I’ve had a pretty good run over the last 1.5 years. With a nonstop hiking and climbing schedule, I managed to avoid any major injuries or disruptions. However, after surviving the Karakoram and the Himalayas and even spending some time in the death zone, my luck ran out. My first hike back in Australia was …
THE WEEKLY
After five months of nonstop expeditions in Pakistan and Nepal, the year of climbing was finally coming to a close. While the adventures have been awesome, five months of living in a tent take its toll on you. After finishing the Ama Dablam climb, we decided to trek out to Lukla over three days and …
After a rest down at basecamp, it was time to return for our summit push. Just like our acclimatization, there are multiple strategies to ascend to the summit. The most common strategy is to sleep at Camp One and then Sleep at Camp Two (briefly) before pushing off around midnight to shoot for the summit. …
Island Peak, locally known as Imja Tse, offers a tough challenge and incredible views of the Himalayas. At 6,189m, it is a tough test for many mountaineers and trekkers at such high altitudes. The peak is found in the Chukkung Valley and despite it’s height, the peak seems quite small while surrounded by the huge …
There are many different ways to acclimatize for Ama Dablam (6,812m). Some people trek in, some make several journeys up to the lower camps and some don’t bother to acclimatize at all. Our plan was to sleep one night at Camp One and spend another up at Camp Two. We had previously been up on …
The Ama Dablam adventure kicked off with the trek to basecamp. Our Journey began at Kathmandu airport where we boarded a flight on a rickety old plane taking off in the direction of the infamous Lukla Airport. Flying out of the busy and colorful Kathmandu was the last time we would see city civilization for …
Climbing an 8000m peak and trekking out 80km afterward can take a toll on the body. However, despite the physical effort required on this journey, it was actually my mind that needed a rest after this journey. Throughout the trip, we dealt with some less than ideal working conditions and some leadership that was detrimental …
Two days before our summit push, we heard some interesting news from our expedition leader. We wouldn’t be taking a helicopter out from base camp as the rest of our team. Instead, we would be hiking out down to the road with a caravan of donkeys. This was news to us and not something we …
A couple of days at basecamp to sit idle served us well. Clouds, rain, and snow passed through intermittently until our summit window appeared and we were told to pack and get ready for our Manaslu summit push. Our plan was to sleep at Camp 1, Camp 3, and Camp 4 and then come all …
After our training day in the snow, we sat it out and waited at base camp for the first window to make our first rotation up to the higher camps. Despite some heavy snow forecast we packed up our gear and decided to head up to Camp 1. Sickness had struck two of our team …
After a few slow days in Samagaun, it was time to make the trek up to base camp. Located at 4,800m above sea level, Manaslu Base Camp would be our home for the next month. The porter team had already set up the extensive camp and would carry most of our duffels and gear while …
It was four long months ago in May when I trekked the Manaslu Circuit. It took us seven days to reach the Tibetan town of Samagaun as we rose up along the trail from 900m to 3500m. At that time as I trekked along the circuit, I had no idea I would be back four …