The first 6,000 m summit, for people who have trekked but never climbed. Mera and Island are Nepal Mountaineering Association trekking peaks — real summits with real glacier travel, reachable in a fortnight by a fit walker with a guide who knows the ground.
Mera or Island?
Mera Peak (6,476 m) is the higher of the two and the more straightforward: a long snow plod at altitude with one short steep step below the summit. If you can walk uphill for eight hours and cope with thin air, Mera is a question of fitness and acclimatisation rather than technique.
Island Peak (6,189 m) is lower and harder. It ends with a glacier crossing, ladders over crevasses in some seasons, and a 100 m fixed-rope headwall onto the summit ridge — that is jumar work, and it is why we run a rope-and-crampon training day at Chhukhung before summit night.
What you need to bring to it
No previous climbing experience, but genuine hill fitness and, ideally, a Himalayan trek already behind you. Everything technical — harness, jumar, crampons, ice axe, rope work — we teach and supply. What we cannot supply is the ability to keep walking uphill in the dark at 6,000 m, which is the actual difficulty on both mountains.
We run these at a one-to-two climbing-sherpa ratio on summit day, and we turn around for weather or for a client who is not moving well. The summit is optional; the descent is not.
Permits and season
Both peaks need an NMA climbing permit on top of the national park entry, and both have narrow windows — April to May and October to November. Outside those, the snow conditions and the cold on summit night stop being reasonable.
- NMA climbing permit (season-priced, arranged by us)
- Sagarmatha or Makalu Barun National Park entry permit
- Khumbu rural municipality permit for Island Peak approaches
Island & Mera Peak FAQs
No, but you need trekking experience at altitude and real fitness. We teach the rope and crampon work on a training day before the climb. If you have never walked above 4,000 m, do a trek with us first — we will say so rather than sell you the climb.
High on Mera when the weather cooperates, lower on Island because the headwall stops people who are otherwise fit. Both depend far more on the acclimatisation days than on summit night, which is why our itineraries are longer than the cheapest ones you will find.
Technical group gear — ropes, ice screws, fixed lines — yes. Personal kit like boots, harness, crampons and axe can be rented in Kathmandu and we will take you to do it, but we would rather you climbed in your own boots.
