Putha Hiunchuli 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.

Rest is the only item on the schedule. Unpack and lay out your equipment tonight — it is inspected tomorrow, and Kathmandu is the last place anything can be replaced before a base camp six days from an airstrip.

Your expedition leader calls at the hotel to introduce themselves and set tomorrow's plan. Overnight in Kathmandu.

A full working day. Your leader takes the twenty-nine day plan apart stage by stage — the two flights, the six-day approach through Dolpo, base camp, the rotation, the summit and the reserve days.

The equipment inspection is item by item: boots, crampons, harness, ascender, belay device, screwgates and down clothing. Anything missing or unsuitable is bought or hired here today.

Because the approach carries everything on porters and pack animals with no resupply, the packing is done carefully and weighed. Overnight in Kathmandu.

The formal side of an expedition. The team attends the briefing at the Department of Tourism with the liaison officer, where the royalty permit is issued, the regulations are read out and the waste-management deposit is registered.

Meanwhile the expedition cargo is weighed, sealed into barrels and dispatched by road to Nepalgunj, where it goes onto the Juphal flights ahead of the team.

The afternoon is free, and it is the last one with hot water and restaurants for a month. Overnight in Kathmandu.

A one-hour flight west to Nepalgunj (150 m), on the Terai plain a few kilometres from the Indian border.

It is flat, hot and humid — often above 35°C — and it is the least mountainous place any of our expeditions passes through. It is also the hub for every flight into far-western Nepal, which is why the trip goes this way.

The afternoon is spent in an air-conditioned hotel doing nothing, which after Kathmandu and before Dolpo is exactly right. Your leader confirms the Juphal flight for the morning. Overnight in Nepalgunj.

An early flight north into the hills — forty-five minutes from the Terai to Juphal (2,475 m), a short airstrip on a hillside above the Thuli Bheri, and a rise of more than two thousand metres in under an hour.

The flight is weather-dependent and cancels regularly, which is why the itinerary carries spare days at both ends.

From the airstrip the trail drops to the river and follows it east to Dunai (2,140 m), the administrative headquarters of Dolpa and the last town of any size. Around 2 to 3 hours. Overnight at Dunai.

East up the Thuli Bheri on a trail cut into the gorge wall, crossing side streams and passing through small villages of stone and timber.

The country here is middle-hill Nepal rather than Himalaya — terraced fields, walnut trees, buffalo and children walking to school — and it carries almost no foreign traffic.

Tarakot (2,540 m) is an old fortified village on a spur above the river, once the seat of a local raja and still the last settlement of any size on this route. Around 6 hours. Overnight at Tarakot.

South-east away from the Thuli Bheri and into a side valley that climbs steadily toward the western end of the Dhaulagiri chain.

The trail leaves the villages behind within a couple of hours and enters forest — pine, oak and birch — with the occasional herders' shelter and no permanent habitation at all.

Dhule (3,340 m) is a clearing used by herders in summer, where camp goes up. From here the expedition is entirely self-contained. Around 6 to 7 hours. Overnight at Dhule.

Up out of the forest and onto open hillside, climbing steadily with the country turning drier and browner as the trail gains height.

This is the transition into the edge of Dolpo — juniper and grass rather than trees, blue sheep on the slopes, and lammergeiers working the ridges.

Purbang (3,800 m) is a grazing camp above the treeline. The first snow peaks of the Dhaulagiri chain show ahead, and Putha Hiunchuli itself appears for the first time. Around 5 to 6 hours. Overnight at Purbang.

A shorter day and a higher one, climbing 600 m onto bare high ground with the whole western Dhaulagiri chain opening ahead.

The country here is genuinely empty — no villages, no herders' shelters, no trail markers beyond what the crew knows — and the walking is on grass and then moraine.

Camp goes up at around 4,400 m below the pass. It is the last night before base camp, and the first properly cold one. Around 4 to 5 hours. Overnight at the Kakkot La camp.

Over the pass and onto the moraine below the mountain, gaining 500 m on rough ground with the glacier opening ahead.

Putha Hiunchuli Base Camp (4,900 m) is established today: mess, kitchen, storage, communications and toilet tents alongside the sleeping tents. Home for the next fortnight, and six days' walk from the nearest airstrip.

The afternoon is spent settling in and reading the route — the glacier, the shelf where Camp 1 goes, the snow slopes above it and the broad summit ridge. Around 4 to 5 hours. Overnight at base camp.

The puja is held this morning. A stone chorten is built, juniper is burned, and every piece of climbing equipment is stacked at the altar to be blessed. No Sherpa on the team will go onto the glacier before it is 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. There is no signal here and no other expedition anywhere in the area, and the silence takes most people a day to notice. Overnight at base camp.

A full working day on the glacier below camp. Every climber works through roped team travel with correct spacing, crevasse rescue with a hauling system, jumaring on fixed line with a pack, changing over at anchors, and abseiling.

Rope-team travel and crevasse rescue get the most time, because the glacier above base camp is long and crevassed and is crossed in the dark on push mornings, and there is no other team within a hundred kilometres to help.

Your leader is assessing as much as teaching. Meanwhile the Sherpas are above, marking the glacier and fixing toward Camp 1. Overnight at base camp.

An acclimatisation walk up the moraine toward 5,300 m and back, on ground that asks nothing technical.

From up there the whole western end of the Dhaulagiri chain is visible — Churen Himal and Gurja Himal running east — and north is the brown, dry, folded country of Dolpo stretching to the Tibetan border.

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 crevassed glacier roped and on the marked line — long rather than broken, with a handful of open holes to weave past — and climbs onto the shelf above.

Five to six hours with a personal load brings the team to Camp 1 (5,600 m), on the glacier with the moraine and base camp far below.

The night here is the point of the exercise, and it also gives your leader a proper look at how each climber performs on the route rather than on the practice ice. Overnight at Camp 1.

Down the fixed ropes and back across the glacier in the cold of the morning, two to three hours, before the sun softens the snow bridges.

Descending to recover is deliberate: adaptation from last night's altitude consolidates far better at 4,900 m than it would higher, and a rested team moves faster on the push.

The Sherpa team spends the day carrying loads and fixing the slopes above Camp 1 toward Camp 2. Overnight at base camp.

A rest day and a preparation day in one. The morning is for eating, drinking and sleeping; the afternoon is for the plan.

Kit is split into what goes up and what stays, rope pairs are set, radios tested, and your leader briefs the five-day sequence stage by stage with timings and a turnaround time for the summit ridge.

The Sherpa team returns with the report on the state of the fixed ropes and the upper slopes, and the satellite forecast arrives in the evening. The go decision is taken on the two together. Overnight at base camp.

The summit push begins, and the glacier goes faster the second time — four hours or so for a crossing that took five or six on the rotation, on a line the team now knows.

Loads are light: the camps above are already stocked by the Sherpa team, so climbers carry personal equipment only.

Camp 1 (5,600 m) by mid-morning, with the rest of the day to lie down, drink and eat. Your leader confirms tomorrow's timings before dark. Overnight at Camp 1.

Up the long snow slopes above Camp 1 on fixed rope, four to five hours with a moderate load, the angle easing and steepening in turn but never becoming difficult.

This is the section that teaches what a 7,000 m peak actually asks for: not technique but the ability to keep moving steadily for hours on ground that offers nothing to think about.

Camp 2 (6,200 m) in the early afternoon, on a shelf cut into the slope. Melt snow, force fluid and food, and sleep as well as 6,200 m allows. Overnight at Camp 2.

A deliberately short day — three hours or so up the slope to the shoulder, arriving by late morning so the team has most of the day lying down.

High camp (6,600 m) is a handful of tents on the shoulder, exposed to the wind and cold as soon as the sun goes.

Dinner is early and minimal; appetite at 6,600 m is poor and forcing fluid matters more than food. Kit is laid out, rope pairs confirmed, and your leader restates the turnaround time. Overnight at high camp.

Moving by two in the morning, roped and on fixed line. The route climbs the snow slopes above camp — long, steady and never technical — with a short steeper section of around 45 degrees on fixed rope near the top that is the only real climbing on the mountain.

It is a day about persistence rather than skill, and the sun arrives somewhere around 7,000 m.

The summit (7,246 m) is a broad ridge. The Dhaulagiri chain runs east from beneath your feet — Churen Himal, Gurja Himal and, at the far end, Dhaulagiri I; north is the dry folded country of Dolpo running to the Tibetan border; and south, on a clear day, the middle hills fall away toward the plains of India.

The descent reverses the slopes to high camp and then Camp 2. Twelve to sixteen hours. Overnight at Camp 2.

Camp 2 comes down and the slopes are descended on the fixed ropes, with the line stripped as the team goes — 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 (4,900 m) by early afternoon, with thick air by comparison, a hot meal and the first unbroken sleep in five days. Six to eight hours. Overnight at base camp.

The first of three reserve days. Putha's weather is more settled than most 7,000 m peaks', but wind on the summit ridge still closes it, and a team with days in hand has a second attempt.

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 for a good many climbers on this mountain it is also the day of thinking seriously about an 8,000 m peak. Overnight at base camp.

The second reserve day. Three of them exist because base camp is six days from the airstrip 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 Camp 2 tonight rather than here.

If the expedition is finished, today is when the camps above come down — the high camp, Camp 2 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: everything carried up from Juphal goes back out on porters and pack animals, and the Department of Tourism deposit is refunded against it. In country this remote, what an expedition leaves behind stays for a very long time.

The chorten from the puja stays with its prayer flags. Most teams spend the last of the light looking north into Dolpo. Overnight at base camp.

Base camp goes onto porters and pack animals and the team walks out over the pass and down through Purbang, losing height fast with the country greening as it drops.

The juniper comes back, then the first birch, and by the afternoon the trail is in proper forest again with birds in it — which after a fortnight on moraine and glacier registers as a considerable event.

Dhule (3,340 m) in the late afternoon, at the herders' clearing the group camped in on the way up. It is the first night below 4,000 m in three weeks and everyone sleeps through it. Around 8 hours. Overnight at Dhule.

Down the forested valley to the Thuli Bheri, losing 800 m through pine and oak on a trail that is easy walking after everything above it.

Tarakot (2,540 m) is the first village since the approach — houses, fields, children and buffalo — and after two weeks with no other people it is a noisy and welcome place.

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. Around 6 hours. Overnight at Tarakot.

The last walking day, west down the Thuli Bheri gorge to Dunai and then the climb back up to the airstrip.

Dunai has shops, a bank and the first cold drink in three weeks, and most groups take longer over lunch than they intend to.

Juphal (2,475 m) is a short steep hour above the river. The expedition's cargo is weighed and loaded for the morning flight, and the crew from Dolpa go home from here. Around 6 to 7 hours. Overnight at Juphal.

An early flight south to Nepalgunj (150 m) — forty-five minutes and a drop of more than two thousand metres, from hill country to the Terai plain in a single descent.

The connecting flight to Kathmandu follows in the afternoon, weather and schedules permitting. Both legs are weather-dependent, which is why the itinerary carries spare days.

Back in Kathmandu in the evening. The expedition reports to the Department of Tourism and your summit certificate is presented over dinner. 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 is handled by our office.

Safe travels. Putha is one of the three peaks we most often recommend before an 8,000 m expedition, and Manaslu, Himlung and Dhaulagiri I are the ones that usually come up next.