Island Peak

Tags: Alpinism, Asia, Extreme Altitude, Mountains, Nepal

After a successful climb of Lobuje East (6.119m), the majority chose to go down to lower altitude in Pheriche (4240 m) to rest and recover before the climb of Island Peak.

I chose to use these two days off to make an attempt to reach Everest Base Camp. But when the second day I started on my way from Gorak Shep to Base Camp, the weather changed. After 2-3 hours of hiking the blizzard was so bad that I decided to turn back. It was a nightmare to find the way back because of low visibility and snow covered trail, but I finally reached back to Gorak Shep again. I actually ended up getting a cold of all this. Next day the weather was good again, but I had to go down to Dingboche to meet the others, and thus could not make any new attempt to reach Everest Base Camp.

When I met the others in Dingboche, I learned that the helicopter had shuttled between Everest Base Camp and the hospital in Pheriche. Eight people had been treated for HAPE and HACE, which is a life-threatening conditions of altitude sickness. Yet another reminder of how dangerous this is. We had the experience of losing one of our port a week earlier. All of this affected us to a greater or lesser extent, and this might be part of the reason why only half of us eventually reached the summit of Island Peak. We became more aware of our health in the high altitude, and took no unnecessary chances. Several of us were also weakened because of chest infections and other issues.

Here are 14 photos, each of them with a full descriptions from the climb:

Photo Album