OurTilicho Peak Climbing Services

In the Base Camp:Snowy Horizon Treks & Expedition provides very professional, helpful and friendly service from Kathmandu to the ABC and during the climb. Our objective is to provide a high quality, helpful, safe, friendly, stress free and comprehensive service to maximize summit opportunity. We offer wide range of services from Base Camp logistics to fully guided climbs with individual climbing Sherpas helping their clients to realise the summit.
High elevation climbing requires not only a set of climbing skills and high fitness level but also the ability to cope with high elevation conditions affecting one ability to function to the extend possible at sea level, where most of climbers are living.
Our philosophy is to support climbers with the skill and high altitude genetic adaptation ability of a Climbing Sherpa, who was born and grew up at high elevation as did his predecessors.
Tilicho Peak requires set-up of 2 high camps, where the gear, food and fuel has to be carried up. No matter how physically strong and fit one is at the sea level, at high elevation one physical efficiency drops considerably so the team of Climbing Sherpas pooled from all clients will set-up the route and allow you to summit.
Having personal Climbing Sherpa eliminates arbitrage of the ‘Leader’ to decide who will get limited climbing support on the summit day. In the emergency situation the classic expedition Leader has responsibility for a number of people including themselves with impaired physical abilities due to high altitude, while Climbing Sherpa has only responsibility for his own client and with high physical abilities at high elevation due to natural genetic predisposition and all in cooperation of other expedition Climbing Sherpas. Our Climbing Sherpas are highly trained and experienced climbers doing high elevation climbs in Nepal and Tibet season after season.
We believe that our philosophy of an expedition with the Basecamp Leader-Coordinator and the team of Climbing Sherpas assigned to individual climbers is by far the most efficient and safest way to achieve high elevation summit.
In the Base camp our cooks and helpers will prepare and serve three delicious freshly cooked and plentiful meals a day and will ensure that hot and cold drinks are available 24hrs a day. In the Base Camp we provide spacious expedition quality personal tents for all our clients both with full board and base-camp service only. In the base camp we also provide dining tent, kitchen tent, toilet facilities and portable shower facilities and tent accommodation for our staff.
In the Base Camp we provide access to communication including satellite telephone and internet access, solar panels to charge your batteries and UHF/VHF hand held radios on the mountain to maintain communications between ABC and high camps.
Our Leader and camp manager as well as climbing Sherpas have an extensive experience of multiple climbs above 7000m, so whether you use our full board service or Base camp services you can expect a good advise and support. They also know personally most of other Climbing Sherpas and network together in the Base camp regardless of the operator they work for. Tilicho logistically is a very easy peak and it is suitable even for a small climbing team.

Full Board:For full board clients, who would be less experienced climbers or single climbers requiring a climbing buddy, we provide personal tent and food at high camps with the climbing Sherpa, who will prepare appropriate meals. We provide a personal Climbing Sherpa guide to help the clients to reach the summit. Personal climbing Sherpa will set up high camps including provision of food and fuel and will guide and assist the client on the summit day and if required will set-up fixed rope to ensure the safety. We provide the climbing Sherpa with appropriate radio communication to Base Camp from the climbing route. Our Climbing Sherpas will network, cooperate and work with other clients Climbing Sherpas on the route to ensure safety of his client as well al overall expedition team.
After arriving to the Base camp (4800m) we will take a day or so of acclimatizing rest and preparations including snow practice so that we all develop common understanding and refresh our basic climbing and rescue techniques and develop our climbing protocol. Our climb protocol follows standard high elevation principles of acclimatization and progressively building higher camps.
The standard route begins at the Base Camp (4800m) located at the foot of Tilicho Peak towering 2300m above on the shore of spectacular Lake Tilicho, which will be our water source. The water must be either filtered or purified by iodine tablets or boiling.
The climb is very straightforward. From the Base Camp we do our first scouting acclimatization climb to Camp 1 (5800m) located on a shelf below the Northwest shoulder along on 50deg mixed rock and ice 590m route with some gear for camp 1. We will return to Base Camp for acclimatization rest. During the second climb we bring the remaining gear and set-up Camp 1, where we stay overnight. The following day we move along 55deg/700m snowfield to Camp 2 (6200m) located on the shoulder and stay there overnight. Depending on the conditions this will be our first opportunity to attempt the summit. We will return to the Base Camp to recover and reinforce our acclimatization.
Our third round will be a true summit push. We climb to Camp 1, Camp 2 and push for the summit along the Northwest shoulder up a 55deg 800m snowfield with a low objective danger and very low exposure due to very wide shoulder.
Our program allows 17 days for the climbing period to account for weather and individual physical condition and strength. It gives us plenty of opportunities to carry supplies to camp 1 and 2 and few opportunities of summit push.

Approaches to ABC

From Besi Sahar via Marsyangdi Valley
This is a standard access to the Base Camp. It starts from Besi Sahar, where we drive from Kathmandu and follows Marsyangdi valley with 10 day trek affording an excellent acclimatization opportunity. The access trek is a part of world renown trek around Annapurna. It is stunningly beautiful and affords phenomenal cultural experience of Buddhist and Hindu cultures.
We will follow a standard Annapurna circuit trek to Manang, where we turn off to Tilicho lake. On the way back we will return to the Annapurna circuit and will follow it via Thorong La pass (5416m) to Jomsom, from where we fly out to Pokhara. On the way we will pass through interesting Buddhist villages with very Tibetan flavour.
From Beni Bazaar via Kali Gandaki Valley
This route follows Kali Gandaki Valley, the deepest valley on earth but it is not a standard route because it requires negotiating logistically a very difficult Mesokanto Pass (5300m).

Climbing Routes

Normal Route – Northwest shoulder
The Northwest Shoulder of Tilicho is a straightforward climb, mainly on snow fields up to 55deg. It has very little objective danger because the entire route is very well protected by a wide shoulder. Most of the route is on a snow field with bottom section potentially on a mix of rock and ice.We establish the Base Camp at 4800m on a shore of a beautiful Lake Tilicho.
Camp 1 (5800m) is located on a shelf below the Northwest shoulder accessed by a gradual climb on snow field from the Base Camp and gaining 300m over 1.5km followed by 50deg 690m route of mixed rock and ice.
Camp 2 (6200m) is located on the broad Northwest shoulder accessed from Camp 1 by 55deg 400m snow route. Summit is accessible from Camp 2 by 55deg 900m snowfield route along broad well protected Northwest shoulder.