Mt. Lhakpa-Ri Expedition (7,045m) - 25 days

Introduction to Mt. Lhakpa-Ri Expeditions

Mt. LHAKPA-RI (7,045m/23,000ft) is one of the major mountaineering destinations in Tibet.  It is very close to Mount Everest. George Mallory who was on his way to the Everest Reconnaissance in 1921 first climbed it and he had seen its North Col. Expedition mountaineering teams still follow the same route in order to make the summit. The summit view from Lhakpa-Ri rivals that from many of the world's greatest mountains. It gives very unusual views of some of the world's best-known mountains and excellent views of some very little known mountains. 

Mt. Lakpa Ri is just over the milestone altitude of 7,000m, making it higher than anything outside Asia and is probably the most climbable 7,000m peak in the world. It's an ideal objective, remarkably positioned just across the glacier from Everest. It shares the historic route up the East Rongbuk Glacier and is climbable by a relatively safe and straightforward route. 

There are two major ways to start the expedition, one, you fly to the beautiful & traditional city Lhasa and another way is via a drive from Kathmandu and Zangmu/Naylam, Tingri & Base Camp (5200m). The visits to Lhasa, the overland journey across the Tibetan Plateau, the trek in the footsteps of Mallory and a climb with awesome views of Everest, are the ingredients of a very special expedition. It will also give you a life-long impression of Tibet and its people and insight and deep respect for the achievements of the early Everest pioneers. After reaching the base camp, you have to spend a few days for acclimatization.  In order to start your real climb toward the summit, you should start your expedition ahead towards the two middle camps, with the preparation of loading yaks and expedition crews. Continuing ahead on this track you reach the Advance Base Camp, which is situated at a height of 6400m. From ABC, start early in the morning; and continue crossing the Rongbuk glacier. There are few crevasses and slopes from the Rongbuk and Kharta glacier and they are relatively low angled which are linked by the Lhakpa pass 6848m; and it is just to the North of Lhakpa-Ri until you reach the very foot of the slope, leading you to the North ridge of the Summit. The routes are 20-30 degree vertical elevations. This route is not so hard but the vertical way is very long. Follow the way of the North ridge and on the other side, you will see Kharta glacier and the views of North Col of Everest. The same way of the ridge leads up to the Summit of Lhakpa-Ri 

High Camps and Climbing Routes

We will establish our base camp at ~5200m at a big ground above Rongbuk before making our way to high camps and Advance Base Camp. Once our acclimatization in and around base camp will be completed, then we'll start our summit bit establishing two middle camps in between BC & ABC, i.e. Camp 1 at altitude of 5,460m, Changtse Base Camp at (6,008m) and our trek continues for Advance Base Camp, where we do our preparations and acclimatization “go higher and sleep at lower”. Once we are ready then we go for the summit attempt and same day descent all the way to ABC, which takes about 10 – 12 hours. Climbing up to the summit of Lakpa-RI is not technically difficult, but general knowledge to play with the climbing gears is helpful and a high level of fitness is required.    

Journey Outline

After final preparations in Kathmandu, we will drive by private bus from Kathmandu to Kodari (a small border town). Complete necessary immigration formalities and cross the Chinese border and drive to Zangmu by land cruiser/bus. We will drive all the way to Base Camp spending 5 days' time, which includes acclimatization days at Naylam & Tingri. 

If the trip is planned to fly direct to Lhasa then, we spend about 3 nights, 2 full days in Lhasa doing some sight seen tours and acclimatization. From Lhasa, we will take a drive-by land cruiser or by bus for Base Camp, spending about 4/5 days and this will give us additional opportunity to explore the land of Tibet and visiting ancient cities of Tibet i.e. Gyantse (3990m), Shegar (4050m) and Shigatse (3,860m).  

TRIP HIGHTLIGHTS

• Expedition will be finished after summiting the Mt Lakpa-RI
• Expert & experienced cook and crews
• Excellent logistics facilities
• Medical back up with Oxygen and Gamow bag round the trip
• Explore the ancient and culturally & traditionally rich cities of Tibet
• An unforgettable and amazing trek into the North Mt. Everest Base Camp
• Climb one of the famous and climbable 7,000m peak in Tibet, with professional and Everest summited Sherpas

Fitness Requirements for the Expedition

Climbing at and above 8,000 meters is inherently dangerous and is not the place to be learning mountaineering and climbing skills. Any expedition that goes to 8,000m requires a very high level of aerobic fitness. Being fit will certainly improve your chances of reaching your chosen summit. Your resting heart rate should be below 60 but preferably below 50. You should be able to run 50km on flat ground in approximately6 hours. Endurance and the ability to carry a heavy pack of up to 25kg is more important than sprint ability. In order to get ready for this challenge, you need to be trained at least for about 8 to 12 months to prepare yourself as a strong candidate. You can go to the fitness center every morning for about 2 hours, do hiking every weekend with increasing weights on your pack (i.e. 10kg, 15kg, 20 kg, and up to 25kg), manage some time for cycling for a couple of hours up to 3 or 4 times a week. On the summit push, extra effort is required walking on ice and climbing up to 12 – 16 hours. 

Previous Experiences and Criterions for Mountaineering 

Dream Himalaya Adventures strongly suggest that you must climb a number of 6,000m peaks in order to gain mountaineering proficiency and also undertake a trip to one of the 7,000m peak or one of the technically tricky 6000m peaks i.e. Mt. Amadablam, or similar, where you experience expedition camping, higher altitude, and dealing with the cold. Now to get more familiar with 8,000m altitude and extreme cold temperature, we highly recommend our clients  to climb one of our expedition to 8000m mountains, i.e. Mt. Cho Oyu (8201m), Mt. Manaslu (8,163m) or any other over 8,000m mountain, where working with Sherpas, the use of fixed ropes and oxygen equipment are pretty much associated with. With this experience on your side, you will be ready to attempt the Mt. Everest. If you do so, our experience shows that those who have done the expedition with us have significantly increased the success rates. If you are fit and motivated but lacked technical climbing skills or suitable experience, we have options to keep you safe and get you high. This might be a personal Sherpa or a pre-trip training course.

You must have well knowledge about the usage of mountaineering gears, good with rock climbing and ice climbing, will increase the chances of reaching the summit and also the previous mountaineering experiences is mandatory but doesn’t really require any high level of technical experience.