Island Peak (Imja Tse) — 2012 (Part 2)

Part 1 here.

As our trek progressed it became colder and colder, then colder! It also snowed and we had days where we couldn’t see the sun through the clouds. Where we could, we played hacky sack to keep warm and in the evening we played cards to help take our minds off the cold.

At this point we had been trekking for 5 days. We were moving through Mong-La (3973m) to Machermo (4400m), and then the plan was to go up to Gokya and proceed across Cho-la Pass, which everyone was raving about. Unfortunately, one of our team got a severe headache and it was dangerous for her to climb anymore. The only solution was to descend. Severe headaches are a symptom of High Altitude Cerebral Oedama (HACE) which could be fatal for her if she did not descend. We walked down to Phorse (3800m) for the night, and the next day set out for Pangboche (3986m).

The trek was only 4 hours long, but it was a steep uphill climb. It was not very hard and I would have preferred to go straight to Pheriche (4200m) but we decided to stay the night here so that the whole team could get some rest. The route was mostly along the side of the mountain with fantastic views of Ama Dablam. This would be a peak I would definitely come back to. It’s such an amazing looking peak with a very characteristic shape. I had a hot shower today! And we had dhal, rice and Buff (Buffalo) meat curry today for lunch — that was quite yum!

One week down to go — two more weeks to go! So far I have not found it madly tiring especially when compared to the HMI course. Next up is the hard part - the trek is supposed to be tough and windy and we gain about 530m (for proper acclimatization you should never climb more than 500m per day). So there was a possible chance of all of us getting AMS again. I was a bit nervous at this point but hoping for the best!

On day 9 we set out for Lobuche (4950m) which took us about 6 hours. For most parts of the journey we walked through the valley, and then the route was a steep uphill climb via very rocky terrain. We walked passed the memorial for the dead — which was a section which had a lot of piled up rocks. We also passed the Lobuche Base Camp, which had lots of tents. Lobuche Peak is 6500 meters.

The next 5 days took us through Lobuche to Gorakshep and Kalapattar on acclimatization treks.

One of the most memorable days began in blistering snow white surroundings, as it had snowed all night. The beginning of the trek was gradually uphill and then we hiked up and down several mountains. The path was full of scree (small rocks), and covered in snow. On our way we saw Pumori Peak (6,700m) which was beautiful as it was a nice sunny day. We kept hiking and then we had an amazing view of Lhotse Peak (8,500m). We continued the trek and then we finally came parallel to the famous Khumbu Glacier. It was amazing to be able to see this! The Khumbu Glacier had a lot of ice caves and it ended up at the Khumbu Icefall, that we could see miles away with all the tents at Everest Base Camp.

Our trek to Gorakshep (5,146m) took us three hours from Lobuche. From Gorakshep to Kalapattar it took us about 2 hours. But by the time we were almost at the Summit of Kalapattar Peak (5,550m) it started snowing and the view of Everest that we would have had had disappeared. So we decided to turn back and head down.

Each day the treks varied — some days were longer, some shorter, tougher, windier, some with greater altitude gains but we were surrounded by the Himalayas and when the sun was out with the views on offer I was, quite frankly, in heaven.