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Mountain Madness
Island Peak with Mountain Madness

Beauty on Island Peak

Long-time Moun­tain Mad­ness client, Tracey B. recent­ly embarked on a won­der­ful adven­ture to Nepal’s Island Peak, which is locat­ed below the immense south face of Lhotse. After group intro­duc­tions and an ori­en­ta­tion in Kath­man­du, the group head­ed to Luk­la, the trail­head for the Mt. Ever­est Base Camp trek.

Unbe­liev­able Beau­ty. Tul Singh Gurung photo

After a cou­ple of days of trekking through the low­lands the team arrived at Nam­che Bazaar, the largest out­post on the trek to Ever­est. After two days in Nam­che, includ­ing an acclima­ti­za­tion hike to the Mt. Ever­est Hotel the team hit the trail again. On Day 6 they arrived in Ding­boche and got com­fort­able for a cou­ple days to assist once more in acclimitization. 

Near­ing the Sum­mit. Tul Singh Gurung photo

On Day 8, Tracey and MM Guide Tul Singh (Tul­si) Gurung sep­a­rat­ed from the group to begin their climb toward Island Peak. First stop on the way was the trek to the false sum­mit of Chhukung Ri. This trek again helps with acclimi­ti­za­tion and offers amaz­ing views of the sur­round­ing Himalaya. After lunch Tracey and Tul­si head­ed to Island Peak Base Camp at an ele­va­tion of 16,564 ft. It took 3 hours to set up camp, eat and get ready for bed but when it was time to close their eyes, they were both ready.

Sum­mit of Island Peak. Tul Singh Gurung photo

The next morn­ing they arose to a cloud­less blue sky. They spent most of the morn­ing train­ing and mak­ing their plans for sum­mit day. In the after­noon, they packed up camp and head­ed toward High Camp on Island Peak at 17,712ft. Day 11 brought an ear­ly 3:00am wake-up call and the promise of a beau­ti­ful day. By 7:30am they were stand­ing on the Sum­mit of Island Peak, nes­tled amongst the tow­er­ing neigh­bor­ing peaks. It was a blue­bird day with bare­ly a cloud in the sky and the con­trast of snow to sky was abso­lut­ley stunning. 

Tracey on the Sum­mit . Tul Singh Gurung photo

They head­ed down a short while after and refu­eld with noo­dles and snacks at High Camp. They made good time head­ing down and with­in three days found them­selves back in Kath­man­du. All in all, the trip only took 18 days and yet accom­plished so much.