Mountain Trip’s Autumn 2016 Island Peak expedition has all gathered in Kathmandu, Nepal today, to meet each other and their guides before endeavoring to climb one of the Himalaya’s most iconic trekking peaks. A couple members of the expedition will end their trip at Everest Base Camp.
The Island Peak (also known as Imja Tse) summit rises to an impressive 20,305′, with spectacular panoramic views of the highest mountains in the world, including Lhotse and Makalu. The trekkers will also be rewarded with views of the tallest mountain in the world, Mount Everest, once they reach Base Camp at 17,600′, where a couple of the climbers will end their journey. Those continuing on to summit Island Peak will have a one day round-trip climb from their Base Camp, at 16,690′, called Pareshaya Gyab.
Let’s meet the climbers and trekkers!
Island Peak climbers:
Chris Turner, from Australia.
Brian Levendusky, from Pennsylvania, USA.
Ross Jobson, from Colorado, USA.
Kasey Gandy, from Texas, USA.
Jerry Bays, from Texas, USA.
Clint Brewer, from Texas, USA.
Matt Magoffin, from Texas, USA.
Base Camp trekkers:
Terry Turner, from Australia
Corrie Donovan, from Texas, USA.
A large portion of the climbers on this group are firefighters from Texas who have done several expeditions with Mountain Trip in the past, and we’re happy to have them joining us on this climb.
They will be accompanied by Mountain Trip guides Jacob Schmitz, who currently lives in the Netherlands, and Eli Potter, hailing from Anchorage, Alaska, USA. Both Jacob and Eli guided for Mountain Trip in the Alaska Range this winter, and have several trips in the Himalaya under both of their belts.
The Autumn 2016 Island Peak/Everest Base Camp Trek meets in Kathmandu to check gear, Thursday 9/15.
“All is well, and everyone is here with all of their gear. We had a nice group dinner and doing a city tour tomorrow. Will talk a group photo when the sun is out tomorrow. Here is a photo of our gear check at the Yak & Yeti,” lead guide Jacob Schmitz said via email today.
Best of luck to the team! We’ll keep you updated with photos and dispatches of the team’s progress. Remember – we go by the old adage that “no news is good news,” and if you don’t hear anything about the team in a couple of days, it just means that they were too busy to check in, or are in an area with bad reception.
Feel free to leave comments here for the climbers and we’ll do our best to relay them!
