This is a high summit climb which does not properly belong here; however, the ice pitches come in the very beginning of the route and can be done as an ice climb on its own right without following the Standard route to the summit. In this case the climb could be comfortably done in a day from a lodge in Lobuche without porter support. I'm including this climb here to show the range of ice climbing possibilities in the region. Note that the climb is located at the altitude of ~5500m, therefore acclimatization requirements are much higher than for ice climbs in other areas.
East Face Couloir, WI4+, 200m (FA Jeff Lowe and Henry Kendall, spring 1986).
From Lobuche, ascend the grassy morain ridge immediately above the village. Once at the top of the ridge, follow a path leading down and right and then climbing up into the cirque under the East Face of Lobuche (optional bivuac spots for a summit climb). From the bottom of the cirque, ascend tallus and scree slopes towards the prominent couloir. Deepening snow in the couloir leads to the base of the climb, ~3 hrs from Lobuche. The couloir is so narrow that the ice in it is very hard to see from afar; don't worry - climb up the couloir and the ice will be there.
Climb two pitches of steep ice (the first being the crux), followed by a low-angle ice pitch. Further on, the main gully appeared to us to be devoid of ice, and we chose to climb a steep snow couloir on the left side of the main gully (a few pieces of rock gear were used for protection) which put us on top of a subsidiary of the main South ridge. From there, an unroped traverse led to the main ridge and the standard route at ~5600m, near some flat spots on the ridge where a high camp for a summit climb is sometimes set up.
Misha Tselman leading the 1st pitch
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Descent can be done on foot via the standard route. Note that there are two basecamps for the Standard route on Lobuche: the western one described in "Trekking peaks of Nepal" and reached via the trekking trail to Dzonglha and and the eastern located closer to Lobuche village (see map). You need to descend to this latter (eastern) basecamp. From there, a path leads over a moraine ridge back to Lobuche.
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