Ever dream of yourself being on top of two beautiful Himalayan peaks at a go? Your dream can be an incredible reality if you go on this wonderful adventure of climbing Mera Peak and Island Peak in the Khumbu region of the Himalaya.
Overview
Mera Peak and Island Peak via Amphu Labtsa la pass is an adventure with wonderful combination of two trekking peaks climbing adventure. In between the two peaks climbing adventure, comes the technical Amphu Labtsa la pass that stands at the elevation of 5,845 meters above sea level. On the adventure, you have to indulge into multiple days of trekking too. After landing in Lukla in the Khumbu region, the trek goes towards Mera Peak to attempt its summit. During the trek you can explore beautiful Hinku valley. After climbing Mera Peak, it�s time to go over Amphu Labtsa la pass to go to Island Peak. Although it is just a pass to trek over, it is highly technical and adventurously thrilling. Later comes, another peak of the adventure, Island Peak.
Once the climbing adventure is over, the returns back to meet Everest base camp trekking trail at Pangboche and returns back to Lukla via Tengboche and Namche. This trip is truly designed to satisfy the adventure hunger of adventurers. Although the adventure goes for several days, you do not need to be an expert mountaineer to go on the trip. You need to be good physical fitness with strong will power to push forward is highly needed though.
Trip Highlights
- Cultural Sightseeing tour of Kathmandu
- Summit Expedition of Mera Peak (6,461m)
- Crossing a highly technical Amphu Lapcha Pass (5,845m)
- Summit Expedition of Island Peak (6,189m)
- Incredible trekking experience in the Khumbu, Hinku and Imja valleys of the Himalayas
- Unbelievable views of the Himalayan peaks and landscapes
- Beautiful cultural experience of Khumbu region
Itinerary
Today is the day of your arrival in Kathmandu, Nepal. As soon as you come out of the Kathmandu airport, you will find our representative waiting for you in the waiting area right outside the arrival lounge. You will be warmly greeted and welcomed by the representative and led to the vehicle. Our vehicle will take you to the trip hotel, most of the time in Thamel, that is 20-30 minutes drive, depending upon traffic, from the airport.
Enjoy your breakfast at the hotel. We come to take your for a wonderful cultural heritage tour of Kathmandu valley. As part of the tour, we are going to visit four of the UNESCO Heritage monuments in Kathmandu valley. The places we visit today are incredible mixture of culture, history, spirituality, art and stories. Overnight in Hotel.
Swoyambhunath
Believed to have been created on its own, this Budhhist stupa is the oldest of all the monuments in Kathmandu valley. Standing atop a small hillock, Swoyambunath, known as monkey temple amongst tourists, provides a fascinating view of the valley, surrounding hills and snow-capped mountain at the distance on a clear day.
Patan Durbar Square
One of the three medieval palace squares, Patan Durbar Square holds its medieval art and architectural grandeur. Amazing skill of the artisans is evident in each and every building that stands in the square. The square comprises of medieval palace, temples and museum.
Pashupatinath
This site is the most sacred Hindu temple area in the country. But, as the temple is strictly a Hindu only area, non-Hindu tourists go there to watch the unique Hindu cremation rituals on the bank of River Bagmati. The death rites of Hindu family there are so engrossing and heart-touching which make you feel the moment. It’s not any kind of intrusion in being there and watching somebody being cremated in an open ground. It’s a great cultural experience.
Boudhanath
This giant Buddhist stupa is considered as the biggest one in the world. This small square with giant shrine has a powerful presence of the spiritual vibrations. It’s an important pilgrimage site for the people following Tibetan Buddhism.
After a day of wonderful immersion into Kathmandu vibes, we are ready to fly and trek into the higher elevation. We drive to airport early morning to board our flight to Lukla to enter the Everest region. About half hour of spectacular flight takes us to the small but beautiful town of Lukla where magical mountain peaks extend their warm welcome to us.
Once we prepare for the day walk, we proceed walking towards Chhutenga as the destination for the day. The first day of walk in the adventure trip to climb Mera peak takes us to Chhutenga to stay overnight.
Our destination for the day is Thuli Kharka. We take the breakfast and get ready to trek to the destination. The first part of the trek is an uphill walk towards Zwatra La pass that stands at the elevation of 4,610 meters above sea level. A good about two hour’s effort on the uphill trail takes us to the pass that brings some spectacular views in the region. After crossing the pass, the trail descends all the way down to Thuli Kharka where we spend overnight under a tented camp.
We take the breakfast at the cool weather of Thuli Kharka before we get ready for the trek of the day. We trek to Kothe today mostly on downhill towards Kothe. We can enjoy beautiful Hinku valley view and the view of mountain peaks including Mera Peak. It’s comparatively a short day walk that allows us ample time to exploit the joy of trekking and of the surroundings. Once we reach Kothe, we will have time to explore around.
Our walk to Thaknak today takes us through the trail that brings beautiful views of the valley and the surrounding landscapes. In about six hours of walk up and down the hill towards Thaknak, we will come across so many wonderful things along the trail that will make our day. Once we reach Thaknak, we establish our camp and laze around enjoying the pleasant atmosphere.
Our walk to Thaknak today takes us through the trail that brings beautiful views of the valley and the surrounding landscapes. In about six hours of walk up and down the hill towards Thaknak, we will come across so many wonderful things along the trail that will make our day. Once we reach Thaknak, we establish our camp and laze around enjoying the pleasant atmosphere.
It is our acclimatization break at Khare today. We can utilize our time exploring around Khare. We go for a hike to a nearby peak to have captivating views of Mera Peak and Mera La. A full day exploration and rest at and around Khare prepares us well for further adventure of trekking tomorrow onwards towards Mera Peak.
Our trek for the day today takes us to Mera Peak Base Camp. Although a short walk for the day, it takes us through several wonderful sights all throughout. We reach Mera Peak Base Camp early in the afternoon that leaves us with ample time to adjust and acclimatize. We laze around the base camp trying to get familiar with the thinning level of oxygen in the air.
We wake up for crisp morning weather at the base camp of Mera peak that we are to summit. As soon as we relish our breakfast, we get ready to trek to the High camp where we will spend the night today. When we reach the high camp, we will be already standing at the elevation of 5,780 meters above sea level. As our tented camp gets ready, we exploit the beauty of the view from there.
It is the highlight of the trip today as we are going to go for the summit of Mera Peak, our destination. Our day starts really early, right after the middle of the night. Except the final section near the summit, the whole section is non-technical. We reach the summit with the first rays of the day over the Himalayan peaks. Impressive view the mountains like Mt. Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, Kanchenjunga, Cho Oyu etc. makes our time unforgettable.
After spending some beautiful moments at the top, we start descending the mountain. We descent back to base camp through high camp and walk all the way back to Khare to stay overnight.
We have this day as contingency to make up any possible delays in the climb. If this day is not used, we will trek back to Kothe.
We start trekking for the day to Thulo Odar in the remote area of Honku valley. We are moving forward towards remote and difficult part of the trip. First section of the walk goes down on the trail that is full of screes so a very balanced and careful walk down the trail is required. We set our camp at Thulo Odar in Upper Honku valley to spend our overnight today.
We start the trek early morning after breakfast at the camp and start walking towards Panch Pokhari to stay overnight. Panch Pokhari literally translates as five ponds and we see those five sacred ponds where Hindu pilgrims make holy pilgrimage tour. Before reaching Panch Pokhari, we walk across the trail filled with glacial moraine. Once we reach Panch Pokhari at the elevation of 5,400 meters above sea level, we establish our camp and relax.
It is the day to walk to Amphu Lapcha Base Camp today. Although a short distance walk, it brings spectacular views along the trail. Once we reach the base camp and set up our tents, we can laze around to explore more of the place.
We spend the day here at the camp resting and preparing for the climb to cross Amphu Lapcha tomorrow. Our crew members will fix all the technical equipment necessary for the climbing this technical Amphu Lacha while we gather energy to do the adventure tomorrow. While resting at the base camp, we will enjoy some excellent views of Hinku Nup Glacier and Mingbo La.
Today is an early start to cross the Amphu Lapcha pass at the elevation of 5,845 meters above sea level. This big day crossing pass will take around 3 hours of climb to reach the Amphu Lapcha pass on the very first section. It’s a highly challenging technical climb to the pass on fixed line that is set up by our crew members. Once at the pass, we can enjoy a magnificent view of the towering Himalayan peaks. After having a good time at the pass waiting for all the team members to arrive, we lower down on fixed rope carefully. We walk down the Imja Glacier set up our camp at the base. It’s long day full of adventure and beautiful experience of technical climbing, incredible view and walking on the glacial moraine.
We start the trek early morning towards Chhukung after breakfast. Our destination today is Island Peak base camp. It is an uphill trek to Chhukung early in the morning. After a short break at Chhukung, we start trekking to the base camp for our overnight stay. We set up our tented camp to spend the night.
We spend a full day today here at the base camp of Island Peak to acclimatize, train and rest for the summit push tomorrow. On the climbing clinic today, we will discuss and prepare the details about the climbing techniques, difficulties and challenges along the climbing route, timings and every detail that is required to go for the summit. It will be a good rest day as well so that we get well prepared, full of energy, for the highlight activity of the trip. We spend overnight at the tented camp at the base camp.
Our start for the summit today is really early, almost right after the middle of the night. With the help of flash light and expert guidance of our guide, we follow the sandy first and then rocky trail that leads us up towards the summit. After struggling at the rocky path for few hours, we reach the snow slope and summit gully where we need some technical activities to do. With the help of fixed ropes, we eventually summit the 6,189 meters high Island Peak. The summit provides excellent views of mountain peaks around including Lhotse, Nuptse and Ama Dablam.
After spending beautiful moments at the top, we start the descent back to the base camp. It will be a strenuous effort of about 10-12 hours to reach the summit and come back down to the base camp.
This day is an extra day to make up any possible delays or obstacles on the summit push. If we do not need this contingency day, we will trek to Pangboche today.
In case of the use of contingency day, we are trekking to Pangboche village. We trek past Chhukung village; cross Imja Khola and then trek up to Pangboche. Once we reach Pangboche, we can laze around exploring the area.
The journey back down to Namche Bazar will be of around six hours. We trek to Tengboche and visit the famous Tengboche monastery before descending to Namche Bazar. Once we reach Namche Bazar, we can take some relaxing stroll around Namche Bazar in the evening or just stay inside the comfort of the lodge. Overnight at a lodge.
The final day of this trek is eventually here today. We walk back to Lukla via Monjo and Phakding along the Dudh Koshi River. A round trip on the Everest Base Camp trail comes to end here. We celebrate the end of the trekking part of the journey and thank our wonderfully amazing supporting crew members for their service and effort to take us to the base camp and back safely. Overnight at a lodge.
We get ready for the flight back to Kathmandu. We board the plane at Lukla airstrip and fly back to Kathmandu. Once we land in Kathmandu airport, we go to hotel and spend the whole day at leisure on our own. Finding relieving massage, good food, souvenir shopping, and wandering around can keep you busy for the day.
A farewell dinner is scheduled for this evening. We will let you know the departure time for dinner once we reach Kathmandu.
This is an additional day in the itinerary to compensate any possible delays on the trekking or cancellation of the flights. We extremely recommend that you have at least 2 extra days after the itinerary days so to maintain any possible delays or cancellation of the flight. If everything goes without any problem, you can utilize those extra days doing some other activities.
The final day of the trip, we drive you to airport for your scheduled flight homebound or other destination. We will pick you up 3 hours prior to your flight schedule.
The Trip Cost Includes
- Airport Pick up and Drop in Kathmandu by Private vehicle.
- Welcome, Farewell dinner with cultural program.
- 4 Nights Tourist Standard Hotel Accommodation in Kathmandu with B/B Basis.
- Half day guided city tour with world heritage entrance permit.
- Round Flight ticket for Up and Down (Kathmandu-Lukla-Kathmandu) with airport TAX.
- Standard Lodge Accommodation (best available) with twin sharing basis during the trek.
- 13 Nights Accommodation in Tented Camp while on trail.
- Full Board Meals (3 Meals a day) while on the trek.
- Island & Mera Peak Climbing permits and entrance fees for Everest National Park Area.
- All necessary camping equipments; Tent, Table & Chair for climbing expedition's crew's.
- Professional & highly expertise government licensed holder Trekking/Climbing Guide.
- 2:1 Ratio Porter Carrying 30KG.
- All expenses of the staffs (Guides/Porters) that includes Food, Accommodation, Salary, Insurance, Equipment during your travel period.
- All the necessary trekking gear for porters like jacket /trousers, trekking shoes, gloves, shocks, sunglasses etc.
- Friends Adventure Team's Sleeping Bag, Walking Poles and Duffel Bag, to be return after trip completed.
- Comprehensive First Aid Kit.
- Arrangement of all rescue and evacuation promptly, in worst condition
- Island & Mera Peak group climbing gear, climbing rope, snow bars & carabineers etc.
- Trekking Map, Friends Adventure Team's special Souvenir.
- Agency service charge.
The Trip Cost Excludes
- Any packed food/snacks, aerated drinks, energy drinks, mineral water, alcohol, cigarettes, chocolates, nutria-bars.
- All desserts, sweet things like chocolate, cake, pie, pudding.
- Items of personal nature, Laundry Expenses, Tips.
- Clothing, Packing Items or Bags, Personal Medical Kit, Personal Trekking Gears.
- Any additional staff other than specified.
- Medical and Travel Insurance and Emergency rescue by any means of Transportation including Helicopter evacuation if required.
- Rescue, Repatriation, Medicines, Medical Tests and Hospitalization expenses.
- Airfare of international flights.
- Nepal entry visa fee (Visa issuance is easy at the arrival).
- Hot shower and battery charging on the tea houses.
- Any other item not included in "Cost Includes" Section.
Frequently asked Questions
Island Peak Climbing involves reaching the summit of Island Peak, a popular mountain in the Everest region of Nepal.
No, it’s not recommended for beginners. You should have prior trekking and some basic climbing experience.
The best times are spring (April to May) and autumn (September to November) when the weather is most favorable.
Yes, you should get training in essential climbing skills like using ropes and ice axes.
You can rent some equipment locally, but it’s best to bring your personal gear, especially items like well-fitting boots and clothing.
While there are no strict age limits, climbers are generally expected to be in good physical condition. It’s more about fitness than age.
Altitude sickness can occur at high altitudes and can be dangerous. Proper acclimatization, staying hydrated, and following your guide’s advice can help prevent it.
You’ll stay in tea houses or lodges during the trekking portion and eat locally available food. At higher altitudes, the options may be limited.
Climbing Mount Everest is a different and much more challenging endeavor that requires extensive training and permits. Peak climbing trips typically do not include an attempt on
Yes, travel insurance that covers emergency evacuation and medical expenses is essential. Check that it also covers high-altitude activities.
Prioritize cardiovascular fitness, strength training, and endurance exercises. Hiking and trekking in your local area can also help prepare you for the altitude.
The cost can vary depending on the tour operator, the services included, and the duration of the expedition. On average, it can range from a few thousand to several thousand dollars.
Yes, many travelers choose to explore other parts of Nepal, like Kathmandu, Pokhara, or go on other trekking adventures after their peak climbing expedition.
Respect local customs, avoid littering, and use designated trails. Hiring local guides and porters also supports the local economy.
On average, you walk about 4 to 6 hours per day. One or two days can be as less as 3hrs and one or two days can be as long as 7hrs.
Yes, you can charge batteries en route. Charger should be brought. There are hot shower facilities as well. You may have to pay certain amount for both ($1-$2). Negotiate. Also, hot water facility could be free at lower elevation.
No. There are no ATMs on this trek route. You will have to draw enough cash in Kathmandu/Lukla or Namche. There are a number of ATMs in these cities. Everything is paid in Nepali rupees. So money should be exchanged before the start of the trek.
Yes. Internet can be accessed in most places. Sometimes, there might be some technical problems. Internet in Nepal is not as fast as you are used to and at times you can just lose connection.
No, it’s not strictly necessary to hire a guide or trekking agency for Island Peak Climbing, but it’s highly advisable, especially if you’re not an experienced mountaineer. Guides and agencies provide essential safety, local knowledge, and logistical support. They help with permits, navigation, and emergency situations, making your climb safer and more enjoyable. While it adds to the cost, the benefits of having a guide or agency often outweigh the expense, particularly for your safety and overall experience.
For Everest region, pay for guides range from $20 to $30 per day and porters take $15 to $25 per day.
