Mountain·Nepal

Machhapuchhre

6,993m

Annapurna

Gerd Eichmann · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Elevation: 6,993m
Prominence: 1,233m
Relief: 3,838mabove the lowest point within 5 km
Steepest slope: 70°within 1 km of the summit
Snow at the summit: All yearSee month by month ↓
Summit: 28.4969°N, 83.9464°E

Mountain

Machhapuchhre is a mountain in the Annapurna (Nepal). Its summit stands 6,993 m above sea level. Its prominence — how far it rises above the highest saddle linking it to a taller summit — is 1,233 m.

From the lowest point within 5 km (3,155 m), it rises 3,838 m. The steepest side is the north-west face: 58° on average over the first kilometre. In places the ground near the top reaches 70° — terrain for climbers, not walkers.

Machhapuchhre for skiers and climbers

Two scores out of 10, built only from open data — every part is shown. They describe what the mountain offers, not how safe it is.

Hiking & mountaineering

5.0/10

Difficulty to the top

Expedition

Above 6,500 m: an expedition peak (altitude, logistics, often permits). Glaciers around the top.

Indicative only — never a safety assessment. Conditions change: ask local guides and check the forecast.

1.1/2.53 waymarked routes and 6 path sections nearby
0.2/1.51 huts and shelters
2.0/23,838 m of ascent from the valley
1.3/1.51,233 m of prominence
0.0/1.50 months with summit afternoons above −5 °C
0.3/1via ferratas, climbing and glaciers

Ski score

—

No ski runs within 12 km in OpenStreetMap.

How these scores are made

Ski (where OpenStreetMap has skiing within 12 km): up to 4 points for the length of downhill runs (300 km or more = 4), 1.5 for the number of lifts (40+), 1.5 for the vertical between lift stations (1,500 m) and 3 for the snow season — a month counts when the estimated mean temperature at the height of the ski area is −1 °C or lower and snow falls or lies there (NASA POWER, 2001–2020). Hiking & mountaineering: up to 2.5 for waymarked routes and paths, 1.5 for huts, 2 for the ascent from the valley (2,000 m), 1.5 for prominence (3,000 m), 1.5 for the season (months with summit afternoons above −5 °C) and 1 for via ferratas, climbing and glaciers. OpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: where few things are mapped, a score can be lower than reality.

Plan your visit

Stay, climb and get there

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Snow

When there is snow on Machhapuchhre

At the summit, snow all year round. Month by month below, at different heights on the way up.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Summit6,993 msnow all year round	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month
Halfway up5,074 msnow all year round	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month
Foot of the mountain3,155 moccasional snow from January to February	Snow some of the time	Snow some of the time	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow

Snow on the ground all month
Snow some of the time
No snow
This month

Estimate for a normal year: average temperature and precipitation from NASA POWER, carried to each height, in a simple model of snow building up and melting. In a given year snow can come earlier or stay longer. It does not replace the local snow and avalanche bulletin.

Summit weather

Machhapuchhre, month by month

Not a forecast: long-term averages (1991–2020), carried up to the summit. The orange line is where an average afternoon reaches 0 °C; above the dashed blue line it freezes even at dawn.

On an average June afternoon the summit reaches about -7 °C; on January nights it falls to about -31 °C. Even in the warmest month the summit stays below freezing all day: ice and snow all year round. Even at its highest, in June, the 0 °C line reaches only about 5,890 m: 1,103 m below the summit. Across the region, November is the driest month (3 mm) and July the wettest (358 mm).

0 °C on an average afternoon 0 °C at dawn the summit

Month	Summit high °C	Summit low °C	0 °C line (m)	Rain & snow (mm)	Wet days	Sun h/day
January	-20	-31	3,900	16	2	7.0
February	-18	-30	4,210	23	3	6.8
March	-14	-28	4,780	30	4	7.6
April	-11	-23	5,370	42	5	7.8
May	-8	-20	5,700	103	11	7.3
June	-7	-16	5,890	218	18	6.2
July	-8	-15	5,770	358	25	3.8
August	-8	-15	5,690	264	23	4.6
September	-10	-17	5,500	190	16	5.8
October	-13	-22	5,010	63	6	7.9
November	-16	-26	4,600	3	1	7.9
December	-18	-29	4,200	6	1	7.9

Estimate: the NASA POWER climate of a ~55 km cell (average height 3,042 m), adjusted to the summit by −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Rain, wet days and sunshine are those of the region. Mountain weather changes fast — always check a local forecast. ★ = mildest months at the top.

Relief

The mountain in profile

Two cuts through the summit, 16 km long, from the 30 m Copernicus elevation model. True scale: no vertical exaggeration.

West – east

South – north

Steepness by direction

Average slope of the first kilometre from the summit. The orange petal is the steepest side.

Around the mountain

Huts, lifts and trails around Machhapuchhre

Counted around the summit in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. The satellite plate shows 14 × 14 km.

Machhapuchhre seen from above (Sentinel-2)

N 5 km

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 14 × 14 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

1mountain huts and shelters
Greenland guest house and restaurant
—cable cars, gondolas, chairlifts and rack railways
—ski areas
3waymarked hiking routes
Annapurna Base Camp Trek, Mardi Himal trek, Mardi Himal Base Camp Trail
—via ferratas
—climbing crags and routes
1named glaciers
South Annapurna Glacier
35viewpoints
Mardi Himal Base Camp (lower), Lower Viewpoint, Upper Viewpoint and 32 more
7campsites
Mardi Himal Base Camp West, Mardi Himal B.C. East and 5 more
54hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Shangrila Guest House and Restaurant, Gurung Co-Operative Guest House and Restaurant, New Panorama, Himalaya Guesthouse and 50 more
8restaurants and cafés

How hard are the paths?

6 path sections within 5 km, by SAC hiking scale (T1 easy walk … T6 difficult alpine).

T2T4T5

T2 mountain hiking
T4 alpine hiking
T5 demanding alpine hiking

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OpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: a low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. Places © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

Photos

Seen by climbers and visitors

A different view of Mt. Machhapuchhre — Neyox · CC BY-SA 4.0

Closeup Machhapuchhre (Mt. Fishtail) — Saroj Pandey · CC BY-SA 3.0

Recent years

How each month compared at the summit

Afternoon high at the summit (estimate). The first row is the reference, the 1991–2020 average in °C; the years show only the difference.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
1991–2020 average	-20	-18	-14	-11	-8	-7	-8	-8	-10	-13	-16	-18
2020	−2.6	−1.5	−2.6	−3.4	−3.1	−2.0	−0.9	+0.4	+0.9	+1.6	−0.7	+0.3
2021	+2.3	+1.0	+0.6	−0.9	−2.3	−1.8	−0.5	−0.5	−0.2	+1.4	+0.2	−2.0
2022	−1.7	−3.2	+1.7	+0.6	−2.1	−1.1	−0.3	+0.3	−0.2	−0.7	+0.2	+0.8
2023	+0.5	+1.9	−1.9	−2.3	−2.6	−0.1	±0.0	±0.0	+0.8	−0.3	−0.2	+0.2
2024	−0.8	−1.6	−0.5	+1.0	±0.0	+0.7	+0.2	+0.2	+0.8	+1.4	+0.3	−0.1
2025	+2.8	+0.5	+0.9	−0.2	−1.6	−0.7	+0.3	−0.1	+0.1	+0.2	+0.4	+2.3

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

Nearby

More mountains nearby

7,219 mAnnapurna South

Nepal14 km away

About these numbers

Names, elevation, prominence	Wikidata (Q1051394) · CC0
Relief, 3D view, profiles	Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Climate	NASA POWER, 1991–2020 · CC BY 4.0
Around the mountain	© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Images	EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

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