Climbing Island Peak 2024/2025

“We had an incredible 16-day Mera Peak trek experience, all thanks to Kris from the trekking company. Kris went above and beyond, handling boarding passes, coordinating domestic travel, and offering valuable advice. Pasang, our guide, was outstanding, ensuring we had the right equipment and creating a truly memorable journey. Kris's honesty, responsiveness, and accommodation made our visit to Nepal unforgettable, and we're grateful for the countless beautiful memories he helped us create. Highly recommend their services!”

“Everything was well organized both with the mangager Chris before the trip and the guide Appa during the tour. I had a private tour with a guide and a porter. It was a great help so I did not have to carry all my heavy climbing equipment and cold weather clothes. I normally carry everything myself but this just gives me more time to enjoy the beautiful landscape. I think that the porter was also an extra safety if something happened on the way - but fortunately everything went well. The tour was perfect for acclimatization starting in the lower "jungle", so I never felt really bad with headache/altitude sickness. Yes it is still hard to breathe and don't expect to sleep perfect every night! Please do not think that this is an easy trip. You spend a lot of time above 5000meters in the cold and very little oxygen. Some days in tents and some days in small teahouses. I/we did not have to carry a tent. From Mera high camp and until after Island peak tents were available at the camp sites. Also food was available at all the camping sites (all food was included in the price but water and other drinks not). Expect to eat a lot of noodles, rice and eggs. Water cost up to around 3USD and soda maybe 4-5USD for 1/2 liter bottle. But prices are lower closer to the start and end. I also used water purification tablets that are sold everywhere in Kathmandu for parts of the trip. The tour through the jungle is a lot of walking up and down every day. Mera Peak summit is a long walk - on summit day expect to walk in deep snow and sometimes almost to the knees because the surface is not always strong enough. So one step up and you sink half a step down again. There are a lot of crevasses that you have to jump over - you are tied together with the guide with a rope for safety. The view from Mera Peak is really good. You see Himalaya and Mt Everest in the distance. Only a handfull of people on the summit this day. There was nobody besides me, the guide and the porter for the next few days until Island Peak basecamp. Most days it's clear in the morning and clouds arrive around midday - so don't plan to walk all day if you want to enjoy the view (I went in April/May) The last day on the way to Amphu Lapcha pass we got a lot of snow but luckily it was 90% clear again in the morning. It is very steep up to the pass. There are steel wires some places that you can attach your safety line to. There are some passages where you have to climb a little bit. The view from the pass is really good. Going down you start abseiling and after this, most places you have wires you can attach to because you are walking on a very small path (not a path but just a little peace of the rock big enough for a foot) and it is very steep down to the side. I had a rest day in basecamp. I definitely don't recommend arriving late here and go for the summit the same night because both are two very long and hard days. At Island peak there are many other people. The summit day is long and hard. The first part is just walking but you end up looking at an almost vertical icewall you have to climb before you reach the ridgeline going to the summit. It is very very steep and takes a long time. The last few minutes on the ridge to the summit are amazing as you are one a very thin ridge steep down to both sides (there is a fixed rope for safety). Very beautiful with views to Lhotse and Ama Dablam. The summit is very small so only a few people can stand on the summit. Many do but also many do not make it to the summit. I guess most are not acclimatized well enough but also because this is not easy. Normally you go straight back to Lukla but I had added three days (plus the 2 spare days) to the itinerary to go to Everest basecamp/Kala Patthar via Kongma La Pass. Yes it is hard to stay at this altitude for so long but it was definitely worth it. Luckily I had a few clear days and after seeing Everest clearly from Kala Patthar the clouds came. And the next days I almost did not see any snow covered mountain top because of clouds. It's easy to go back. While we were going back the guide arranged to reschedule the flights without any problem since I did not use my spare days. So I had a few days extra in Kathmandu to see some temples and do some shopping. I met again with Chris, I gave him back the included duffelbag for the porter and a down sleepingbag that I had used. It was both good quality. So everything went well and good organized and I could change things before and during the trip to fit what I wanted. The guide was very experienced and knew the mountains very well and made sure that I was safe all the time.”

“Travelled during off peak season, July is their monsoon period so there aren’t many tourist around. Did get some good views along the way, weather is clear most of the time in the morning & the clouds set in during the afternoons & rains most of the times in the evening. As it was off peak season, many places were closed as well. However, I enjoyed the peace & tranquility during the trek without many people around and thought it was a good trade off for the weather. Signed up for Island Peak and was an unsuccessful attempt due to the weather & safety reasons. And won’t recommend others for a technical ascend during the off peak season. Had to add extra days during the trip incase of bad weather. Fortunately for me, the weather did not affect me & Krishna helped me to manage the remaining days left in Kathmandu to tour around the area and my accommodations.”