Trekking through the Khumbu: Day 15-17 Chukkung to the summit of Island Peak and back

Correction on the last post: Chomrong is not the name of the place that we stayed, it is actually called Chukkung. Chomrong is the name of a village in the Annapurna region where we just were, hence the mistake.

Day 15: Rest day and mountaineering practice at Chukkung
 Today was pretty laid back. We got all our mountaineering gear sorted, fitted our crampons, and ran through some climbing basics for those who didn't have any previous experience (rappelling, using crampons, using an ascender, ice axe etc.). I was still feeling quite sick but I went through the motions. Nothing else noteworthy happened during the day, I just went back to bed to try and recover. Tomorrow we go to base camp located at about 5000m, about a three hour walk from Chukkung.

Day 16: Chukkung to Island Peak base camp
Everyone got up late today and we didn't leave for base camp until around noon. We arrived around 3:00pm to find our camp already set up by the porters and Sherpas. All we had to do was lay down our sleeping bags in our tents and organize our climbing gear for the following morning. We didn't even have to cook for ourselves. Today was the first day we met Dapa-San, our cook for the camping section of our trip. It was pretty deluxe for those of us who are used to doing everything ourselves when camping. Wake-up tomorrow is 12:00am and we are supposed to leave by 1:00am ish. Dinner therefore was at 5pm and everyone went to bed shortly after in order to try and get as much sleep as possible. By this point I was starting to feel a bit better (thank god!) even if I was using the facilities more than most.

Island Peak 6189m (Imja Tse in Nepali)

Our tents at base camp (the orange mountain hardware ones in the foreground)

 Day 17: Summit Day
 Getting up at 12:00am was no problem, it was trying to get to sleep beforehand that had been difficult. When the alarm sounded we got up, dug out all the gear we had slept with the previous night, and dressed as quickly as possible. Dapa-San had porridge and eggs ready which we ate even though I don't think many of us were hungry so early in the morning (if you can call 12am morning). From base camp we set out in the dark with our headlamps lighting the way. It gruelling 4-5 hr march up the rocky and scree covered slopes of the mountain before the sun came out and we reached the glacier and the area known as "crampon-point." Even though most of us were well acclimatized by this point in the trek, the altitude still managed to make things much more difficult than they are at sea level.

Scrambling up the side of Island Peak in the dark

  At "crampon-point" we put on our harnesses, crampons, and tied ourselves to each other before making our way up Island Peak's north facing glacier (I think it was north facing at least).

Crampon-point

Kiersten and the crew walking up from crampon-point

Fortunately no one fell in any crevasses and we crossed the glacier without incident. The next part of our climb was to get up the 160m (or so) head wall before gaining the ridge that would ultimately lead us to the summit. This was done via fixed ropes that the sherpas set up. I was second in line on the ropes behind Guido and we made steady progress towards the summit ridge. There was only one difficult section near the top that required a little finesse to get up, but overall it was pretty easy considering the elevation.

Summit of Island Peak (you can see the section of the headwall that we climbed on the far left)

The main difficulties were over once we were on the summit ridge. From there we just slogged our way up to the summit and took in the views.

Gyaltzen and Nima Sherpa

View from the summit ridge of another party making their way up the glacier

Guido side-stepping up the summit ridge with Lhotse in the background

View down the summit ridge from the summit.

Two more steps and Kiersten was at the top!

 When we finally reached the summit we were greeted by amazing views of the surrounding mountains. We were really lucky because the weather was amazing! Totally clear and calm, not a single breeze in a place that can be extremely windy.

Guido and Kiersten at the summit

Kiersten and I at the summit with Lhotse in the background

Mountain views from the summit

The way back down was easier than going up, especially when it comes to the effort exerted on the headwall. The first pitch of rappelling was kind of funny though. The rope was super thin and I had to hold the thing behind my back to keep myself in control. I made it down fine but was kind of worried for the other people in the group that had very little rappelling experience. However, in the end, with the help of the Sherpas, everyone made it down fine. 

Taking off crampons at crampon point before the way down

View of base camp from above

Kiersten on the walk down

I arrived back at base camp around 3pm or so and was greeted with a warm cup of juice from one of the cooks helpers, which was much appreciated at that point. After that I think I returned to my tent and passed out until dinner. It had turned into a fine day indeed.

Day 18: Base camp to Chukkung
Nothing worth writing about happened today. We walked happily to Chukkung from base camp thinking about the day before. In the end, everyone managed to make it to the summit.  

 We're back from another 20 days of trekking in Nepal. Our original plan was to do the Annapurna Sanctuary trek but after making it to the sanctuary in four days we decided to tack on the whole Annapurna circuit as well. Fortunately the weather held and we made it over the Thorong-La pass the hard way (from Muktinath) without any issues. We took tons of pictures which I will eventually post when I'm finished posting the Khumbu pics.


Trekking through the Khumbu: Day 12-14
Rest day in Loubche then to Gorak Shep and up to Kala Pattar - Then from Goyak Shep to Chomrong

Day 12 - Rest day in Loubche:

Today's rest day was pretty relaxed for Kiersten and I. We went for a small hike up to the nearest glacier and took in the views. We spent most of the remainder of the day hanging out in our guesthouse's sun room which acted as a greenhouse and was actually almost too hot. While the day was pretty good and relaxed, the night was terrible for me. I don't know whether it was something I ate or what exactly happened but I got extremely ill with some sort of bacterial infection and was in the bathroom for most of the night.

Kiersten relaxing on the glacier

Day 13 - Loubche to Kala Pattar:

I didn't really sleep last night and when morning came I ran to the bathroom and spent a good while puking up my dinner from the night before. Things where not looking good and if anything I was more sick that morning then I was the night before. Because the plan was to head up to around 5500m that day, Luke thought it was best if I intsead went down to Dingbouche (a 3hr hike downhill) to recover while the rest of the group (including Kiersten) went on to Gorak Shep and Kala Pattar. Needless to say I was disappointed but I really wasn't in any shape to complain. I was escorted down to Dingbouche by Mr. Nima Sherpa who would wasn't the least bit fazed by my illness. He would even hold my chest every time I stopped by the side of the trail to puke. Upon arrival to Dingbouche (the hardest day of hiking for me so far) I immediately went to bed and only got up to use the bathroom. It wasn't the most memorable of days.

Kiersten on the other hand did have a very memorable day. She and the group went to Gorak Shep, the last village before Everest base camp, and immediately headed up to Kala Pattar, a view point that gives probably the best views possible of Everest. They had a beautiful clear day of amazing views while I was probably languishing in a bathroom. I can't really speak about Kala Pattar from experience so I will let the photo's Kiersten took do the talking.

View from Kala Pattar of Everest (black triangle in the middle), Lhotse and surrounding mountains. Base camp is near the left by the glacier

View on the hike to Kala Pattar

Everest!

Kala Pattar

More Everest action!

Khumbu horse battle

Horse face

Gorak Shep at sunset

Gorak Shep

Day 14 - Gorak Shep to Chomrong 

Today Kiersten and the rest of the crew made the journey from Gorak Shep to Chomrong, the last village we would stay at before heading to Island Peak base camp. I woke up in Dingbouche feeling slightly better and insisted to Nima that I wanted to go to Chomrong and meet up with the rest of the crew. My hike was substantially shorter than the rest of the groups but it proved quite hard for me and I discovered I was still not very well. However, I did manage not to puke (not that there was anything in my stomach to puke up), which was one good thing I guess. Again I went straight to bed upon arrival in Chomrong. When the rest of the group arrived I said a quick hello and then went back to bed until dinner. I managed to eat something small but still ended up spending way to much time in the bathroom that night. Fortunately the next day was a rest day where we would be practising some mountaineering skills so I would have some more time to recover.

Trekking through the Khumbu: Day 9-11 Machermmo to Loubche via the Cho-La pass

Quick note before I continue with the trek: Kiersten and I leave for the Annapurna Sanctuary tomorrow. It should take around 10-days but we might try and find some side trips to do along the way. Because it's just a teahouse trek we won't be using porters or a guide. Keep an eye on the SPOT (see link on sidebar) if you are curious about our current location. Needless to say, I won't post anymore pictures until we get back. 

Day 9 - Machermmo (4470m) to Gokyo (4790) and up to Gokyo-Ri (5360m)
 Today was a fairly big day. We got up early (but not as early as we wanted because the lodge owners didn't want to get up at that time to make us breakfast) in order to make it from Machermmo all the way to the top of Gokyo-Ri before the clouds set in. The trail started out flat before climbing steeply up to 1st lake on the way to Gokyo. The views were amazing and the 3hr hike to Gokyo was very enjoyable.

On our way to the 1st lake

2nd lake

Along the way we found an awesome boulder problem (probably V2ish) but none of us were able to climb it in our hiking boots. Great problem though.

Kiersten

Making our way to 3rd lake

Gokyo village rests on the shores of 3rd lake. We stopped at a lodge briefly for tea and a snack before continuing up to Gokyo-Ri. Clouds were on the move so I tried to get up as fast as the elevation would let me. This was the first time elevation was really noticeable (for me at least) and it was quite apparent that we weren't climbing at sea level. Everything just takes a little more effort and you run out of breath much more easily.

Looking down part way up the Gokyo-Ri trail at Ngozumpa glacier, 3rrd lake, Cholatse and more

The classic panorama from the top of Gokyo-Ri

 I don't remember how long it to get to the top but I managed to get there about 20min before the clouds rolled in blocking our eastern view from the top.

Success for Kiersten!

Looking North-westish from the North end of Gokyo-Ri

North-western perspective off the top

 Even though we got to the top at noon, a bunch of us wanted to see if we could stay at the top until the sunset at 5:30pm. In order to kill time, Luke rounded up a bunch of us in order to construct the largest chortun (no idea how that word is spelt) ever seen on the top of Gokyo-Ri. It was a hard tough task but someone had to do it. Although we did succeed, we became too ambitious and our large pile of rocks came tumbling down. It was very depressing for us all. We should have started concentrating earlier on the structural integrity of the thing. Sarah thought it was because we didn't do a good enough job of filling in "all the little holes."

Right before collapse

Day 10 - Gokyo to Tagnag
Today was a very short day, only an hour or so of walking. All we had to do was cross the glacier east of Gokyo and walk a short distance to Tagnag: the last tiny village before the Cho-La pass. I got up at 7am to eat breakfast with everyone and then just went back to bed until lunch. It felt nice.

Day 11 - Tagnag to Loubche via the Cho-La pass
Got up at 3:45am for a 5:00am start in the dark. It was going to be a long day (but not the longest). Unfortunately we ended up leaving maybe 10min after a bunch of slower groups. Fortunately we had Gyaltzen Sherpa leading the way! He treated the first hour or so like the Tour de France, and we past all the slow groups early. At about 6:45am the sun started to come out and we made it to the top of a little ridge for the first glimpse of the Cho-La. From a distance it looks steep and imposing but the route reveals itself as you get closer.

Our first glimpse of the Cho-La in the distance

The pass

Cho-La (the low point) and Roger with half a face

Feeling the elevation

The climb was tiring, but more so for some than others. I was feeling really good but Kiersten says that it was the hardest day on the whole trek for her, even though Island Peak was longer and higher. She thinks it was because she felt the elevation more that day than any of the others and wasn't fully acclimatised. That being said it was really enjoyable. It was the first day that felt like a real mission, and of course the views were amazing.

Nearing the top

Crossing over the top

 After crossing over the top we walked along a glacier before scrambling down into the valley below. Fortunately it hadn't snowed the day before so there was a well worn path to follow through the glacier. At the end of the glacier we scrambled down some steep rocks below Cholatse, other mountains I can't name, and some beautiful rock walls.

Nearing the end of the glacier.

Looking east from the end of the glacier at Cholatse (among others)

We decided to stop for a break and do some big-wall free soloing. Gyaltzen led the way.

Looking back west, the Cho-La glacier is just out of sight on the far right

Cholatse

On our way down from the Cho-La and before re-entering the Khumbu valley, we had amazing views of Cholatse. It looks like a very stiff climb to say the least.

Gyaltzen contemplating Cholatse. While having summited Everest twice and having 14 total summits (I think, maybe more) in the Himalaya, he has yet to climb this one.

Ama-Dablam? Maybe

It was another hour walk once we reached the Khumbu valley to Loubche. Upon arrival I drank two beers at Canadian prices. It was worth it.