Trip Facts

Overview

Dhaulagiri, a highly desirable and fascinating peak to climb, is the 6th highest peak in Nepal and the 7th highest peak of the world. It is located at the northwest corridor of Magdi District. It is one of the above 8000 meters peaks that lie entirely in Nepal. The word Dhaulagiri is derived from two Sanskrit words Dhawala and Giri which means “White Mountain”.

Mt. Dhaulagiri presents an extraordinary piece of climbing, a very demanding and daunting challenge. The views from the top affords a fantastic view of adjacent Dhaulgairi peaks, Annapurna, Macchapuchre, Manaslu and the Kali Gandaki valley including the deepest gorge in the world. 34 kilometres east from Dhaulagiri I, Annapurna I is located and in between these two peaks there exists a gorge known as Kaligandaki Gorge, which is the deepest gorge in the world. Kaligandaki River flows into this gorge.

Dhaulagiri region remained largely unknown till a Swiss aerial survey occurred in 1949. The French Annapurna expedition team was granted permission in 1950 to climb either Annapurna or Dhaulagiri, but they decided to climb Annapurna at that time. The first successful ascent of Dhaulagiri Mountain was made on 13th May, 1960 by eight members of a Swiss/Austrian expedition team led by Kurt Diemberger including Peter Diener, Ernst Forrer, Albin Schelbert, Nyima Dorji and Nawang Dorji. Before the first successful summit of Dhaulagiri in 1960, four other expedition teams were unable to keep their foot on the top.

Dhaulagiri expedition requires about four weeks of time including 7-10 days trekking reaching Base Camp located at an altitude of 4748 m. The first camp is located at 5850 meters, second camp is at 6400 meters and third camp is at 7400 meters. Multiple routes are available to scale Dhaulagiri Mountain. However, climbing Dhaulagiri via the North East Ridge is considered as a standard route. It consists of three High Camps above the Base Camp. It is one of the difficult and technical mountains that require special climbing/mountaineering skills. Because of it, only veteran mountaineers keep their eyes on Dhaulagiri Mountain. There are two routes to begin your journey to Base Camp. You can either drive to Marpha and start trekking from there or drive to Darbang from west and start trekking from there. The latter one is more common and popular as it takes few more days which is good for acclimatization. The time duration to complete Dhaulagiri expedition is about 7 weeks for both routes from your arrival to departure.

Nepal Environmental Treks & Expedition commits to provide professional services for Dhaulagiri expedition. We are also flexible to customize the itinerary according to climber’s requirements. If you are in search of reliable, trustworthy, experienced and highly capable agency, you are at the right place to inquire.