Gokyo, Cho La Pass and Everest Base Camp trek including an ascent of a 6,000m peak Lobuche East (6,090m)
Trek and climb period: 22 days
Region: Gokyo Region and Everest Region
Dates: March / April / May / October / November
Lobuche Peak is an attractive summit, offering a variety of existing routes and has some of the best views of Everest as you climb up the ridge to the summit. The true East Summit is quite striking and is reached by descending into a marked notch and climbing steep snow/ice slopes to the top.
Itinerary
Day 01: Arrival in Kathmandu and transfer to hotel upon arrival.
Day 02: Sightseeing (Boudha, Swambunath and Pashupatinath).
Day 03: Kathmandu - Lukla - Phakding
This is an hour flight from Kathmandu to Lukla Airport (2,800m). The trail from Lukla, leads north from the airstrip and drops steeply for a bit, then descends gently to Phakding (2700m), your first overnight stop. This is a two hour trek.
Day 04: Phakding - Namche
From Phakding the trail continues north up the Dudh Koshi Valley (Koshi means river in Nepali and it comes down from the Everest glacier). All along this part of the trail, there is a magnificent forest of magnolia, rhododendron and giant firs. On the cliffs above the river it is possible to see musk deer and Himalayan tahr. At Monjo the trek enters the Sagarmatha National Park. The trail follows the river and crosses Dudh Koshi and makes a steep climb to Namche (3,440m). Namche is a very colorful Sherpa village where you will see vendors selling antiques and each Saturday there is an important weekly haat or market.
Day 05: Namche
We stay one more extra day at Namche for acclimatization.
Day 06: Namche - Dole
Dole is a 6 hour trek from Namche. The trail passes through many Kharkas, summer settlements used when Sherpas bring herds of yaks to graze in these high pastures. The views of Khumbila and Tawachee (6,542m) are tremendous throughout the day.
Day 07: Dole - Machhermo
From Dole the trail climbs to Lharbama at 4,220m and luza at 4,360m. The trail is steep in most places as it climbs through junipers to Lhabarma. The trail continues to climb along the side of the valley, high above the river, crossing sandy spurs to Machhermo at 4,410m.
Day 08: Machhermo - Gokyo
Beyond Machhermo the trail climbs a ridge for an excellent view both down the valley to Kantega and up towards Cho Oyu (8,153m). Beyond the ridge, the valley widens as the trail reaches Panka. The trail descends to the river bank before beginning the climb on to the terminal moraine of the Ngozumpa Glacier. It is a steep climb up the moraine, switch backing alongside the stream to the first lake at 4,650m. The trail now becomes almost level as it follows the valley past a second lake, known as Longponga, at 4,690 meters and finally up a boulder strewn path to Gokyo at 4,750m.
Day 09: Gokyo
The views in the Gokyo region are tremendous. For the best view, we climb Gokyo Ri (5,350m). It is a two hour climb to the top of the peak, providing a panoramic view of Cho Oyu, Gyachung kang, Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, Cholatse and Tawachee.
Day 10: Gokyo - Cho la pass high camp
About half way between the first lake and second lake a trail leads off across the moraine to the east. This is the route to the 5,420 meter Cho la into the Everest region. We will establish our high camp at 5,000 meters.
Day 11: Cho la pass - Dzongla (4,843m)
The pass is not difficult, but it is steep and involves a glacier crossing on the eastern side. After crossing the pass, we rest at Dzongla from where you have splendid view of Lobuche East, Amadablam, Tawachee and Cho-latse.
Day 12: Lobuche East High Camp
We hike to 5,600 m where we will set up our highcamp.
Day 13: Summit Lobuche East (6,119m) and back to base camp.
We will have an early start today at three in the morning and start moving up the rock band with head lamps. It will take three hours maximum to reach the snowline where there is a small glacier and then the climb starts up at an angle of 45 to 50 degrees all the way to the summit ridge. From the summit ridge, it is another 50m to the false summit (this is the summit where most people make it to). The true summit is little further, where you have to be careful with the snow conditions and there is a knife ridge.
The views during the climb are breathtaking as you see Everest as you climb up. Lhotse is also seen as it is slightly hidden behind the south face of Nuptse.
Climb down to high camp, where the cooks will be waiting with tea, water, juice and some soups. After we pack our tents, we will head down towards base camp.
Day 14: Lobuche East base camp to Lobouche
We start heading down to Tugla. From Tugla, we head up towards Lobuche. The trail climbs higher on the moraine to a row of stone monuments in memory of six Sherpas who died in an avalanche during the 1970 Japanese skiing Expedition. The trail then drops a bit and follows the western side of the valley to Lobuche, a summer village. The ascent becomes steeper and rougher as it crosses several side moraines. After rounding a bend in the trail, the conical views peak of Pumori (7,145) Meters comes into view.
Day 15: Lobuche - Goraksheep 5,160m.
We trek to Goraksheep today and then trek to Everest base camp. Return to Goraksheep.
Day 16: Kalapattar - Goraksheep 5,160m - Dingboche 4,410m
On this lower slope of this Mt Pumori a ridge extending to the south terminates in a small peak. This peak, Kalapattar, is 5,545m and it provides the best vantage point for viewing Mt Everest. We will climb Kalapattar in the morning and spend some time on the top. Return to Goraksheep for breakfast and trek downwards to Dingboche.
Day 17: Dingboche - Thyangboche
We start heading down to Thyangboche.
Day 18: Thyangboche -Namche.
Day 19: Namche - Lukla.
Day 20: Lukla - Kathmandu.
Day 21: Visit Bhaktapur.
Day 22: Departure.
Services Includes
All meals and accommodations in tea houses and camping during trek and climb of Lobuche East peak, all meals (breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner) with both vegetarian and non vegetarian served, all camping equipment (two person tent, kitchen tent, dinning tent, toilet tent, mattresses) kitchen equipment, high altitude tents, porters and yaks during the trek, all staffs and porters insurance, cook and kitchen boys, climbing Sherpa, group climbing equipment (9mm climbing rope and 400m fixed static rope, ices crews, carabineers and snow bars), peak permit to climb Lobuche East, wages and equipment allowance for climbing Sherpa guide and all staff, equipment for staff and porters, national park entry fees, all domestic cargo clearance, transport to airport and hotel, domestic flights (Ktm / Lukla / Ktm), Sagarmathan National park fees, four nights hotel in Kathmandu.
Services Excludes
Insurance should (cover helicopter evacuation in case of emergency), soft and hard drinks, meals in Kathmandu, personal gear, mountaineering boots and any other expenses in case of any political disturbances or natural disaster.