony trail contours back around the hillside toward Namche, high above the Dudh Koshi.

Namche Bazaar (3,440 m) means a hot shower, a bakery and a beer after four nights in tents. 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), always longer than it looks on the last day.

The evening is the end-of-trip dinner with the guide, climbing 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 valley wind builds. 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 certificate is 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 — Cholatse, which stood over your camp at Dzongla, is the usual next question from climbers who enjoyed this one.