Everest Region

Early in the morning you head to the airport for your flight to Lukla. This is an approximately 45 minutes flight with incredible mountain views north to the Himalayan Range. After meeting the crew in Lukla, you head up the Dudh Koshi River Valley on a well-marked trail to Phakding.

This morning you continue north following the Dudh Koshi river and on to Jorsale where you enter the Sagarmatha (Everest) National Park. From here it is a short walk to the confluence of two rivers, the ImjaDrangpa (ImjaKhola) and the Nangpo Tsangpo (BhoteKosi) where you cross once more on a suspension bridge. This is followed by a steep climb (for about 2hrs) up to Namche Bazaar, the main town in the Khumbu region. Namche is a prosperous Sherpa town and an important trading centre with a weekly Saturday market.

Today is for letting your bodies rest and acclimatise. If you are feeling good you could go for an acclimatisation walk, or explore the village. Namche Bazaar is tucked away between two ridges amongst the giant peaks of the Khumbu. Options for acclimatisation walks include a visit to Khunde Hospital, or the one hour walk up to the Everest Hotel above Namche for the view of AmaDablam, Nuptse, Lhotse and Everest, with many more in the mix as well.

From Namche, the trail contours around the side of the valley, high above the river and, as you go, you get great views of the great peaks of the Khumbu including Mt Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse and AmaDablam. After dropping down steeply to the river at PhunkiTenga and having lunch, you have a long steep climb up through beautiful forest to tonight's lodge. Tyangboche is famous for its legendary monastery, the largest in the Khumbu and you will stay near this monastery with Everest, Lhotse and AmaDablam in full view.

After breakfast you head on up the trail to Dingboche. You firstdescend through stunning forest to Deboche and then cross the river and have a short climb to Pangboche which is a good lunch spot. On this side of the river stunning Ama Dablam is prominent and a stunning distraction from the trail as you continue up to Dingboche for the night.

Today is an important day for acclimatization before we head further up. So we just get our body to acclimatize and explore the surrounding.

The track opens with stone walled fields and a perfect view of Imja Khola Valley. Then the trail unfolds with glacier moraines. Glimpse of Lhotse and Ama Dablam mountains are frequent en route. From Bibre village we get the first glimpse of Island Peak. On reaching Chhukung our guide allocate the tea house. Check in tea house and explore the village. Chhukung is small village of Sherpa people with ideal view of Amadablam and the Amphu Labsa Mountains.

Another rest day for acclimatization in Chhukung can be spent climbing Chhukung Ri (5550M).  The climb does not require equipments and a large amount of physical effort. Top of Chhukung Ri has well defined view of  Ama Dablam and Amphu Labsa peaks. Upon getting back to valley, we take rest.

After breakfast we follow literally steep trail. We head to south first and turn to east main line of the valley. Then we follow the breezy track just below the southern edge of the moraine sourced from Lhotse Mountain. Then the trail unfolds some easy section along the river. A zigzag path through the Imja and Lhotse glacier moraines escorts us to a wide valley adjoining the southwest side of Island Peak.

After breakfast we attend the pre climbing training session which certainly boosts our confidence level. Spend rest of the day enjoying the scenery and recollecting the energy. We sleep early as we have to wake up early in the morning tomorrow.

We wake up at around 1 to 2 am since we have to reach the top before noon. The trail moves up beyond the base camp for several hundred meters before striking off the steep hillside. The track has some rocky segments before we come to the narrow steep rocky channels.  The narrow and rocky channels escort us to summit glacier. We rope and other required equipments to cross the glacier. A constant climb on long and steep glacier slope leads us onto the summit ridge. From the top we enjoy witnessing Lhotse, Makalu, Nuptse and Amadablam. Descend all the way to Island Peak Base Camp and celebrate the successful completion.

A descend to Pangboche is easier than the ascend. We retrace back to Pangboche following Imja  
River and passing few settlements.  Pangboche is a beautiful village of Sherpa people surrounded by Everest to its north, Ama Dablam, Thamserku, and Kangtaiga to the east

Nothing new to see today except few people passing by so we continue our journey. We can pay a visit to Tyngboche monastery during the lunch time. A absolute downhill through pine forests, suspension bridge and Chortens we arrive at Namche Bazar.

From Namche Bazaar you will be amazed at how easy that steep trail is to go down (as opposed to the hard slog you had as you came up) as you descend back down to the village of Jorsale. Passing the villages of Phakding and Choplung, you the trail that cuts up to the airstrip at Lukla.

This morning you get up early to catch the morning flight to Kathmandu from Lukla.