Trip Reports

Mera Peak spring 2024 - Leader Report

Summit of Mera Peak spring 2024
Trip Report

Written by Team Member Andrew Chapman (Andy), May 2024

The Jagged Globe Mera Peak expedition comprising Dale, Kevin, Jerome, Tom, David, Chris, Dorian, Lorna, Blake and myself met in Kathmandu on 20 April. We were introduced to our Sherpa team; our Sirdar was the very experienced Geljin Sherpa, who was supported by Furbar Tsring and Temba Sherpa. In additon to our climbing Sherpas the fabulous Nabin and his assistants were likely the best cook team I have ever had in Nepal. Finally, we met our friendly porters in Lukla.  

Early the next morning we departed for Ramechhap from where we were to fly to Lukla. Unfortunately due to high winds and despite our bags being on the plane, we were unable to fly that day and had to stay overnight in a local lodge, tasting Dal Bhat for the first time on the trip.

The next day dawned bright and we flew to Lukla where we met our Nepalese staff and started our trek towards Mera via the Pangkoma La route to nashing dingma and on to Panch Pokari. Geljin organised a Puja on the way, blessing the mountain and our safety. At Panch Pokari we had a rest day. This was a chance to check crampons and mountain boots and some of the climbing equipment. We trekked on, descending into the Hinku Valley towards Tagnag, where we turned right, arriving at Khare at the base of the Mera La glacier.

Since my first trip to Mera Peak some 30 years ago there's been a dramatic change in the state of the glacier, which is now much reduced. We had a rest day at Khare and then crossed the Mera La for one night's camp. Studying the weather reports it looked like Saturday 5 May was the best summit day. As the group were in good condition we headed from our Mera La camp to High Camp, arriving in three hours.

After about 12 hours of rest at 1am we got up and at 2am started our ascent roped together towards the summit. I think it was around -15 celcius as we left camp. Down jackets and down mitts were the order of the day.

The first rope teams arrived on the summit at 6.45 a.m and experienced some fantastic views. All nine climbers, plus myself and three Sherpas had got to the top by 8:30am - a superb effort. We descended to high camp where our superb kitchen team had prepared food and drink for us. After some recovery we continued to descend off the glacier. It was a long day, but we were very lucky with the weather as we hit freezing fog towards the end of the day.

Incredibly we were one day ahead of schedule, but the weather forecast for the next week didn't look that great so the group decided to descend to Khote for some food and a lower altitude, helping us to recover.

Early the next morning our Sirdar Geljin pointed out that there had been huge flight delays at Lukla Airport. From our location we had the option of trekking through what is known as the 'bamboo forest' or as I would like to call it the “where monkeys dare path”. The route takes a jungle path where you can see monkeys and it also has a few sections requiring care. A chain as a hand rail was in place at one point.

It took two days to walk out to Pangkoma where we had jeeps meet us for the drive to Phaplu and then on to Kathmandu . The Jeep journey was spectacular. The highly skilled drivers took us to Phaplu and from there we transferred into a private bus which was sent to meet us from Kathmandu. 

We arrived back in Kathmandu in good order and had a couple of relaxing before flying home. All in all this was a very successful expedition. All members of this friendly and capable team managed to summit Mera thanks to excellent weather on the walk-in and superb support from our  Nepalese staff. I think this was probably the best Mera peak trip I have done to date.

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