Short Climb to Island Peak – 4 Days

This 4 days trip is one of the short climbs to Island Peak designed for budget climbers from Chukhung to Island Peak and vice versa. Is a well-prepared itinerary including Island Peak base camp and high camp set up for two night before the summit. It guarantees any climbers to achieve their dream expedition of Island Peak or known as Imja Tse, at 6189m, the famous peak in the Everest region of Nepal. If you wish for a solo trekking trek to Everest BC or not planning for a full 15 days Island Peak expedition with Everest BC trek listed in our itinerary, you have this option to reach Island Peak.  You will meet our sherpa guide at Chukhung, at one of the lodges mentioned to you before your trip starts from Kathmandu. Arrangement for climbing permit, sherpa, and full board 3 days short expedition begins in Chukhung. We will provide camping accommodation, 3 meals, hot drinks, climbing ropes, and sherpa to take you to the top of Island Peak. You can also hire full climbing gears set at Chukhung at one of the lodges at a reasonable price ranging from USD 80-100 for all gears. Mountaineering will be provided at Chhukung with detailed experience as we are here to help you achieve your lifetime dream. At the top mark of your footprint, Island Peak is one of the best adventure dreams. It offers a great opportunity for people aged 18-75 years old, climbing 6173 meters. The difficult part is a mixture of rock and ice wall, after reaching the camp high on the hillside about 45 degrees and use crampons before the narrow crest. Nevertheless, Island Peak is definitely the right reward for your great efforts. From Jhu, Phaplu, Lukla after a long journey, Chhukung Island’s Peak can be added into any corner of the Everest region through different channels, such as Renjo La channels (5338m, Chola Pass 5420m, Kala Patthar 5545m, and Kongma 5535 m), as well as the adventure mountain trekking, you also can see the villages and Sherpa monasteries that always in calm where you can have a clear memory of a walk before.

Best time to climb Island Peak?
For the Everest region as a whole, you can trek anytime between September and the end of May. Given the height of Island Peak and the challenging conditions, we work with much smaller opportunities. Bad weather on the BC trek might be uncomfortable, but on Island Peak, it could be very dangerous. For safety climbing to Island Peak, we only run trips in mid-September to November and March to May.

During these periods the temperatures are pleasant and most days are dry and sunny. Importantly during these periods, the strong winds that accompany the monsoon don’t appear and there are long periods of relative calm which are ideal for climbing.

You can read all about it when is the best time to trek in the Everest region generally here and there is a lot more detail about the weather here.

About the route:
The Island Peak climb started following the classic trek to Everest BC (5,380m). The highlight of the first part of the trip is climbing  Kala Pattar (5,643m) which has stunning views of the Khumbu ice field, Pumori, Nuptse, Lhotse, and Everest’s north face. It provides great acclimatization for your attempt on Island Peak. If you are planning to climb Island Peak on a private trip you can consider the option of sleeping with an expedition team at Everest BC. This is great fun and also will help with acclimatization.

From Everest BC you head back down the Dudh Kosi valley as far as Dingboche. You then turn up the Imja Khola valley towards Chukhung and Island Peak.  Chukhung is the final teahouse stop before heading to BC for the ascent of Island Peak. You can hire all the gears you need for the climb in Chukhung, although the quality is sometimes could be poor here. If you want to be sure of the quality of gears, you have to rent in Kathmandu, but this means a 16 days rent rather than a 4 days rent.

From Chukhung, we provide three days window to attempt the climb.  At the first camp after Chukhung you will receive training in all the special techniques you require and have time to practice until you are proficient.

If weather permits, you will move the next day to the high camp to prepare for the summit attempt. If the weather is unpleasant you can stay another day at this camp and wait for the weather to clear. The walk up to high camp is relatively straightforward and you should arrive at camp just after lunch.

From high camp, the ascent becomes steeper and more challenging. Initially, it involves some steep switchbacks and scrambling over the rock before you reach the “crampon point” at the edge of the glacier. Conditions beyond this point have changed a lot in recent years, as a result of climate change and the earthquake in 2015.

Previously, climbers were faced with a straightforward crampon glacier crossing followed by a steep ascent of a headwall of about 150 meters. With a fixed rope set and a jumar, this was a physically demanding challenge but not too technical.

More recently, the glacier traverse has become much tougher, as a number of deep crevasses have opened up which have to be crossed on ladders.

You will have to practice ladder crossings before your ascent, and you will be fully protected by ropes, but this is still a nervy moment as the crevasses are deep and the ladders wobbly. Try your best not to look down!

After that, you have to cross the glacier to reach the headwall. The condition is very variable. Some years it is just frozen snow, but sometimes the snow has blown off leaving hard jagged ice.

In any event, our guides will lay fixed lines over the whole of this section, and with a jumar and ice ax, the climbing is still not overly technical.  However, to reflect the overall increased difficulty of the climb in the changing conditions, we now provide 1 guide/climbing sherpa for every 2 people.

Mountains and glaciers are dynamic places, and changes in the landscape are part and parcel of the experience.

After summiting, you descend to Island Peak BC and the rest of the trek follows the classic Everest base camp route back to Lukla via Namche.