Australia has some great hikes but isn’t known for its mountains or alpine hiking regions. However, there is a beautiful alpine hiking trail that reaches Australia’s highest peak, Mount Kosciuszko aswell as the nine next highest peaks in the country along the way. It’s known as the 10 Peaks Hike or the Aussie 10. It’s …
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 …
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 its height, the peak seems quite small when surrounded by the huge …
Ama Dablam Mountain in Nepal stands at 6,813m and is known as the ‘mountaineers mountain’ due to its technical nature and difficult terrain. Many mountaineers come from all over the world to test their technical ability amidst the high altitude of the Himalayas. Despite its technical nature, Ama Dablam is a relatively safe expedition compared …
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 …