Saribung 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 today's schedule. Thamel's gear shops are a few minutes' walk away and stock most of what a climber discovers they have left at home.

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

Your guide runs the full briefing at the hotel: the twenty-five day plan, the week through Upper Mustang, the acclimatisation profile and the summit day.

Then the equipment check. Boots are tried with crampons on, harnesses fitted over climbing layers, and anything unsuitable swapped for rental kit here rather than discovered on the plateau.

Our office lodges the Upper Mustang Restricted Area Permit, which is charged per person for a fixed ten-day period with a daily rate beyond it, along with the climbing permit and ACAP. It names a licensed guide and requires a minimum of two trekkers. Overnight in Kathmandu.

West out of the Kathmandu valley on the Prithvi Highway, following the Trishuli river through gorge country with a lunch stop at a riverside restaurant.

The drive covers roughly 200 km and takes most of the day. If you would rather not spend it on the road, the 25-minute flight is available as an add-on.

Pokhara (822 m) arrives in the late afternoon on the shore of Phewa Lake. The crew does the final load sort here — everything for three weeks of camping goes north on tomorrow's flight. Overnight in Pokhara.

An early flight north from Pokhara into the Kali Gandaki — twenty minutes through the deepest gorge on earth, between Dhaulagiri and Annapurna, and one of the great scheduled flights anywhere.

Jomsom (2,720 m) is the district headquarters of Mustang. After the formalities the group walks north up the broad grey riverbed into the wind that funnels up this valley every day of the year.

Kagbeni (2,810 m) is a compact medieval village of mud-brick alleys, a red gompa and irrigation channels running under the streets. It sits at the checkpoint where the Upper Mustang restricted area begins. Around 3 hours. Overnight at Kagbeni.

The first day inside the restricted area, and the landscape changes character immediately.

The trail follows the Kali Gandaki north through Tangbe and Chhusang, villages of whitewashed houses, buckwheat fields and apple orchards set against cliffs of ochre, grey and red. The rock formations above Chhusang are eroded into columns and fins by the wind.

Beyond Chhusang the river disappears into a canyon and the trail climbs away from it, crossing to the east bank through a natural rock tunnel to Chele (3,050 m). Around 5 to 6 hours. Overnight at Chele.

A long day over three passes, the classic Mustang rhythm of climb, cross, descend and climb again.

The trail climbs steeply out of Chele to the Taklam La and then the Dajori La, with the canyon country opening into a plateau of eroded ridges. Every pass is marked with cairns and prayer flags, and the village of Samar and the cave gompa at Rangbyung come before the final climb to the Nyi La.

Ghami (3,520 m) is a substantial village of flat-roofed houses among poplar trees and barley fields, and just beyond it stands the longest mani wall in Nepal, several hundred metres of carved stone. Around 7 hours. Overnight at Ghami.

Across the Ghami Khola and past the long mani wall, then up to the Cho La and across a bare, wind-scoured plateau of red and ochre rock.

The colours here are the reason people photograph Mustang: the cliffs at Dhakmar are a deep red said in local legend to be stained with the blood of a demoness subdued by Guru Rinpoche.

Charang (3,560 m) sits beneath a red-walled dzong and gompa on a cliff above the river, one of the most striking building groups in Mustang and still in use. Around 5 hours. Overnight at Charang.

North across the plateau on a broad trail, climbing to the Lo La from which the walled city appears below — a compact rectangle of white walls on a bare brown plain, with the Tibetan border a few kilometres beyond it.

Lo Manthang (3,840 m) is the capital of the former Kingdom of Lo, which retained its monarchy until 2008. About 150 houses stand inside the walls along with the four-storey palace and the monasteries of Jampa, Thubchen and Chodey.

It is one of the very few walled cities left in the Himalaya and it is worth the week of walking on its own. Around 5 hours. Overnight at Lo Manthang.

An acclimatisation day and a genuinely interesting one. The morning goes to the monasteries inside the walls — Jampa Lhakhang with its fifteenth-century mandalas, Thubchen with its enormous assembly hall, and Chodey, still the working monastery of the city.

In the afternoon we ride or walk north toward the Choser cave complexes, where dwellings are cut into the cliff faces on five storeys, and gain a few hundred metres of height on the way.

Horses can be hired here and it is a good way to see the plateau, which is how people have moved across it for a very long time. Overnight at Lo Manthang.

South-east away from the walled city and off the Mustang circuit onto a trail that carries almost nobody, crossing bare plateau and dropping into the Dhechyang Khola.

The country here is high desert in the fullest sense — no trees, no grass beyond the irrigated fields, and eroded canyons cut into the plateau in reds, ochres and greys.

Yara (3,650 m) is a small village of flat-roofed houses and barley plots, and it is the last permanent settlement before the plateau proper. Around 6 to 7 hours. Overnight at Yara.

A short detour first to Luri Gompa, a cave monastery cut into a cliff above the Puyung Khola and reached by a ladder — one of the oldest in Mustang, with a chorten and wall paintings inside the rock.

Then east and up onto the plateau proper, climbing 650 m onto ground that is bare, brown, windy and completely empty.

Ghuna Kharka (4,300 m) is a grazing camp used by herders in summer. From here on there are no villages, no lodges and no shelter of any kind. Around 6 hours. Overnight at Ghuna Kharka.

East across the plateau, climbing steadily on ground with no trail and no vegetation whatever — grey, brown and ochre gravel under an enormous sky, with the peaks of the Damodar Himal opening ahead.

Damodar Kunda (4,890 m) is a chain of small sacred lakes at the foot of the range. They are a Hindu pilgrimage site associated with Vishnu, and the shaligram fossils found here are venerated as his aniconic form; Nepali pilgrims walk up in the summer months, which is one of the few times the plateau has anyone else on it.

In the climbing seasons there is nobody. Around 6 to 7 hours. Overnight at Damodar Kunda.

Climb high, sleep low. The morning walk goes up the ridge east of the lakes toward 5,300 m and back, on bare gravel and old snow with the Damodar Himal opening properly ahead.

From the high point the country is extraordinary and almost lunar: the plateau running north into Tibet, the Annapurnas and Dhaulagiri as a distant white wall to the south, and no vegetation or habitation anywhere in view.

Back at the lakes for the afternoon. Your guide takes saturation readings this evening and the crew sorts the loads for base camp. Around 4 to 5 hours. Overnight at Damodar Kunda.

South-east from the lakes onto the moraine below the glacier, gaining 400 m on bare gravel and old snow with no trail and no cairns beyond what the crew leaves.

Saribung Base Camp (5,300 m) is a tented camp on flat ground below the ice, and it is the highest and coldest place any of our Mustang trips sleeps. The wind here does not stop and the tents are guyed hard.

The afternoon is spent settling in and reading the route: the glacier, the shelf where high camp goes and the snow slope above it. Around 4 hours. Overnight at base camp.

The training day, and for most people on this trip it is the first time in crampons. On the glacier ice above camp you work through fitting crampons and walking in them, ice axe technique and self-arrest, moving as a roped team, ascending fixed line on a jumar, and abseiling.

Rope-team travel gets the most time, because the glacier above is crevassed and is crossed roped rather than on fixed line.

In the afternoon we walk part-way toward high camp and back — 300 m gained and lost. Meanwhile the Sherpas are above, marking the glacier and fixing the snow slope. Overnight at base camp.

Roped from the moment the group leaves camp. The route climbs onto the glacier and works up it on the marked line for three to four hours with a moderate load, weaving past a handful of open crevasses.

High camp (5,750 m) is a set of platforms stamped out on the glacier itself, fully exposed to the plateau wind and cold enough that dinner is eaten in a down jacket in the middle of the afternoon.

The rest of the day is preparation: kit laid out, rope teams assigned, an early dinner, and your guide's weather call and turnaround time. Overnight at high camp.

Roped and moving by three in the morning, in cold that is dry and absolute rather than damp. The upper glacier is crossed on the marked line by headlamp.

Then the snow slope: 40 to 45 degrees on fixed rope for two to three hours, steady rather than steep, with the sun arriving somewhere around 6,100 m and turning the whole plateau below from grey to gold in about ten minutes.

The summit is reached along a short crest, taken one at a time. From the summit (6,346 m): the Damodar Himal and the Saribung La immediately around you, the brown Tibetan plateau running north into China, the Annapurnas and Dhaulagiri as a white wall to the south, and Manaslu and the Peri Himal east.

The descent abseils the slope and reverses the glacier to high camp and then base camp. Nine to twelve hours. Overnight at base camp.

The day held in reserve. Wind off the plateau is the usual reason a Saribung attempt is turned back — the summit crest and the high camp are both fully exposed to it — and a second chance is worth more than any amount of equipment.

If yesterday failed on conditions, the group returns to high camp today and climbs tomorrow, with the ropes already fixed and the glacier route marked.

If the summit went to plan, camp comes down and the group starts back west toward Damodar Kunda, banking a day against the Jomsom flight. Overnight at base camp or Damodar Kunda.

Camp comes down after breakfast and the group descends the moraine west past Damodar Kunda, stopping at the lakes for a last look — they are frozen at the edges in both climbing seasons and completely still.

Then west across the plateau on the way in reversed, losing 600 m over bare gravel with the wind at your back for once.

Ghuna Kharka (4,300 m) in the late afternoon, and the first ground with any vegetation on it for four days. Around 7 to 8 hours. Overnight at Ghuna Kharka.

Down off the plateau into the canyon country, losing 650 m with the colours coming back into the rock as the ground drops — reds, ochres and greys after four days of grey gravel.

The route passes below Luri Gompa again, and it is worth the second look if the group has the legs for the ladder.

Yara (3,650 m) is the first permanent settlement since the group left it — houses, barley plots, people, and a guesthouse with a stove. Around 6 hours. Overnight at Yara.

North-west across the plateau back toward the walled city, on the trail the group came out on and with the whole Mustang skyline ahead.

It is easy walking after the plateau and most groups take it slowly, which on this stretch is the right approach — the canyon country between Yara and Lo Manthang is some of the most photographed landscape in Nepal and deserves the time.

Lo Manthang (3,840 m) in the afternoon, with a bed, a stove, a menu and the monasteries. The evening is the end-of-trip dinner with the guide, the climbing Sherpas, the cook crew and the horsemen. Around 6 to 7 hours. Overnight at Lo Manthang.

A jeep takes over today. The rough road south from Lo Manthang follows the plateau and then drops into the Kali Gandaki, retracing in seven hours the ground that took four days to walk on the way up.

It is a spectacular and jarring drive — the passes, the red cliffs at Dhakmar, Ghami's mani wall and the canyon country all go past a window rather than underfoot.

Jomsom (2,720 m) in the afternoon, back at the airstrip where the trip started. Around 7 hours. Overnight at Jomsom.

Jomsom flights leave at first light, before the valley wind makes flying impossible — by ten in the morning nothing moves in or out.

Twenty minutes back down the Kali Gandaki between Dhaulagiri and Annapurna. If the flights are grounded, a jeep down the gorge is the alternative and is included.

Pokhara (822 m) in the morning: lakeside, warm, green and about four thousand metres below where you were four days ago. The afternoon is free. Overnight in Pokhara.

A morning by Phewa Lake before the road, with the Annapurnas and Machhapuchhre reflected in it on a clear day.

The drive to Kathmandu takes most of the day on the Prithvi Highway, following the Trishuli east through gorge country with a lunch stop at a riverside restaurant. The 25-minute flight is available as an add-on.

Back in Kathmandu in the evening. Your summit certificate is presented over dinner. 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, Lumbini or a Kathmandu valley tour. Safe travels — Abi Peak, next along the Damodar Himal from the same base, and the Saribung La crossing into Nar Phu are the two our returning Mustang climbers most often ask about.