Mera, Island or Lobuche East, and how to choose your first 6,000m peak in Nepal

Choose Mera Peak if you want the highest summit and the biggest view without technical climbing, Island Peak if you want a real first climb on a fixed rope, and Lobuche East if you want to come away a more capable mountaineer. All three are over 6,000 metres, none needs a previous summit, and on the Nepal Mountaineering Association’s schedule all three carry exactly the same permit fee.

Price will not decide it

The government permit is identical for all three peaks, so a quote that prices them differently is showing you a markup, not a fee. The NMA lists Mera, Island Peak (Imja Tse) and Lobuche East in the same band: US$350 per climber in spring and US$175 in the other three seasons.

We set out the fee question in detail in why Island Peak does not cost more than Mera. What genuinely differs is what each mountain asks of your body and your nerve.

Mera Peak asks for lungs, not technique

Mera’s standard northern route is technically straightforward glacier walking; the difficulty is the altitude. Most commercial parties top out on Mera Central at 6,461 metres, just below the true 6,476-metre north summit.

It lies in the remote Hinku Valley east of the Everest trail, and the reward is the view: Everest, Kangchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu and Cho Oyu, five of the six highest mountains on Earth, in one sweep. Mera Central was first climbed on 20 May 1953, nine days before Everest, by Colonel Jimmy Roberts and Sen Tenzing. More in our Mera Peak guide.

Island Peak asks for a rope and a head for heights

Island Peak is lower but harder: summit day is a glacier crossing and a steep headwall climbed on fixed lines to a narrow ridge. A crevasse below the summit ridge has turned teams back in some seasons, and a ladder has been used to bridge it.

It sits a short detour off the Everest Base Camp trail near Chhukung, so it pairs naturally with the trek, and the Base Camp days give you the acclimatisation. It was named in 1953 by members of the British Everest expedition, for how it looks from Dingboche — an island in a sea of ice — and renamed Imja Tse in 1983. More in our Island Peak guide.

Lobuche East is the one that teaches you most

If you want to leave a better climber rather than just a summiteer, Lobuche East is the pick. It is the most technical of the three, on rock and ice close to the Everest Base Camp trail, and it rewards people who already enjoy using their hands.

Many climbers do two in one season, or combine a peak with Base Camp. All three are climbed only through an NMA-registered agency with a licensed climbing guide.

Sources: Nepal Mountaineering Association, service charges for foreign climbers; Wikipedia, “Mera Peak” and “Island Peak”; Travel Himalaya Nepal expedition operations.

Cover photo: Nabin K. Sapkota via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).