Pharchamo Peak Climbing -21 days

Upon Arrival warm receive at airport and transfer to hotel.

Prepare for permit and shopping the left equipment gear.

5 to 6 hours spectacular drive through the foothills of the Nepal Himalaya. This road twists and turns, crosses several passes and travels along high ridges, giving tremendous views of the valley and glimpses of snow-clad giants.

Trek 5/6 hours follows a long and winding route that contours through the hills. Currently, driving to Singati actually takes longer than the trekking route. Trekking passes through villages, farms and hamlets, with terraced fields and colourful gardens.

Trek on well-marked path and is a sheer delight to walk on, with glimpses of Gauri Shankar and other Rolwaling peaks to the north.

Continuing along the banks of the river to a place where the valley narrows into an impressive gorge, we reach Chetchet and its beautiful waterfall. We are still at a very low elevation and the climatic conditions are hot and slightly humid. Shortly afterwards we cross the Bhote Kosi to begin the steep climb up to the village of Simigaon.

Gorge proper. The trail is well made and leads through forest interspersed with numerous clearings that are used for summer grazing. Descending to the river, we make camp at Dovan-a small and unlikely clearing in the dense forest of the steep valley side.

We cross the Rolwaling Khola on a rickety wooden bridge and take a path through the jungle on the north side of the river, passing through the settlements of Nyimare and Ramding, to reach Beding, the principal Sherpa village of the Rolwaling Valley.

We spend a rest day at Beding to help with our acclimatization to the ever-increasing altitude. It is a great place to take it easy for a day - the local monastery has some interesting paintings and if we are lucky we may see the monks at work on their butter carvings.

It is only a short distance along the Rolwaling Khola to the summer kharka (grazing ground) of Na Gaon, but we must ascend slowly in order to acclimatize. Just before Na Gaon, the valley opens out into a classic, glaciated U-shape. We camp above the settlement beside a huge boulder which marks the beginning of the southern route to the Yalung La.

We spend a rest and acclimatization day at Na Gaon. For those who are feeling fit and strong, there is the option of a walk up the main Rolwaling Valley as far as the huge glacial lake of Tsho Rolpa.

After our efforts on Ramdung this is something of a rest day. Descending first of all to the boulder camp at Na Gaon, we climb gently up the Rolwaling Valley to Tsho Rolpa Lake. This large glacial lake is currently being monitored and drained as a precaution against the possibility of the failure of its natural dam, which event would have devastating consequences for the valley’s inhabitants. We set up camp in the ablation valley a short way beyond the lake.

Today we make our approach to the Drolambu Icefall which lies below the Tesi Lapcha. Beginning with a stiff climb and descent to skirt around an area of instability our route then traverses rocky glacial moraine for around 6 hours, to a camp below the Drolambu Icefall. Here, we are surrounded by spectacular high mountain scenery. A wild and impressive place!

Starting well before sunrise, and following the glacier again for an hour, we reach a rock buttress giving access to the upper glacier above the Drolambu Icefall. We will fix ropes and may cut steps to assist our porters on this first section, although nowhere is the terrain too difficult. Once above the fall, we ascend the valley below the towering peaks which separate the Rolwaling from the Everest region until a weakness enables us to cross the barrier. Climbing to the top of the pass we have our first views of the peaks of the Khumbu and the Thame Valley. A short way blow the pass we make camp on ledges beneath the overhangs of a huge rock cliff at an altitude of 5700 metres a most spectacular campsite.

It is a very direct and relatively short climb of around 4 hours to reach Parchemo’s summit. However, it does make sense to have an early start, so that we can get up and down and off the Tesi Lapcha by late morning. After regaining the pass, there is an initial steep section of the climb where we may use fixed lines. The climb then leads to a prominent summit with fantastic views across to the Khumbu peaks. A 2 hour descent brings us back to the pass and we then continue, dropping down into the alpine pasture, high above the village of Thame. We make camp at Tengpo on a high grazing ground.

The difficult stuff is now behind us and we have a very easy morning's walk on well-marked trails through green pastures down to Thame Village and our first hint of civilization since Beding. We set up camp on the outskirts of the village and have the afternoon free to look around. There is a very interesting gompa at the upper end of the village.

Another easy day of around 6 hours trek to the Khumbu capital of Namche Bazaar. If we needed to, we could complete the trek from Tengpo to Namche in a single day, which effectively gives us a contingency day at this point in the itinerary - no bad thing! We have time in the afternoon to check out the tea-shops and bars of Namche Bazaar (3400m), the thriving market place of the Khumbu. Namche Bazaar is a fascinating place to spend a bit of time. As well as the picturesque Sherpa houses, the numerous souvenir shops and cafes, there is also the opportunity to walk up to the Museum of Sherpa Culture, or to enjoy the ‘World’s highest hot-tub’.

Following the Everest Trail we stop for lunch at Phakding, and then make a final climb to Lukla where we check in to one of the many tourist lodges near the airstrip.

Early morning fly to Kathmandu. The afternoon is free for sightseeing. As a part of the holiday package we have included complimentary evening meals at the finest restaurants in Kathmandu.

This is an important contingency day in case of delays of Lukla to Kathmandu flight. You may prefer to do your own thing, especially if you have visited Kathmandu before. One of the attractions of any visit to Nepal is the chance to walk the streets of Kathmandu, which presents a fascinating mosaic of shops, cafes and restaurants, food markets and street vendors, as well as a bewildering array of colorful temples and shrines of both the Buddhist and Hindu religions. The afternoon is free and in the evening the group will have farewell dinner at typical Nepali restaurant with cultural dance program.

Final transfers to airport to get flight back to home.