Island (Imja Tse) Peak 6191m climbing
Island (Imja Tse) peak is common and easy, and it offers fascinating peak climbing in the Everest region. Island Peak climbing can be combined with Everest Base Camp and Gokyo Lake with the Cholapass trek. The ascent of the peak is technically not hard; however, heavy snow and the labyrinth of crevasses can make the journey longer to the summit. So, it demands enough mountaineering technical experience to scale the peak.
Approach: The trek starts from Kathmandu with a drive up to Jiri and a trek to Lukla at 2800m. This is a good way to begin as it helps develop physical fitness and acclimatization. However, most trekkers (Climbers) take a flight to Lukla and start trekking following the Dudh Khola through the pine forests of Sagarmatha National Park.
Our base camp is set up at (5,087m), between Imja Tse and the lateral moraine of the Imja Glacier.
The climbing route is a steep grassy slope and small rocky steps up to 5500m, where we set up our high camp. From here we climb again on a rock at first, then cross a glacier, with crevasses, to reach a final steep ascent to the summit. Before arriving at the summit we have little difficulty due to steep climbing. In recent times the snow slopes below the summit have developed some large crevasses making the final ascent to the top difficult. Ropes are fixed for the final summit climb.
