Tharpu Chuli and Singu Chuli Two Peaks Climbing
Two peaks from one base camp inside the Annapurna Sanctuary, and they could hardly be more different. Tharpu Chuli (5,66
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Flight from Kathmandu to Pokhara
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Flight from Pokhara to Kathmandu
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Trip Overview
Two peaks from one base camp inside the Annapurna Sanctuary, and they could hardly be more different. Tharpu Chuli (5,663 m) — Tent Peak — is a straightforward snow climb graded PD+, first ascended by Jimmy Roberts in 1956, and it makes a superb objective in its own right and a near-perfect warm-up. Singu Chuli (6,501 m), the Fluted Peak next door, is one of the hardest summits on the NMA list.
Climbing them in that order, a week apart, from a single tented camp on the glacier moraine, is the best way to attempt Singu Chuli that we know of. Tharpu Chuli puts a 5,663 m summit and a night at 5,000 m into your legs before you go anywhere near the flutings, and it does it without the long drive back down a valley that a two-peak trip usually involves. The base camp view — the three-thousand-metre south face of Annapurna I — does not change between them.
Trip Highlights
Tharpu Chuli (5,663 m) and Singu Chuli (6,501 m): A PD+ snow climb and a grade D ice route, from one base camp a week apart.
Tent Peak as the Perfect Warm-Up: Jimmy Roberts' 1956 summit, a genuine peak that also builds the altitude the second one demands.
The Fluted Ice of Singu Chuli: Sustained 50–60° ice on a face where the snow quality decides the day, finishing on a corniced ridge.
One Base Camp for Both: No valley to walk back down between peaks — the Sanctuary holds them both within a few hours of each other.
Beneath the South Face of Annapurna I: Base camp faces three thousand metres of the wall Bonington's team climbed in 1970.
Itinerary
A 24-day itinerary climbing Tharpu Chuli (5,663 m) and then Singu Chuli (6,501 m) from a single base camp in the Annapurna Sanctuary, with a shared training day, a high camp for each peak and three contingency days.
1Day 1Arrival in Nepal – Kathmandu (1,400 m)
Arrival in Nepal – Kathmandu (1,400 m)
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 climbing guide calls at the hotel in the evening to introduce themselves and confirm tomorrow's schedule. Overnight in Kathmandu.
2Day 2Kathmandu (1,400 m) – Climbing Briefing, Permits and Equipment Check
Kathmandu (1,400 m) – Climbing Briefing, Permits and Equipment Check
Your guide runs the full briefing at the hotel: the twenty-four day plan, the acclimatisation profile, the summit day, and the decisions that get made on the mountain and by whom.
Then the equipment check. Boots are tried with crampons on, harnesses fitted over the layers you will actually climb in, and anything unsuitable swapped for rental kit here rather than discovered at altitude.
Our office lodges the climbing permit, the Annapurna Conservation Area permit and the TIMS card today, which needs your passport and photographs. The afternoon is free. Overnight in Kathmandu.
3Day 3Drive from Kathmandu (1,400 m) to Pokhara (822 m)
Drive from Kathmandu (1,400 m) to Pokhara (822 m)
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, with the Annapurnas and the fishtail summit of Machhapuchhre standing over it. The crew does the final load sort here. Overnight in Pokhara.
4Day 4Drive to Siwai and Trek to Ghandruk (1,940 m)
Drive to Siwai and Trek to Ghandruk (1,940 m)
A two-hour drive north-west out of Pokhara through terraced farmland to the road head at Siwai, where the walking starts.
The trail climbs through rice terraces and bamboo into the Modi Khola valley, warm and green and full of birds — this side of the range is a world away from the dry Manang valley.
Ghandruk (1,940 m) is one of the largest Gurung villages in Nepal, a steep grid of slate-roofed stone houses with Annapurna South and Machhapuchhre filling the northern sky. Around 4 hours of walking. Overnight at Ghandruk.
5Day 5Trek from Ghandruk (1,940 m) to Chomrong (2,170 m)
Trek from Ghandruk (1,940 m) to Chomrong (2,170 m)
A day of stone staircases. The trail drops steeply to the Kimrong Khola, crosses it, and climbs just as steeply up the far side through terraced fields and rhododendron.
Nepali hill trails do not contour; they go down to the river and back up, and this is the day that teaches you that.
Chomrong (2,170 m) is strung down a hillside at the entrance to the Modi Khola gorge and is the last real village before the Sanctuary — the last ATM, the last shops, and by common consent the best apple pie in the Annapurnas. Around 5 to 6 hours. Overnight at Chomrong.
6Day 6Trek from Chomrong (2,170 m) to Bamboo (2,310 m)
Trek from Chomrong (2,170 m) to Bamboo (2,310 m)
Down the long stone staircase out of Chomrong to the Chomrong Khola, then up the other side to Sinuwa and into the gorge proper.
From here the valley closes in and the trail runs north between walls that rise a vertical kilometre on both sides. The forest is dense, wet and full of langur monkeys, and the light goes early.
Bamboo (2,310 m) is a handful of lodges in the bamboo thicket the place is named for. It is humid, green and about as unlike a climbing base camp as anywhere in Nepal. Around 5 hours. Overnight at Bamboo.
7Day 7Trek from Bamboo (2,310 m) to Deurali (3,200 m)
Trek from Bamboo (2,310 m) to Deurali (3,200 m)
North up the gorge through Dovan and past the shrine at Himalaya, climbing steadily as the bamboo gives way to rhododendron and then to birch.
This section of the gorge is avalanche country in spring and after heavy snow, and there are two or three places where the guide will move the group across quickly and without stopping. It is the reason this trail closes some winters.
Deurali (3,200 m) sits where the gorge finally begins to open. Around 5 hours. Overnight at Deurali.
8Day 8Trek from Deurali (3,200 m) to Machhapuchhre Base Camp (3,700 m)
Trek from Deurali (3,200 m) to Machhapuchhre Base Camp (3,700 m)
The gorge opens and the Annapurna Sanctuary reveals itself — a glacial amphitheatre ringed by Annapurna I, Annapurna South, Hiunchuli, Gangapurna, Tarke Kang and Machhapuchhre, with no gap in the wall anywhere except the gorge you walked up.
It is one of the great arrivals in Nepal, and it happens in about twenty minutes of walking.
Machhapuchhre Base Camp (3,700 m) sits at the gateway beneath the fishtail summit, which is closed to climbing and has never been officially summited. Around 3 hours. Overnight at MBC.
9Day 9Trek from Machhapuchhre Base Camp (3,700 m) to Annapurna Base Camp (4,130 m)
Trek from Machhapuchhre Base Camp (3,700 m) to Annapurna Base Camp (4,130 m)
A short climb up the moraine into the heart of the Sanctuary, gaining 430 m in two to three hours on an easy trail.
Annapurna Base Camp (4,130 m) stands directly beneath the south face of Annapurna I — three thousand metres of it, the wall Bonington's team climbed in 1970 and one of the great faces in the Himalaya.
The afternoon is spent acclimatising and looking at it, and at sunrise the whole ring turns pink at once. There is a memorial here to climbers lost on the mountain, including Anatoli Boukreev. Around 3 hours. Overnight at Annapurna Base Camp.
10Day 10Trek from Annapurna Base Camp (4,130 m) to Singu Chuli Base Camp (4,300 m)
Trek from Annapurna Base Camp (4,130 m) to Singu Chuli Base Camp (4,300 m)
A short day off the trekking trail and onto the moraine of the South Annapurna glacier, working north-west across boulder ground into the heart of the Sanctuary.
The base camp (4,300 m) serves both peaks and is a tented camp with Tharpu Chuli and Singu Chuli both directly above and the south face of Annapurna I — three thousand metres of it — filling the northern wall of the amphitheatre.
The afternoon is spent reading the route with your guide: the glacier, Tharpu Chuli's snow slope for next week, and the fluted face above it that is the whole difficulty of the second peak. Around 3 hours. Overnight at base camp.
11Day 11Technical Assessment and Training Day at Base Camp (4,300 m)
Technical Assessment and Training Day at Base Camp (4,300 m)
The day that decides who climbs. On the ice above camp each climber works through two-tool movement on steep ice, placing and removing screws, jumaring on a loaded line over an edge, and abseiling from a hanging stance.
Your guide is assessing efficiency under fatigue rather than best-case technique, because on flutings where protection is marginal the safety margin is made of speed.
Anyone the guide is not satisfied with is told today, at base camp. Meanwhile the Sherpas are above, fixing the glacier and the lower face. Overnight at base camp.
12Day 12Acclimatisation Day at Singu Chuli Base Camp (4,300 m)
Acclimatisation Day at Singu Chuli Base Camp (4,300 m)
An acclimatisation walk up the moraine toward 4,800 m and back, on ground that asks nothing technical.
The Sanctuary from up here is the whole point of the place: Annapurna I, Annapurna South, Hiunchuli, Gangapurna, Tarke Kang and Machhapuchhre in a complete ring, with the Modi Khola gorge as the only gap in it.
The afternoon is rest and packing. The Sherpas report on the condition of the flutings, which is the information the summit plan actually rests on. Overnight at base camp.
13Day 13Trek from Base Camp (4,300 m) to Tharpu Chuli High Camp (5,000 m)
Trek from Base Camp (4,300 m) to Tharpu Chuli High Camp (5,000 m)
The first climb of the trip, and a gentle introduction to it. The route crosses the glacier roped and climbs onto a shelf at 5,000 m in four to five hours with a moderate load.
Tharpu Chuli high camp (5,000 m) is a set of platforms on the snow with the pyramid of the peak rising directly above — from here the shape that earned it the name Tent Peak is obvious.
An early dinner, kit laid out and rope teams assigned. This night at 5,000 m is the acclimatisation that makes Singu Chuli possible next week, and it is doing that job whether or not the summit goes tomorrow. Overnight at high camp.
14Day 14Summit Tharpu Chuli (5,663 m) and Descend to Base Camp (4,300 m)
Summit Tharpu Chuli (5,663 m) and Descend to Base Camp (4,300 m)
Moving by four in the morning, roped and in crampons. The route climbs the glacier above camp and then onto the snow slope — 40 to 45 degrees, fixed by our Sherpas, and climbed steadily on a jumar for two to three hours.
Near the top the slope narrows into a short exposed ridge, taken one at a time, and the summit is small enough to hold three or four people.
From the summit (5,663 m) the entire Sanctuary is laid out: the south face of Annapurna I at close range, Annapurna South and Hiunchuli to the west, Machhapuchhre's fishtail east, and Singu Chuli directly across the glacier, with the flutings you will be on in five days clearly visible.
The descent reverses the slope and the glacier to base camp. Seven to ten hours. Overnight at base camp.
15Day 15Rest and Contingency Day at Base Camp (4,300 m)
Rest and Contingency Day at Base Camp (4,300 m)
A rest day between the peaks, and the contingency day for the first one. If Tharpu Chuli was turned back yesterday, the group goes back up to high camp today and climbs tomorrow.
If the summit went to plan, this is genuine rest: eating, sleeping and letting the altitude from a 5,663 m summit and a night at 5,000 m consolidate before the harder route.
In the afternoon your guide reviews the Sherpa team's report on the flutings and gives each climber an honest assessment of whether the second peak is sensible for them. That conversation happens here, at base camp, and not on the face. Overnight at base camp.
16Day 16Trek from Base Camp (4,300 m) to Singu Chuli High Camp (5,300 m)
Trek from Base Camp (4,300 m) to Singu Chuli High Camp (5,300 m)
A serious carry. The route crosses the glacier roped and then climbs fixed line onto the shelf above it, gaining a thousand metres in five to six hours with a moderate load.
High camp (5,300 m) is a handful of platforms cut into the shelf, exposed and cold, with the fluted face rising directly overhead — close enough to see how the snow is lying on it, which is what everyone spends the afternoon doing.
Early dinner, kit laid out, rope pairs set, and your guide's weather call and a hard turnaround time. Overnight at high camp.
17Day 17Summit Singu Chuli (6,501 m) and Descend to Base Camp (4,300 m)
Summit Singu Chuli (6,501 m) and Descend to Base Camp (4,300 m)
Moving by midnight, because the flutings have to be climbed and descended while they are frozen. The route goes onto the face within the hour and stays on it.
The flutings are the climb: ice and snow at 50 to 60 degrees with short steeper steps, climbed on fixed rope with two tools for hours. Where the snow is firm it is superb; where it is sugary it takes neither tools nor screws well and progress becomes careful and slow.
Above the face a corniced summit ridge is followed one at a time with the Sherpas probing ahead. From the summit (6,501 m): Annapurna I across the Sanctuary at close range, Annapurna South and Hiunchuli below you, Machhapuchhre's fishtail to the east, and the Pokhara valley visible eight thousand metres below to the south.
The descent is a long sequence of abseils down the flutings and the fixed line to high camp, then base camp. Fourteen to eighteen hours. Overnight at base camp.
18Day 18First Reserve Day at Singu Chuli Base Camp (4,300 m)
First Reserve Day at Singu Chuli Base Camp (4,300 m)
The first of two reserve days, and on this peak they are used more often than not. The Sanctuary catches more weather than the Manang side, and the flutings need cold to be climbable at all.
If the summit was missed, the team rests today and goes back up tomorrow with the ropes still fixed. Your guide weighs the party's remaining reserves as heavily as the forecast — a second push on grade D ice needs climbers who have genuinely recovered.
If the summit went to plan, the day is rest at base camp with the whole Annapurna amphitheatre to look at. Overnight at base camp.
19Day 19Second Reserve Day at Singu Chuli Base Camp (4,300 m)
Second Reserve Day at Singu Chuli Base Camp (4,300 m)
The second reserve day and the end of the trip's margin. Two of them exist because a single day is frequently not enough on a face this condition-dependent.
If a second attempt is running, the team is at high camp tonight rather than here.
If the climb is finished, base camp comes down today. Everything the group carried into the Sanctuary goes back out with it, and the site is cleared — the Sanctuary is a conservation area and one of the most visited places in Nepal, and what expeditions leave in it stays. Overnight at base camp.
20Day 20Trek from Singu Chuli Base Camp (4,300 m) to Bamboo (2,310 m)
Trek from Singu Chuli Base Camp (4,300 m) to Bamboo (2,310 m)
Off the moraine and back onto the trekking trail at Annapurna Base Camp, then down through Machhapuchhre Base Camp and into the gorge.
The descent is long and fast — nearly two thousand metres — and the vegetation comes back in stages: grass, then rhododendron, then birch, then bamboo, with the air thickening and warming all the way.
Bamboo (2,310 m) is humid, green and loud with the river, and after a fortnight above the treeline it feels tropical. Around 7 to 8 hours. Overnight at Bamboo.
21Day 21Trek from Bamboo (2,310 m) to Ghandruk (1,940 m)
Trek from Bamboo (2,310 m) to Ghandruk (1,940 m)
Out of the gorge to Sinuwa and up the long stone staircase to Chomrong, which is the sting in the tail of every Sanctuary walk out — five hundred steps up after two thousand metres down yesterday.
Chomrong has the apple pie, the ATM and the first proper shops in ten days, and most groups take longer over lunch than they intend to.
Then down to the Kimrong Khola and up the far side to Ghandruk (1,940 m), with Annapurna South and Machhapuchhre behind you for the last time. Around 7 hours. Overnight at Ghandruk.
22Day 22Trek to Siwai and Drive to Pokhara (822 m)
Trek to Siwai and Drive to Pokhara (822 m)
A short descent through rice terraces and bamboo to the road head at Siwai, where the jeeps are waiting.
The two-hour drive back to Pokhara (822 m) runs through terraced farmland and villages, and the transition from a glacier basin to a lakeside town in a single morning is one of the pleasures of the Sanctuary.
The afternoon is free: a hot shower, a proper meal and an hour by Phewa Lake, where on a clear evening the peak you climbed is visible over the ridge. Overnight in Pokhara.
23Day 23Drive from Pokhara (822 m) to Kathmandu (1,400 m)
Drive from Pokhara (822 m) to Kathmandu (1,400 m)
A morning by the 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 if you would rather not spend the day on the road.
Back in Kathmandu in the evening. Your summit certificate is presented over dinner. Overnight in Kathmandu.
24Day 24Departure from Nepal
Departure from Nepal
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 — climbers who get up both of these are generally ready for Tilicho Peak or Ama Dablam, and we would be glad to talk about either.
Inclusions & Exclusions
Road transport to Pokhara and the Sanctuary road head, Kathmandu and Pokhara hotel nights, teahouse and tented accommodation, three meals a day on the trek and at the camps, both NMA climbing permits, ACAP and TIMS, a licensed climbing guide with Sherpa support rising to one per climber on Singu Chuli, all group ice equipment, rope fixing on both routes and the assessment day are included, while international flights, visa, technical mountaineering insurance, personal technical equipment, personal gear, city meals and tips are not.
What's Included
Airport pickup and drop-off services in Kathmandu.
Private tourist bus or car from Kathmandu to Pokhara and back.
Private jeep transport between Pokhara and the Siwai road head in both directions.
Two nights of accommodation in Kathmandu with breakfast.
Two nights of accommodation in Pokhara with breakfast.
Accommodation in local teahouses on the approach and the walk out.
Tented accommodation at the shared base camp (4,300 m), at Tharpu Chuli high camp (5,000 m) and at Singu Chuli high camp (5,300 m), with a mess tent, kitchen tent and toilet tent.
Three meals a day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) throughout the trip.
Nepal Mountaineering Association climbing permits for Tharpu Chuli and Singu Chuli, Annapurna Conservation Area Permit (ACAP) and the Trekkers' Information Management System (TIMS) card.
Government-licensed climbing guide, with all equipment, wages and insurance.
One climbing Sherpa for every two climbers on Tharpu Chuli, and one per climber on Singu Chuli, with all their equipment, wages and insurance.
Group climbing equipment: fixed and main ropes, snow bars, ice screws, and anchors.
Garbage deposit paid to the Nepal Mountaineering Association.
Group map, and a comprehensive first aid kit carried by the guide.
Cook and kitchen crew at base camp for the whole climbing period, and at both high camps.
A full training and assessment day at base camp covering crampons, ice tools, screws, fixed-rope work and abseiling from hanging stances.
Fixing of Tharpu Chuli's snow slope and of Singu Chuli's fluted face and summit ridge, and stripping of the ropes on descent.
Group ice protection: screws, snow stakes, anchors and all fixed and main ropes.
Porter transport of group climbing equipment and camp gear into the Sanctuary.
A rest and contingency day after Tharpu Chuli and two reserve days for Singu Chuli.
Summit certificate issued after a successful ascent.
All government taxes, permit fees, and service charges.
What's Excluded
International flight tickets to and from Nepal.
Nepal entry visa fees.
Travel insurance covering mountaineering to the height of this peak, including emergency helicopter evacuation and repatriation.
Personal climbing equipment — harness, crampons, ice axe, ascender, descender, helmet and carabiners (available to rent as an add-on).
Personal trekking equipment and clothing, including boots and a sleeping bag.
Porter services (available at an additional cost).
Lunch and dinner in Kathmandu and Pokhara.
Snacks, bottled water, hot showers, Wi-Fi, charging fees, and alcoholic or soft drinks.
Personal technical ice tools, crampons, harness and belay device for the Singu Chuli half, which we ask climbers to bring rather than rent.
Personal expenses such as laundry, phone calls, and souvenirs.
Tips for the guide, climbing Sherpa, porters and support staff.
Any additional accommodation, transport or expenses caused by weather, an attempt abandoned for conditions, or a Singu Chuli attempt called off because the face is unsafe.
Route Map
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Altitude Profile
Pricing
Transparent per-person pricing based on group size, covering the services listed in the itinerary with no hidden charges.
Add-ons
Customize your climb with optional services such as porter support, climbing equipment rental and other personalized arrangements at an additional cost.
Best Time to Climb
April to May and October to November. Tharpu Chuli is climbable in both seasons with little to choose between them. Singu Chuli is not: the flutings need to be frozen hard to take tools and screws, and autumn is the stronger season for that, with better-consolidated post-monsoon ice.
The Sanctuary is on the wet side of the range and holds more snow than Manang, and the Modi Khola gorge between Dovan and Deurali is avalanche terrain after heavy falls. In a bad winter the approach closes entirely. We run a small number of departures and will climb Tharpu Chuli and cancel Singu Chuli rather than commit a team to soft flutings, which is a normal outcome rather than a failure.
Climb Difficulty & Technical Grade
Tharpu Chuli (PD+): a glacier approach, a snow slope at 40 to 45 degrees on fixed rope, and a short exposed summit ridge. Six to nine hours from a high camp at 5,000 m. It is a real climb and a manageable one, and a fit trekker with the training day behind them will get up it.
Singu Chuli (D) is a different sport. The flutings run at 50 to 60 degrees with short steeper steps, climbed on fixed rope with two tools for hours, on a medium that sometimes takes protection well and sometimes does not. Above them a corniced summit ridge is followed one at a time. Fourteen to eighteen hours with a long abseil descent.
The rope techniques used on the climb are explained step by step in our guide to fixed rope and jumar skills.
Experience Required
The entry requirement is set by the second peak. We ask for alpine experience at AD+ or above, previous time at 6,000 m, and competence on steep ice — Scottish winter grade IV or equivalent. Tharpu Chuli within this itinerary is a warm-up, not a qualification, and a climber who arrives able to do only the first peak will be told so at the assessment.
That said, the trip works honestly as a one-peak trip. A climber who summits Tharpu Chuli and is not ready for the flutings loses nothing but the second summit, and your guide makes that call at base camp rather than on the face. We would rather sell the itinerary on that basis than pretend everyone gets both.
If this would be your first Himalayan summit, our beginner's guide to peak climbing in Nepal covers the skills you need and how to judge whether you are ready.
Travel Insurance
Insurance written for technical mountaineering to 6,500 m or above, including steep ice and abseiling, is mandatory — and note that Singu Chuli is 6,501 m, so a policy capped at exactly 6,500 m does not cover the summit. We check the wording before permits are issued and reject general adventure cover as a matter of course.
Emergency helicopter evacuation and repatriation must be included. The Sanctuary is well served by helicopters from Pokhara and base camp is reachable in clear weather, which makes evacuation better here than in most technical areas of Nepal. Nothing above high camp is reachable, and a rescue from the flutings would be a technical operation by the climbing team first.
Our guide to travel insurance for trekking in Nepal explains the altitude limits, evacuation terms and common exclusions to check before you buy.
Packing List & Climbing Equipment
Rigid mountaineering boots, technical crampons, a pair of steep-ice tools, a -25°C sleeping bag, an insulated mat, a heavy down jacket, a full shell, technical gloves in three weights, a helmet, category 4 glacier glasses, goggles and a headlamp with lithium batteries and a spare.
The approach is wet, warm and humid for four days, so bring proper waterproofs and expect leeches in the gorge in spring. We supply all fixed and main ropes, ice screws, snow stakes and anchors, fix both routes and strip them on descent. Climbers bring their own tools, crampons, harness, belay device and screwgates for the Singu Chuli half.
Our peak climbing gear list covers each item in more detail, including which to buy, hire or bring from home.
Frequently Asked Questions
Find quick answers to common questions about the Tharpu Chuli and Singu Chuli Two Peaks Climbing.
1Why climb Tharpu Chuli first?
Because it is the easier peak and it does the acclimatisation work. A 5,663 m summit and a night at 5,000 m a week before the flutings is worth more than any amount of resting at base camp, and it also lets your guide watch how you move on real ground before committing to the harder route.
2What if I am only up to one of the peaks?
You climb Tharpu Chuli and enjoy the Sanctuary, which is a perfectly good trip. Your guide makes that call at the assessment day and after the first summit, and it is a normal outcome. Roughly a third of our climbers on this itinerary do one peak rather than two.
3How different are the two climbs?
Completely. Tharpu Chuli is a 40 to 45 degree snow slope with a short ridge — a fit trekker's peak. Singu Chuli is several hundred metres of 50 to 60 degree fluted ice with a corniced crest — an alpinist's. They share a base camp and almost nothing else.
4Why is Tharpu Chuli called Tent Peak?
Because of its shape from the Sanctuary floor: a symmetrical snow pyramid that looks exactly like a tent. Jimmy Roberts, who made the first ascent in 1956 and later founded Nepal's first trekking company, gave it the name.
5Is one base camp really enough for both peaks?
Yes, and it is the main practical argument for the combination. Both high camps are within five or six hours of the same camp at 4,300 m on the glacier moraine, so the group returns to a standing camp with a cook crew between climbs rather than moving everything.
6Does my insurance need to cover above 6,500 m?
Yes, for Singu Chuli. It is 6,501 m and a great many mountaineering policies stop at exactly 6,500 m, covering everything except the summit. We have turned climbers away at the Kathmandu briefing over this.
7How many reserve days are there?
Three in effect — a rest day after Tharpu Chuli that doubles as its contingency, and two held after Singu Chuli. The weighting is deliberate: the second peak is the one that needs the margin.
8What are the success rates?
Around 85 to 90 percent on Tharpu Chuli and 30 to 50 percent on Singu Chuli, and the second figure is honest for a grade D face whose condition varies enormously. Some seasons the flutings are superb and some seasons nobody gets up them.
9How dangerous is the gorge approach?
The section between Dovan and Deurali is genuine avalanche terrain after heavy snow, and there are two or three places the guide will cross quickly and without stopping. In a normal season it is simply one of the most beautiful walks in Nepal.
10Can we visit Annapurna Base Camp?
You walk through it — the approach goes to ABC at 4,130 m and base camp is a few hours beyond it on the moraine. Standing under the three-thousand-metre south face of Annapurna I is part of the trip whether or not either summit goes to plan.
Gallery
Explore authentic moments, camps and summit views from the Tharpu Chuli and Singu Chuli Two Peaks Climbing.
Trekking Guides & Articles
Singu Chuli Peak Climbing: The Complete Guide — Fluted Peak — one of the hardest on the NMA list, graded D, with sustained 50 to 60 degree ice where snow quality decides everything and a corniced summit ridge.
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Porter
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Flight from Kathmandu to Pokhara
$127 $115/person
Flight from Pokhara to Kathmandu
$127 $115/person
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