Island Peak

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After the previous couple of weeks, Island Peak was pretty straightforward.

True, summit day itself was a bit of an epic (we started at around 1:30 in the morning and didn't finish until about 4 in the afternoon) but I have no tales of frost bite, -40 degree windchill or nasty toilet experiences to recount.

Indeed, I actually got a few hours sleep the evening before the summit bid - thanks mainly to the fact that our camp site (5,100 metres ish) was about 700 metres lower than the camp on Mera Peak and therefore considerably warmer.

The climb itself was unremarkable at first: About 3 hours of trudging up a rocky path followed by some easy angled snow. Then, however, it started to get more interesting with a 600 metre climb up to the summit ridge that ranged from about 45 degrees to probably 75 degrees at the very top.

Whilst not overly difficult, the altitude really started to tell with me having to stop seemingly every metre to gasp for breath.

Upon reaching the summit ridge all that remained was a fairly simple walk up the ridge (maybe 30 degrees or so) to the summit itself.

Thankfully, I was given the chance to lead the steep section up to the summit ridge and then the walk along the ridge to the summit itself. Never looking behind me it felt like I was the only person in the world, alone on the roof of the world. It was a fabulous feeling.

The views from this mountain are fabulous.

To the North you have the massive South Face of Lhotse towering above you, whilst everywhere else you look the mountains all seem to be below you. This was one of those moments that I had dreamed of for a long time, having seen lots of photos and videos taken from that summit ridge.

Now for a quick word on my companions for this particular part of the trek.

In order to make the ascent cheaper, I joined up with a group under the leadership of a Nepalese company called Equator Expeditions. So, on summit day, there was 9 tourists on the summit amongst them some really interesting characters:

- Karen, an American woman who fights wilderness fires in Alaska for 6 months of the year whilst travelling for the remaining 6 months

- Dan, an aussie guy who is a doctor by profession but an ultra runner at heart - compared to the introductory ultras I have dabbled in, this guy had done some serious stuff!

- Two American guys who are professional cyclists for the Garmin-Cervelo team - currently the level below the guys competing in the Tour de France but with one of them fully expecting to be part of the main squad in a couple of years' time, and also targetting the 2016 olympic games.

Overall the climb was a fantastic experience that I would recommend to anyone - a word of warning, however, not to underestimate the physical challenge of climbing the 1,000 metres from 5,100 metres to 6,100 metres on summit day!

One of the Americans has put together a short video of our experiences on summit day that is well worth a watch if you have a spare 5 minutes:

P.S. The sound is essential.

P.P.S. On the first frame of the video, Island Peak is the mountain immediately to the left of the moon.



www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ng3gvE1g3Y&feature=youtu.be

As ever, scroll down for more photos.

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