Everest Three Pass Trek & Island Peak Climbing (6,160m) - 25 days

Abstract of Everest Three Pass Trek & Island Peak Climbing

Mount Everest, 8,848m (29,028ft) above sea level reign as the highest mountain on Earth. For decades summiting Everest has been considered as one of the greatest mountaineering achievements. In the spring of each year, we embrace this intense challenge by taking a group of qualified climbers to climb Mt. Everest via the South East Ridge of Nepal. The first successfully climbed on Mt. Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzin Norgay Sherpa accomplished this feat in May 29, 1953. Since then the South East and also via other various routes, the Mt. Everest has seen over a thousand ascents. The South East is by far but the most successfully climbed route on the mountain.

The Everest area, known locally as Sagarmatha National Park, is home to some of the world's highest peaks as well as the famous Sherpas, migrants from eastern Tibet who crossed over the Himalaya and settled here sometime in the late 1400s or early 1500s. This trek is one that goes deep into the heart of the Himalaya. The mountain views are stunning, and the simplicity and hospitality of the Sherpa community is heartwarming. You will get to take in the awe-inspiring views of Mt. Everest, the tallest of them all, Mt Lhotse, Nuptse, Lobouche Peak, Amadablam, Kasum Kangru, Thamserku and Kwangde. You will also be visiting Sherpa villages and monasteries to gain insight into their culture and lifestyle from up close.

The challenge over three passes trek including to Everest Base Camp will help you to be well acclimatized and spending a couple of nights, we head back to the beautiful Imja Khola valley towards Island peak base camp.

Island Peak (6,160m) is also officially classified as a group “B” trekking peak by Nepal Mountaineering Association and also known as “Imja-Tse. It looks like an island in a sea of ice and that is why it is called Island peak. It's situated at the top of the Imja-Khola valley in the Khumbu region. To climb the peak is semi-technical and straightforward so that the climber must be proficient in using materials like ice axe and crampons. The most difficult section is a slope of around 45-degree ice wall leading to the narrow summit ridge. This is a truly spectacular peak, surrounded by enormous mountains, and the technical nature of our course means that we can explore some of its less traveled slopes.

After well setting up the base camp of Island peak, we have 2 nights 3 days for a summit attempt of the peak. First, we will climb to high camp (5,700m) and the next morning at about 3.00 am we will go for a summit attempt of the peak and straight descent to the base camp and to Chukung. And finally, we return passing through Sherpas capital Namche and fly out from Lukla to Kathmandu.

Overview of the Journey

The typical trekking day begins at around 7.00 am when a friendly face will wake you up and you will pack your pack for the day’s journey. During breakfast, which might include fruit, cereal, toast, pancakes, and drinks; your trek guide will provide a briefing on the daily activities.

Morning includes trekking for a few hours with stops every hour or so to rest, drink, explore and take pictures. We stop at a teahouse for a hot lunch along the trail. The afternoon often involves a little walking to our lodge where we have afternoon tea, explore the surrounding area, read a book or have a snooze before dinner and hot drinks. Every trekking day we will walk a minimum of 4 hours and a maximum of 6 hours a day. We will take several days to make our way up the lower valley, plenty of time for our bodies to acclimatize and to enjoy the fantastic Nepalese countryside.

Namche Bazar marks the beginning of the Khumbu region. We take time to acclimatize before continuing up to the Ranjo Pass and Gokyo valley, we will trek up this stunningly steep-walled valley beside a ranging torrent that becomes a babbling brook between the stunning Gokyo lakes.  We will climb Gokyo Ri which offers views of the whole valley, right up to Mt Cho Oyu.  The Cho La, approached from Dragnag below Gokyo, is a chance to walk on the glacier with relative safety. Although the approaches either side is quite steep, the glacier itself is quite flat and almost crevasse – free. It can usually be safety crossed without crampons and gives us access to the upper reaches of the Khumbu valley. In case of unseasonable snow or poor weather it’s a simple matter to walk down and around the intervening range via a well made, lower track to Pangbouche and Lobuje. From the Lobuje we trek up the valley alongside the Khumbu glacier and night at Gorekshep. Our short cut over the Cho La pass (5,330m) offer a real mountain experience before we head to Gorekshep, and the nearby Kala Patthar (5,550m) and Everest Base Camp (5,365m). Now you will have the option of a sunset or a sunrise trek to the 18,188' summit of Kala Pattar for a panoramic view of some of the world's highest mountains including Everest at 29,035'. We'll make the 3-hour trek on to Everest Base Camp where, depending on the season, you'll see the mountaineering expeditions team preparing for their ascent to the highest peak in the world, beginning with the spectacular Khumbu Icefall.

Having explored the main valley of the Sagarmatha national park, crossed passes and glacier and taken in the summits of three great viewpoints, we head back towards to the Chukung valley and we prepare for the successful ascent of the stunning peak Island Peak and finally down the valley through Namche and Ghat to Lukla at a great rate – fit and strong and ready to take on the world! There will be time to see KTM and buy gifts before heading home with thrilling tales of peaks and glaciers, Sherpas, Gompas, Yaks and the grandeur of the Himalayas.

This Trip is Designed For:

• Trekkers looking for an extra challenge trip in the Himalayas are most welcome to participate.
• Looking for the course in the Himalayas
• Previously trekked in the Himalayas and looking for the next climb to the technical peaks of above 7000m
• Looking for the next challenge to 8000m peak like Cho Oyu/Shishapangma

TRIP HIGHTLIGHTS

• Familiar with Sherpa culture & tradition through our friendly staff & local peoples
• Develop your climbing skills and play with climbing gears
• Ascent a straight forward Island Peak (6,160m) and enjoy with Himalayan Peaks
• Climb Kala Patther 5,550m, view point of Everest Base Camp & Gokyo Ri (5,360m) view point of Cho Oyu.
• Trek over a view point of Mt Everest Ranjo La Pass (5,360m)
• Trek through the Khumbu valley & Gokyo valleys.
• Take a flight to Lukla & view numerous Himalayan Giants on the way
• Our experienced Sherpa guide ensures you enjoy the high quality adventure trip
• Explore the ancient & the fascination city of Kathmandu

Fitness Requirement

Most of our trekking peaks are over 6,000m; therefore we count it as a tough trip. Your tough level of fitness is really important for this trek. So we strongly suggest preparing yourself for a good physical fitness level. You do not need to be an athlete but a good level of overall fitness is important. Being fit will certainly improve your chances of reaching your chosen summit. As an indication, you should be able to walk 8 km / 5 miles with a maximum height gain of 800m / 2,000ft with a 10kg rucksack in 5 hours or less.
 
In order to get ready for this challenge, you need to be trained at least for about 4 to 6 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. 7kg, 10kg, 13 kg, 16kg and up to 20kg). Manage some time for cycling for a couple of hours for 3 or 4 times a week. However, during climbing, there might be little symptoms of altitude illness like mild headache, fatigue, etc. but take it as normal and just drink a lot of water (4 – 5 liters) every day. On this trek, you need to be able to hike 6 – 10 hours over hilly terrain up to 6,000m of altitude with a daypack. 

Value of Previous Experience 

All of our trekking peaks climbing trips are accessible to experienced trekkers and those who have done some climbing trips in European mountains in order to take another challenge on the Himalayas Mountains. This trip will be helpful if you want to gain some knowledge about mountaineering and have a future plan to climb the BIG Mountains.
 
If you have any previous mountaineering experiences and well knowledge about playing with mountaineering gears, good with rock climbing and ice climbing will increase the chances of reaching the summit but previous trekking and mountaineering experiences are not mandatory and also doesn’t require any technical experience. Note that if you are participating in one of the technical climbing peak then you must have well knowledge about playing with mountaineering climbing gears (i.e. crampon with boot, Ice axe, harness, ropes, jumars, prussiks, abseiling, moving past knots, anchor, etc.).Crampons are used for maximum grip and harness and ropes are used for maximum safety during climbing. But for those who have no mountaineering experience and skill but have got tough level of fitness, you will have a basic training session by our guides about how to use the climbing gears during rest/acclimatization day. So we always make sure regarding the safety of the team and the successful climb of the peak.