Climbing Trekking Peaks

It is an incredible thrill and an amazing sense of personal achievement to finally take those last few steps and find yourself with no more "up" to go; and that you have summited a real mountain.

To stand on top; to look all around and peer down the mountain you have climbed; to see the valley where your base camp is; and often to witness the majesty of the "big mountains" in the horizon. These are rare experiences for us mere mortals, and the magic of these moments will be burned into your memory for ever.

The idea behind the establishment and listing of Trekking Peaks is that it gives trekkers the opportunity to test themselves, and take on a summit attempt, without the additional costs, necessary infrastructure, and the significant time investment of a full expedition to the 7,000 - 8,800m mountains. It's also a good opportunity to see how you like being on a mountain....it might be the start of a new interest.

The advantage of many trekking peaks, particularly those in or near the main trekking routes, is that they can be combined with a trek, and where, after suitable acclimitisation is achieved along the route, they can be climbed within just a few days, then the trek continued.

After "going high" and summiting, your inner smile should be beaming, and you will probably find that the ups and downs of an average day trekking to be easy.

There are currently 33 trekking peaks of varying difficulty in the Nepal Himalaya; although the term Trekking Peak is sometime poorly used. These are real mountains, and they vary in height from 5,750m to over 6,650m. You have to be fit and properly acclimatised before taking on a trekking peak.

In some cases, there are listed trekking peaks, that given the reasonable weather conditions, and under the supervision of an experienced climbing guide, are with the capability of most reasonably fit, well acclimatised trekkers, even those that have not walked across a glacier or climbed on a mountain before.

Then there are some trekking peaks that are far more difficult, even in good weather; and you need a good understanding of rope management, belaying and fall arresting, and previous climbing experience before even considering an attempt.

It is mandatory to have a pre-approved permit, pre-pay the appropriate peak climbing fee, as well as engage an accredited climbing guide, before embarking on any peak climb. We can help put all of this together, as well as give you advice on the various peaks.

At Don't Go Gently, we adopt a "safety first" approach when climbing trekking peaks, because it truly is all about the journey, not just the destination. We learnt many years ago that turning back when the risks get too great, or the weather turns bad, is the only sensible option and it is not a failure.

A wise old villager said to us many years ago, after we, reluctantly, turned back on a climb during a 3 day snowstorm, "The mountain always lives here. You just have to be sure that you live, so that you can come and visit it again". They were right, because we did go back another time to climb that mountain, and another, and another....and we are still here to talk about it.

We haven't climbed them all, yet.....but we will keep plugging away.