Lobuche Peak Climbing

Detail Itinerary

Day 1- Arrive Kathmandu, Nepal – Briefing
As soon as you just arrive in KTM air port, our air port representative will pick up you to Hotel. The afternoon offers an opportunity to relax in the hotel & your group leader will do the complete trip briefing. Moreover, sort out any gear requirements, and have the chance to let us know your hopes and expectations for the trip.

Day 2- Cultural tour & sort gear
The main activity for the day is a sightseeing tour with a guide. This is a chance to see the Kathmandu Valley up close and personal. Sightseeing includes the following world heritage places: Boudhanath stupa (Buddhist temple), Pashupatinath temple and Monkey Temple. There will also be an opportunity to look around the shops of Kathmandu’s centre, Thamel before dinner in one of Kathmandu’s many restaurants. Final preparation of equipment for the trek and climb.

Day 3- Fly to Lukla, trek to Phakding (2 hours)
After an early start, the flight to Lukla is highly spectacular. We fly east over Nepal’s terrai and middle hills right along and into the Himalayas to land among the mountains. This part of the Solu Khumbu region is occupied by mainly Rai and Tamang families who farm corn, fruit and vegies on terraces cut into and built on the valley walls, and graze goats on the mountain pastures. Already we’re way out of our everyday experience and it’s only the first day on the track! After a short refreshment break in this busy town, we head north along the Dudh Kosi valley, dropping slowly toward the river at Ghat and then on to our first night in a lodge.

Day 4- Trek to Namche (6 hours)
We’ll take these first few days quite easy, giving our bodies the chance to acclimatize while we enjoy this more verdant part of the Nepalese countryside. The Everest region is dominated by Buddhist people, so many walls and prayer flags mark the villages and holy places. Typically members of many families enter a gompa (Buddhist monastery) for some period of their lives. Around Ghat and Phakding, Sherpa people farm potatoes and other vegetables and keep buffalos and dzopko (a yak hybrid) for milk and load carrying. At Jorsale we enter Sargarmatha National Park, bounded by steep walls and high ranges all the way around. The national park gate is the only easy entrance to the valley, and here we’ll check in with the Park Rangers before continuing up the valley to the junction of the Bhote Kosi (‘border river’) coming south from the border regions and the Dudh Kosi (‘milk river’) running west, down from Everest and head slowly up through pine forest to the Sherpa capital call Namche bazar.

Day 5- Rest/acclimatize day in Namche
We will spend a couple of nights in Namche Bazaar, soaking up the sights of this Sherpa town and allowing our body to adjust to the decreased oxygen of three and a half thousand meters. You might like to visit the Sherpa Museum, National Park Visitor Centre or Sargarmatha Pollution Control Committee headquarters, or the Tibetan markets and Sherpa shops scattered around Namche. Namche is also our last chance to catch up on email and change your traveler’s checks when you decide you really do need one of those lovely soft Tibetan carpets.

Day 6- Trek to Pangboche via Thangboche monastery (5 hours)
From Namche the well-worn Everest trail contours around the side of the valley high above the Dudh Kosi. Now we get our first really good views of the great peaks of the Khumbu: Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse and Ama Dablam. Passing by several villages and past numerous teashops, we cross the Dudh Koshi River(Milk river) and make a steep climb to Thangboche, home of an impressive re-built monastery. You can have an unforgettable sight seen in Thangbouche monastery.

Day 7- Trek to Dingboche (4 hours)
An easy days walk along the Dudh Koshi as we make our way up the valley with views of Pumori for the first time. We make camp for the first time in tents next to the village, a good chance to catch up on some reading and let our bodies acclimatise.

Day 8- Rest Day in Dingboche with trek up Dingboche Ri 5000m (2 hours side trip)
From Dingboche Ri we will be able to see Mt Makalu to the east, which at 8,481m is the 5th highest peak in the world. Here we can take the more rest for adjusting with the Himalayan environment before to climb the peak.

Day 9- Trek to Chhukung (3 hours)
A short days trek up the valley to the East gets us close enough to see Island peak another of the famous trekking peaks of Nepal. This is the critical zone for acclimatization 4000m-5000m, where we must bide our time and let our bodies adjust slowly to maximize our summit success.

Day 10- Climb Chhukung Ri 5600m and trek to Pokhalde BC (5 hours)
We will take the opportunity of an acclimatization climb to Chhukung Ri 5,600m, which offers views of the whole valley, especially the very impressive South Face of Lhotse which towers some 4000m vertical meters from the valley floor. We sometimes see families of kongma (Himalayan partridges) and picas (a bit like short eared rabbits) in this area. After a re fuelling stop, we’ll head down valley for an hour or so before crossing the moraine-covered glacier on a path that weaves around lakes and boulders, ice walls then up onto a secluded grassy pasture which is the base camp for Mt Pokhalde. Impressive views of the North Ridge of Ama Dablam dominate the campsite.

Day 11- Cross Kongma La 5600m, trek Lobuche East BC (8 hours)
With a packed lunch and an early start we trek up and over the Kongma La and drop down into the Everest-Khumbu Valley proper. A tough days walk but with rewarding views and importantly a great view to see Mt Lobuje East our objective of the expedition. The left hand sky line of Lobuje East is the south ridge the route we will follow to the summit

Day 12- Trek to Kala Pattar/ Everest BC view point return (8 hours)
We’ll set off fairly early for our ascent of the ‘black rock’ Kala Pattar (5555 m), and down to Everest Base Camp from which Sir Edmund Hillary & Tenzing Norgay Sherpa climbed Everest in 1953. Look for the pretty technical peak (Pumori) , a high point on its southwest ridge is our ultimate target, Kala Pattar. Gorak Shep is the highest village in the region (if not the world) at 5050 m, and we’ll likely see many other trekkers who are not looking quite as well as we’ll feel after our steady acclimatization program. A bit of a break back in Gorak Shep will refresh you for the descent down the Khumbu Valley to Lobuche base camp. Towering to the west of this little settlement is Lobuche East, the peak we aim to climb.

Day 13- Rest day
Rest day and/or spare day for bad weather and other travel delays, the expedition leader and his Sherpa team also use this day to set up the fixed ropes on the mountain ready for our ascent, so as to ensure our safety and speedy ascent.

Day 14- Climb to High Camp on Lobuche East (4 hours)
We’ll have a relatively easy day moving up to High Camp at 5600 m, where we set up out tents and make ready out ropes, crampons and ice axes for an early morning start to the summit. The view of Everest and Nupste from here is amazing, a stunning but cold place – we are now really up there in the Himalayas with summit of Lobuche East 6,119 m with Mt Everest behind

Day 15- Summit Lobuche East 6119 m return to base camp (10 hours)
We make our way up the South Ridge which is a technically straight forward and objectively safe route, there are no ice cliffs or rocks to fall on us. With our experienced team of Sherpas secure ropes to the peak to ensure the teams safety. Use of crampons, ice axe, ascenders (as taught on the training weekend) plus abseiling will be needed to summit this Himalayan peak.

Day 16- Trek to Pangboche (6 hours)
it is time to turn for home and head down valley. There is a magical part of the trail that we will pass today where cairns and memorials have been erected in memory of climbers who have not returned for their attempts on Everest. The small cairns mimic the towering mountains behind and make for one of the most atmospheric spots in the Himalayas. It’s nice to take the time to let it soak in before continuing down past to Pheriche. We can spent our over night in Pangbouche.

Day 17- Trek to Namche (6 hours)
Yak pastures and secluded rhododendron forests line the way to the most famous monastery in Nepal ? Thangboche. The settlement is right on top of a ridge (not too practical for water supplies) with views both up the valley to Everest and down toward Namche. By all means, stop and look around the monastery where the beautiful painting or thankas inside are rich and beautiful and tell stories of Buddhist legend. The descent from here is through thick forest on good trails (which sometimes split and converge like a braided stream) to Phunki Tenga, across the river and gently up on pine-lined tracks to Namche.

Day 18- Trek to Lukla (8 hours)
Our last trekking day descends on good tracks back to the suspension bridge you’ll remember from the way in, and back to Lukla.

Day 19- Fly to Kathmandu
We’ll be aiming for an early flight out of Lukla and back to Kathmandu for a last afternoon and evening to explore further, pick up some souvenirs or to just enjoy the Shanker’s great gardens.

Day 20- Depart Kathmandu
We’ll transfer you to the airport for your flight back home.