Three Suggested Options For Climbing Island Peak:
- Fly to Lukla, trek up to Everest Base Camp for acclimatization, then on the way back down, side track to Island Peak and climb it, then trek back down to Lukla: 22 days.
- Fly to Lukla, trek straight up to Island Peak and climb it, then trek straight back to Lukla, without visiting Everest Base Camp: 17 days.
- Climb Island Peak as an “optional add-on” to another trek or climb, such as Ama Dablam, or Lobuche Peak: 5 days.
Welcome to Kathmandu, Nepal:
You will fly to Kathmandu airport, obtain your visa on arrival, pick up your bags, exit the airport, be greeted by our airport staff, and ride in the taxi to the hotel. Our hotel is a nice comfortable clean standard hotel with hot water, quiet rooms, a fancy lobby, super friendly service and a delicious daily breakfast included for free. Our hotel is located in the Thamel tourist district of Kathmandu. Thamel is a really fun place with easy walking to lots of tourist shops, restaurants, coffee shops, bars, clubs, and more than 100 mountaineering and trekking shops. We will have a welcome dinner at a delicious Thamel restaurant and during our 1-2 days in Kathmandu, we will be eating our lunches and suppers in Thamel restaurants.
Flying from Kathmandu to Lukla:
Wake up early, and board our van from the hotel to the Kathmandu Domestic Airport. Sometimes the Kathmandu airport is busy so we have to drive for 4 hours to a regional airport that specializes in flights to Lukla. In either case, it takes about 30 minutes to fly to Lukla on a 16 seat propeller plane. Your luggage will fly together with you. If the weather is good, you can see lots of mountains during the flight, including a glimpse of Everest.
Trekking to Island Peak:
For the purposes of this essay, we will assume you are going with option B above. That is, you are just going to trek to and climb Island Peak, and not carry on to Everest basecamp, and after climbing Island Peak, you are going to trek straight back down to Lukla, and not off to Ama Dablam or Lobuche Peak, or somewhere else like that. By the way, you won’t be carrying a heavy rucksack on this trek. Yaks and porters will be carrying everything for you.
Day 1:
After flying to Lukla 2840 metres / 9300 feet, enjoy a brunch at the famous Namaste Lodge, then trek down through pretty forests to Phakding Zamfute 2650 metres / 8700 feet and stay in the lovely Sonam Guesthouse on the side of the Dudh Khosi River.
Day 2:
Trek up through picturesque villages and climb a large hill up to Namche Bazaar, along the way crossing the confluence of the Dudh Khosi and Bhote Khosi Rivers, finally reaching Namche the main commercial town of the Khumbu Valley at 3440 metres / 11,250 feet where we will stay in the very pretty Hilltop Lodge.
Day 3:
Rest in Namche and enjoy an acclimatization walk to the Everest View Hotel for fine views of Ama Dablam and Everest, head down into the downtown for apple pie and cappuccino.
Day 4:
Walk along ridges above the Dudh Khosi River with stunning views of Mt. Thamserku. Drop down to the river, then walk up another large hill to Tengboche Monastery for famous views of Everest and Ama Dablam, plus a nice bakery, then descend to Deboche, and cross the river again and traverse ridges up to the village of Pangboche at 3950 metres / 13,000 feet where we stay in the lovely Sonam Lodge.
Day 5:
Walk 3.5 hours branching off onto the Imja River, coming to the busy little town of Dingboche, which is an agricultural and trekking center. We will stay in the very scenic Dingboche Resort at 4400 metres / 14,400 feet.
Day 6:
Walk 2.5 hours to the trekking outpost of Chukkung at 4700 metres / 15,400 feet and stay in the plush Chukkung resort.
Day 7:
Walk 5 hours to Island Peak Basecamp near to the lake at 5100 metres / 16,700 feet. We will be sleeping in tents here.
Day 8:
Rest in basecamp and do fixed rope training: practicing how to ascend and descend fixed lines, how to use your ice axe and crampons, etcetera.
During your trek and climb we provide three meals and lots of hot drinks each day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
During the climb, you wont be carrying a heavy backpack. Our Sherpas will help to carry your weight.
Climbing Island Peak:
Wake up in the night (10pm) have “breakfast” and drink a lot of hot liquids, fill your water bottles and begin climbing up. At first you will be following an easy trail up a gentle slope. After a time, you will walk up a rocky gully. Then, you will traverse across a slope, following trails on rock ledges along the contour of the ridge. You will hike over a few ledges, and then turn to hike uphill along some rocky ridges that go up. Finally you will come to a few rocky outcrops and then to some bigger flat spots and plateaus in the ridge. In some small rock towers in one of these, you will put on your harness, big mountain boots, and crampons. Thus this spot is called the “crampon point”.
Heading towards the summit:
After taking a break, drinking and eating, you will set off for the Island Peak glacier, walking roped together with your Sherpa. After some flat snow walking on a good path across the glacier, you will come to a few crevasses, that you will walk around while roped to your Sherpa. You will walk down into some small glacial valleys, and cross over, then hike up some snowy ridges. Sometimes there maybe an aluminum ladder lashed in place to assist you. After crossing through this crevassed section, you will head up a long gentle snow slope to the base of the “headwall” and take a nice rest break, eating food and drinking a lot of liquid. Then you will begin climbing the fixed ropes up this steep snowy section, using your ascender, ice axe, and safety line which you practiced with in basecamp. After climbing to the top of the snow face, you will clip to the safety rope and walk along a snow ridge, which can be wide in places and also may be narrow in spots. Finally, the ridge reaches a high point and you will be on the summit of Island Peak, 6189 metres / 20,300 feet high. The views are amazing here. You can see Ama Dablam, Lhotse South Face, Nuptse, Makalu, Baruntse, Mera Peak, and so many others. Climbing Island Peak is a very good achievement. Well done!
Descending:
After reaching the summit, you will eat and drink some more, and then work your way back down the mountain, moving very carefully, staying clipped to the ropes at all times. Upon reaching the crampon point, you will take off your climbing equipment and boots, and then continue trekking back to Island Peak Base Camp, reaching there in time for dinner and a good sleep. The following
Day 1:
You will begin your trek out with the yaks and porters, walking past Chukkung, past Dingboche, and down to Pangboche Village.
Day 2:
Of your trek out, you will retrace your steps to Namche.
Day 3:
You will reach Lukla.
Day 4:
You will fly back to Kathmandu. You have an extra day planned in Kathmandu in case of emergency and this is a great day for shopping, sightseeing, and celebrating with your new friends. On the next day, its time to fly out. Thank you for joining our Island Peak expedition!
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