Kanchenjunga Climbing Expedition -51 days

Upon arrival at Kathmandu airport, we receive you there; we will be waiting there with your name and then drive to hotel.

Prepare for climbing and Expedition likes renting or buying climbing equipment and gear

Spend free day in Kathmandu.

We fly from Katmandu to Bhadrapur in the morning and drive on 4-wheel toward Tharpu. We quickly gain altitude, we pass Ilam, the Nepalese Tea capital and continue up to 2,500 m before going down and up again. We leave the road for a muddy dirt road to Tharpu late in the evening after 9 hours drive.

Stay at Tharpu (1,300 m) for managing porter.

First we descend to the river at 720 m which is the lowest point of the trekking. Then we traverse the valley toward the North to Doban which is a tiny village made of only 3 houses.

The climb above Doban is steep but nice and so is the traverse up to Khebang. The village is really nice, clean, spread out with nice garden and various cultures. The steep climb continues up to the Ekchana La pass at 2,080m. We make a short break before descending to Otam. Then we climb again to the second pass of the day. Follow another descent down to the river and the last climb up to Yamphudin. There are many prier flags at the entrance of Yamphudin which is the larger village in the valley. Here too, there is no lodge so we sleep in some people house that is much friendlier than in Doban.

The trail is flattish at the beginning and soon becomes quite steep in the long climb to the Sanyia Bandyiang (3,330 m) pass. This climb is in the rain forest, the Rhododendrons and the Magnolias is amazing. Then we descend on a muddy trail down to the river that we follow for a while until we reach Tortong. There are only two small houses and one shelter in Tortong.

The trail goes up gently along the river in another nice forest. Here again the Rhododendrons are blooming. This stage is shorter and easier than the previous ones but again the sky covers up and it is snowing when we arrive at Tseram.

Today we stay at Tseram to start our acclimatization. After the breakfast we walk toward the Sinelapche La (pass). We walk up to 4,580 m, enjoying the view over the Kabrus, Ratong and the valley going to the Sikkim (India)

Once again the trail is really nice, there are less trees and the mountains around are getting higher and higher. This stage is short and it is still early when we arrive in Ramche. There is only one house there surrounded by mountains and the Yalung glacier. It is a peaceful and pleasant place.

Another great day for some acclimatization walks. The low altitude porters leave and some Sherpas carry our gear between Ramche and the base camp (BC). There are only 9 so they will have to make several round trips to bring everything to the BC. They will carry the kitchen and the part of the food first while we will carry our own stuff. We need 4 days of food so we can wait for their next load carry.

The first part up to the Shorten is very nice but after 2 hours we leave the good trail and start the walk on the nasty moraine of the Yalung glacier. In fact there is no trail, just endless pile of stones. It is painful, long and exhausting.

The base camp area is quite large, with amazing view but is not flat and full of big rocks. It is not easy to find a good spot so we dig and move the stones around to make some good spots.

We spend these two days to improve our camp, prepare the gear and the food for the high camps and to rest.

The plan for today is to make a round trip to the camp 1 to carry some gear. To reach the Camp1 cross the entire base camp and 10 minutes later we are on the glacier. Twenty minutes later we reach the bottom of the face at 5,600 m. We continue along a spur (to its right) up to 6,000 m. Then we traverse to the left to join the steep slopes and the seracs just below the camp 1. The last 3 pitches are the steepest with some sections at 60-70 degrees. The camp 1 is located on a snowy ridge at 6,200 m. The view is amazing: Jannu, Kabru and the entire Yalung glacier. It takes nearly three and half hours to climb camp 1 and takes less than 2 hours to go down base camp. Leave some tents, food and a bit of gear in Camp 1.

it snows in the afternoon. Today we rest at the base camp and prepare to leave tomorrow for our first acclimatization trip. The plan is to spend 4 nights at 6,400 m and 2 or 3 nights at 7,000 m. Then we will come back at the base camp, rest and wait for several days of good weather to do the summit push.

The first night above 6,000 m has been rough, we are 1000 m above the base camp and we have to spend a few days there to acclimatize to this new elevation.