Makalu, Sherpani West Col Trek & Traverse 25 Days

A full day in Kathmandu dedicated to final logistics before the traverse begins. This is not a sightseeing day it is a working day that ensures everything required for a safe and complete 25-day expedition is in place before you leave the city.

Your guide team accompanies you through Thamel for any last-minute gear acquisition crampon and ice axe rental and fitting, additional down layers if needed, high-altitude sleeping bag upgrade if required, personal medications, water purification supplies, and high-energy trail snacks for the wilderness section. The Makalu-Barun National Park permit and TIMS card are processed at the relevant offices. All camping equipment, technical rope gear, and food supplies for the wilderness section are checked and confirmed by our logistics team.

In the afternoon, a final gear spread and weight check ensures every member of the team is carrying the right equipment and that porter loads are properly balanced for the long approach through the Arun Valley. A proper dinner and early sleep. The flight to Tumlingtar departs early tomorrow. Overnight in Kathmandu.

A 45-minute domestic flight from Kathmandu to Tumlingtar Airport (518m) a short mountain airstrip in the wide Arun River valley of eastern Nepal followed by a long and dramatically scenic road drive northward up the Arun Valley to Num (1,560m), the trailhead village for the Makalu-Barun wilderness.

The drive through the Arun Valley is one of the finest road journeys in eastern Nepal. The Arun River — one of the oldest rivers in the world, pre-dating the Himalayas themselves and cutting through the range as the mountains rose around it flows through a landscape of extraordinary ecological diversity. Tropical and subtropical vegetation at the lower elevations gives way to terraced farmland and forested hillsides as the road climbs northward. Occasional glimpses of distant snow peaks appear above the valley walls.

Num (1,560m) is a small, pleasant village at the edge of the Makalu-Barun National Park administrative area. Camp is set up here for the night by your logistics team. Dinner around the camp mess tent is your first taste of the expedition-style routine that will define the next three weeks. Flight time: 45 minutes. Drive time: 5–6 hours.

The first walking day takes you across the Arun River on a suspension bridge below Num and into the lower reaches of the Makalu-Barun National Park corridor. The descent to the river is steep and then the trail climbs through Lumba (Lumband) fields and mixed subtropical forest before arriving at Seduwa (1,500m) a large village perched dramatically on a cliff face above the Arun River gorge.

The lower Arun Valley environment is strikingly different from any other Nepal trekking region warm, lush, and ecologically rich with a subtropical character that includes plantain trees, orchids, tree ferns, and a birdlife diversity that reflects the extraordinary altitudinal range of the Makalu-Barun ecosystem, which spans from 218m at the Arun confluence to over 8,481m at Makalu’s summit. The cultural character of the lower villages is a mix of Rai and Sherpa communities two of eastern Nepal’s most historically significant ethnic groups and the teahouses and homestays here carry a warmth and authenticity that mass-tourism trekking regions rarely match.

The jungle sounds at night in the lower Arun are remarkable a fitting introduction to the wild, uncompromised wilderness you have committed to entering. Walking time: 5–6 hours.

The trail climbs steadily from Seduwa through dense forest of rhododendron, oak, and bamboo gaining elevation steadily through the morning before emerging at a series of high community tea stops along the ridge. The path crosses several small streams, passes through the hamlet of Chekse Danda with its small teahouse and school, and then continues through similar gradient to reach Tashi Gaon (2,070m).

Tashi Gaon is one of the finest villages on the entire traverse the last permanently inhabited settlement before the Makalu wilderness begins and a place where the character of the community reflects centuries of life on the edge of one of Nepal’s most remote and wild protected areas. The village is primarily Sherpa a community who migrated from higher Khumbu areas generations ago to farm the richer soils of this lower elevation — and their culture, food, and hospitality carry the warmth and directness characteristic of Sherpa mountain communities everywhere.

The afternoon in Tashi Gaon is worth using well. Walk through the village lanes, observe the ancient stone water mills still operating beside the trail, visit the small community gompa, and talk to your guide about the wilderness ahead. From tomorrow, the trail enters a world that is genuinely unlike anything on Nepal’s standard trekking circuits. Walking time: 4–5 hours

The day the nature of the trek changes decisively. From Tashi Gaon, the trail enters a sustained and serious climb through dense rhododendron and oak forest that gains nearly 1,500m of altitude over the course of the day. The gradient is steep, consistent, and demanding one of the most physically challenging pure ascent days of the entire traverse.

The forest is extraordinary a UNESCO-recognized biodiversity hotspot where rhododendron species occur in a vertical sequence that ranges from large-leafed tropical varieties at the base to compact alpine species near the tree line. In bloom season (March–May) the ascent through this rhododendron corridor is spectacular beyond description. The forest thins progressively as altitude is gained and eventually gives way to open ridge at the Khongma Danda camp (3,560m) a broad grassy ridge with the first proper panoramic mountain views of the traverse.

Kanchenjunga (8,586m) the world’s third-highest mountain, appears on the eastern horizon for the first time. Makalu (8,481m) rises to the north-northwest. The scale of the peaks visible from the Khongma Danda ridge on a clear afternoon is a powerful reminder of where you are and what you are heading toward. Walking time: 6–7 hours.

From Khongma Danda, the trail follows the high ridge northward a spectacular ridgeline walk with expansive views of the eastern Himalayan range on clear mornings before beginning a long descent through open alpine terrain to Dobato (also called Mumbuk, 4,216m), a high grazing area with seasonal shelters and the first sense of the true alpine wilderness ahead.

The trail today alternates between short climbs and long descents characteristic of the complex ridge system between the Arun Valley and the Barun drainage crossing several streams and yak pasture zones. The vegetation above 4,000m shifts to low juniper scrub, alpine grasses, and the first glacial moraine debris that signals the proximity of the upper Barun valley.

From the camp at Dobato on a clear evening, the Makalu massif is now a substantial presence on the northern skyline — no longer a distant profile but a close, commanding mountain whose scale begins to feel genuinely personal at this proximity. Walking time: 6–7 hours.

A descending day through the wild upper Barun tributary valleys — the trail drops from the high Dobato ridge into the river valley below, crossing the Barun Khola and its tributary streams on wooden bridges and ford crossings before climbing slightly to the seasonal herder settlement of Yangli Kharka (3,615m).

The terrain today is transitional — the last of the sub-alpine scrub giving way to the more open, rocky, and glacially-influenced landscape of the inner Barun drainage. The valley narrows and the walls on either side grow higher and more vertical. The sense of entering a closed, remote world deepens. Waterfalls cascade from high rock faces on both sides of the valley. The air is clean, cold, and carries the particular character of glacial water and alpine vegetation that is unique to the high Himalayan wilderness. Walking time: 5–6 hours.

The approach to the upper Barun Valley reaches a new level of drama today. From Yangli Kharka the trail climbs steadily through increasingly open, rocky terrain the vegetation now sparse alpine meadow and glacial moraine following the Barun River northward into the heart of the national park wilderness.

The valley walls close in around you as the trail gains altitude, and the peaks of the upper Barun rim begin to appear in full detail Chamlang (7,319m) to the east, Baruntse (7,162m) to the northwest, and the great hulking mass of Makalu (8,481m) growing ever closer and more overwhelming directly ahead. This is the terrain the great mountaineers of the 1950s explored on their way to first ascents and the scale and wildness of it, unchanged from those first expeditions, is felt with every step.

Langmale Kharka (4,410m) is a high meadow camp where the upper Barun opens briefly into a wider basin before the final approach to Makalu Base Camp. The glacial snout of the Barun Glacier is visible from camp. Tonight the sky above 4,400m in the Makalu wilderness is extraordinary assuming clouds permit, the stars at this altitude and this remoteness are among the finest you will ever see. Walking time: 5–6 hours.

The approach to Makalu Base Camp on a morning of good visibility is one of the most spectacular walking experiences in Nepal. From Langmale Kharka the trail climbs through the final moraine fields of the Barun Glacier approach, crossing boulder fields and glacial debris, with Makalu (8,481m) growing from a mountain into an overwhelming wall of rock and ice that fills the entire northern horizon.

Makalu Base Camp (4,870m) sits at the edge of the Barun Glacier on a wide moraine platform — the classic staging point for expeditions attempting Makalu’s northwest ridge and the West Pillar. The mountain at close range is staggeringly imposing — a near-vertical pyramid of black rock streaked with ice, rising over 3,600m above the base camp in a single, sustained, almost vertical line. Lhotse (8,516m) is visible to the northwest and Baruntse (7,162m) dominates the southwestern skyline.

Set up camp and spend the afternoon walking the moraines, photographing the mountain at close range, and simply absorbing the scale of being at the base of one of Earth’s most imposing summits. This is one of the least-visited 8,000m base camps in Nepal and the solitude here compared to the busy Everest Base Camp is complete and profound. Walking time: 5–6 hours.

A full acclimatization day at Makalu Base Camp critical for the technical passes that lie ahead. At nearly 4,900m, your body is working hard simply maintaining normal function and the deliberate altitude adaptation that happens during a full rest day here is physiologically essential before moving to 5,200m and then 5,700m in the days ahead.

The acclimatization protocol involves a morning hike above the base camp climbing to approximately 5,100m on the lower Barun Glacier moraine and then descending the classic climb-high-sleep-low adjustment. Your guide uses this hike to assess the glacier approach to Swiss Camp and identify current conditions.

The rest of the day at base camp is used for rest, hydration, food intake, and gear preparation for the upper section. Your guide briefs the team on the Swiss Camp approach and the Sherpani Col high camp logistics. The high-altitude specialist equipment high-altitude boots (if brought), down suits, glacier goggles, and harness systems, is distributed and checked. This is the last comfortable day before the true expedition section begins. Acclimatization hike: 3–4 hours.

From Makalu Base Camp the trail enters the glacial world entirely. The route climbs onto the lateral moraine of the Barun Glacier and then moves onto the glacier itself — your first day of glacier travel on this traverse. Crampons go on. Ice axes come out. The glacier surface here is relatively gentle but the training value of the first day on ice is significant for the far more demanding passages above.

The camp at approximately 5,200m variously called Swiss Camp or Hillary Camp after the pioneering expeditions that first established it, sits on a broad moraine shelf above the glacier with extraordinary views of Makalu’s West Pillar, the Baruntse massif, and the high ridge that carries the Sherpani Col above. At 5,200m the altitude is seriously felt by most trekkers headaches, reduced appetite, and disrupted sleep are all possible and normal. Communicate any symptoms to your guide. Walking time: 4–5 hours.

A second critical acclimatization day this one at 5,200m before the ascent to Sherpani Col High Camp at 5,700m. The rest day protocol is the same a morning acclimatization hike above camp to approximately 5,400m on the approach to the high camp, then rest, food, hydration, and sleep.

Your guides and high-altitude Sherpa staff use this day to fix ropes on the technical sections of the approach to Sherpani Col High Camp and assess current snow and ice conditions on the pass approach. The quality of this reconnaissance directly determines the safety and pacing of the next three days the most demanding section of the entire 25-day traverse. Pulse oximeters are checked regularly throughout the day. Any team member showing serious altitude symptoms (HACE, HAPE warning signs) is evacuated immediately via helicopter your guide carries emergency contact numbers and satellite phone communication.

From Swiss Camp the route climbs steeply up the Sherpani Glacier a technically demanding ascent that gains nearly 500m on ice and snow in a single day. Crampons are essential from the first step above camp. The ice axe is used continuously for balance and self-arrest readiness on the steeper sections. Fixed ropes installed by your Sherpa team the previous day are clipped with carabiners and locking draws throughout the most exposed sections.

Sherpani Col High Camp (5,700m) sits beneath the massive ice cliffs at the base of the final approach to the col two small glaciers feeding the approach from the slopes above, the camp positioned on a cleared platform in the moraine at the terminus of the ice. The view from high camp is extraordinary Makalu’s West Face and West Pillar tower directly above, and the scale of the mountain from this elevation is simply not comparable to anything visible from the base camp below.

At 5,700m the altitude is serious. Eat as much as you can, drink constantly, go to bed early, and sleep as best the altitude allows. Tomorrow’s crossing begins before dawn. Walking time: 5–6 hours. Technical.

The most consequential day of the traverse. The alarm sounds at 2:00 AM or earlier. The team rises in darkness, eats a full hot breakfast in the mess tent, layers up completely — base layer, mid-layer, down suit, hardshell, balaclava, high-altitude gloves, glacier goggles, crampons on boots, ice axe in hand, harness on and begins the climb to Sherpani Col (6,135m) in the pre-dawn blackness.

The ascent from high camp to the col gains nearly 450m on the Sherpani Glacier steep, heavily crevassed in sections, and requiring careful rope work and team management throughout. Fixed ropes guide the steepest and most exposed sections. The pace above 5,700m at altitude is deliberately slow one breath per step, the ancient rhythm of high-altitude climbing. The final push to the col is the steepest section of the entire glacier approach.

At the col, in the first pale light of dawn, the panorama is one of the most extraordinary available to any non-climbing trekker in the Himalayas. Makalu (8,481m) behind you. Baruntse (7,162m) to the west. Lhotse (8,516m) and the entire southern wall of Everest (8,848m) appear on the horizon to the northwest. Chamlang (7,319m), Kanchenjunga (8,586m) to the east. The world from 6,135m is an unfiltered, raw, and overwhelming encounter with the scale of the highest peaks on Earth.

The descent from Sherpani Col onto the Baruntse Glacier is steep, long, and technical  navigating crevasse fields and ice debris on the north-facing descent. The team arrives at the glacier camp on the western Baruntse moraine (approx. 5,640m) by mid-afternoon. The Baruntse Glacier camp is one of the most remote overnight positions accessible to trekkers anywhere in Nepal. Walking time: 8–10 hours. Highly technical.

The highest point of the entire 25-day traverse  and another full technical day on glacier and ice. West Col (6,143m) is crossed from the Baruntse Glacier on its western approach, a shorter but equally demanding technical climb compared to Sherpani Col.

The ascent of West Col from the Baruntse Glacier side follows a steep ice slope and then a narrowing ice ridge to the col itself. Fixed ropes cover the crux sections. At the top — at 6,143m  the panoramic view includes everything visible from Sherpani Col with the addition of the Hongu basin and the Nuptse-Lhotse wall now visible in their complete entirety to the northwest. Island Peak (Imja Tse, 6,189m) is directly ahead. The sense of position — on the divide between the Makalu region and the Khumbu at over 6,000m — is deeply clarifying.

The descent from West Col into the Hongu basin is steep and then opens into the wild upper plateau leading to the glacial lakes of Panch Pokhari (5,500m) — five sacred high-altitude lakes set in a remote, rocky basin surrounded by the peaks of the Hongu basin. Camp tonight at Panch Pokhari is one of the most surreally beautiful overnight stops available anywhere in the Nepal Himalaya — utterly remote, utterly silent, and utterly magnificent. Walking time: 6–8 hours. Technical.

A descent day through the remote Hongu basin one of the wildest and least-visited glacial environments in Nepal. From the Panch Pokhari camp, the trail descends southwestward through the upper Hongu valley, crossing moraine and glacial debris, with views of Mera Peak (6,476m), Island Peak (6,189m), Amphu Peak (5,335m), and the great wall of the Nuptse-Lhotse ridge all around the basin.

The Hongu basin has an extraordinary quality of stillness and remoteness that is hard to put into words — a world enclosed by some of the highest peaks on Earth, completely unpopulated outside of rare expeditions, and carrying a wild, elemental character that even the most remote sections of the Khumbu Everest region cannot match at this depth of solitude.

Amphu Labtsa Base Camp (5,200m) is established on the moraine below the final approach to the pass. Your Sherpa guides fix ropes on the lower approach to the Amphu Labtsa ice ridge this afternoon while the team rests and eats. The third and final technical crossing begins tomorrow. Walking time: 5–6 hours.

The final and in many ways the most dramatic technical crossing of the traverse. Amphu Labtsa Pass (5,845m) is a steep, narrow ice and rock ridge on the southwest wall of the Hongu basin that drops sharply into the Imja Valley above Chhukung. While lower than both Sherpani Col and West Col in altitude, the Amphu Labtsa is arguably the most technically demanding of the three passes — involving a near-vertical rock and ice section near the top that requires confident rope work, ice axe usage, and a steady nerve.

Begin before dawn from base camp. The approach climbs steeply on loose moraine and then onto the glaciated face below the pass. Fixed ropes lead the team up the steepest section a near-vertical 50m pitch of mixed rock and ice that is the crux of the entire 25-day traverse. At the top, standing on the narrow col, the transition is immediate and dramatic behind you the wild, enclosed world of the Hongu basin; ahead of you the familiar, populated, teahouse-lined Khumbu valley dropping toward Chhukung in the distance.

The descent from Amphu Labtsa onto the Imja Glacier is steep and requires sustained crampon and ice axe technique for the first 200 meters. Then the glacier opens and the angle eases, leading across the ice to the moraine and the trail into Chhukung (4,730m). The moment the first teahouse of Chhukung appears is one of the most emotional transitions of any Nepal trekking experience — you have been in the wilderness for nearly two weeks, and the sight of a lit teahouse window, the smell of cooking food, and the sound of other voices arriving from the comfortable Khumbu trail carries an intensity that only extended wilderness isolation can create. Walking time: 7–8 hours. Highly technical.

The first full day back in the world of teahouses, other trekkers, and Khumbu trail infrastructure. The descent from Chhukung to Dingboche (4,360m) is a well-worn trail through the Imja Valley that feels almost absurdly comfortable after the glaciated terrain of the past several days.

Your body will be noticeably tired and noticeably relieved. Eat as much as the altitude allows, drink water consistently, and let the recovery process begin. The Ama Dablam (6,812m) view from Dingboche is one of the finest in the Khumbu its impossibly graceful profile rising above the valley is a visual reward of a different kind from the raw technical grandeur of the passes behind you. Spend the afternoon resting and allow the scale of what you have accomplished to settle quietly in. Walking time: 3–4 hours.

The trail descends through Pangboche and then climbs across to Tengboche (3,870m) home to the famous Tengboche Monastery, the largest and most revered gompa in the Khumbu region. After nearly three weeks in the wilderness above 4,000m, the monastery’s carved wooden interior, butter lamp altar, evening puja ceremony, and the extraordinary presence of Ama Dablam directly behind it deliver a cultural and aesthetic experience of particular richness.

The descent from the high passes into the Khumbu is also physiologically liberating — the air thickens noticeably with every hundred meters of altitude lost, food tastes better, sleep is easier, and the accumulated physical fatigue of the high technical days begins to release. Walking time: 5–6 hours.

The trail descends from Tengboche through the deep rhododendron and birch forest of Phunki Tenga and climbs back up to Namche Bazaar (3,440m) the capital of the Khumbu Sherpa world. After weeks in the wilderness, the bakeries, coffee shops, restaurants, gear shops, and general energy of Namche feel slightly overwhelming and entirely wonderful.

Celebrate your traverse with the finest meal you can find in Namche, a proper coffee, and possibly the most appreciated hot shower of your life in one of the teahouse bathrooms. Walk around the town in the evening, look back across at the mountains, and allow yourself to feel the weight of what the past 20 days have involved. Walking time: 5–6 hours.

The final walking day of the entire traverse. The trail descends from Namche through the rhododendron forest, across the suspension bridges of the Dudh Koshi River, and back to Lukla (2,840m) the Khumbu’s primary airstrip and the last overnight before the flight back to Kathmandu. The walk through the Dudh Koshi valley is beautiful in the evening light and the suspension bridges each one a dramatic swinging span above the river gorge, feel like a proper, cinematic ending to a 25-day Himalayan adventure.

Dinner in Lukla with your entire team guide, Sherpa staff, cook team is an occasion worth marking. These are the people who carried the equipment, fixed the ropes, cooked the meals at altitude, and kept the team safe across three passes above 5,800m. Their skill, experience, and commitment made this traverse possible. Walking time: 6–7 hours.

An early morning flight from Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla back to Kathmandu — the same mountain airstrip famous for its short, sloping runway and dramatic approach between the valley walls. Mountain flights at Lukla are subject to weather and flexibility around departure times is always required.

Back in Kathmandu, transfer to your hotel and spend the rest of the day however you choose — the city is entirely yours. A massage, a long lunch, proper shopping, a visit to Boudhanath, or simply sitting somewhere warm and quiet with the traverse behind you and the mountains already becoming memory. Flight time: 30–35 minutes.

A practical buffer day in the itinerary for flight delay risk at Lukla — one of the most common logistical realities of the Khumbu region, where weather can delay flights for one or more days. If the flight returned on schedule, you have a free day in Kathmandu.

Use it as you wish. Visit the UNESCO heritage sites of the Kathmandu Valley — Pashupatinath Temple, Boudhanath Stupa, Swayambhunath, or the medieval courtyards of Patan and Bhaktapur. Debrief with your guide over a meal, go through your photographs, and begin the process of organizing the story of what you have just done. Buy a piece of Nepali craft or artwork as a tangible memory of one of the most significant mountain journeys available anywhere on Earth. Overnight in Kathmandu.

Your 25-day Makalu, Sherpani & West Col Trek & Traverse comes to a close. Our team transfers you to Tribhuvan International Airport for your departure. You leave Nepal as one of a small number of people globally who have completed the full Makalu to Khumbu traverse via Sherpani Col, West Col, and Amphu Labtsa — three passes above 5,845m, weeks in the Himalayan wilderness, a 5,000m to 6,143m altitude range, and a journey from the wild forests of the Arun Valley to the glaciated core of the highest mountain range on Earth.