Trip Reports

Khumbu Climber - October 2018

Written by Leader Alex Langdon, November 2018

I have to start this web report with: ‘What a great trip!’

We have been lucky on many counts: helpful weather, no delayed Lukla flights, a fantastic Nepalese climbing Sherpa & domestic support team……..but mostly it’s been a great trip because the Jagged Globe team were all prepared to work really hard and support each other during the highs and lows (albeit with a somewhat cheeky sense of humour and much mocking ‘abuse’.)

Apart from our one American, we Brits all met as usual at Heathrow T4, saw each other briefly in the interminable security checks in Mumbai and then resurfaced after long visa queues in Kathmandu. Arriving at the Summit Hotel was, as ever, a welcome relief.

After a chat and kit checks (no shopping required) we got ourselves prepared for the next day’s flight and the month of early morning starts began…

We spent the first week trekking in and getting acclimatised to our surroundings, each other, the food and the altitude. Over half the team had never been to Nepal before, but it transpired that Jim and Alun had some ‘unfinished business’ with Island Peak from a Mera/Island trip 2 years earlier……no pressure!

Having had a beautiful setting for Base Camp, we tackled Pokalde from High Camp near the Khongma La. It was a tough day and the first experience for many of the team going up and down fixed ropes. Chris made this an even more ‘interesting’ experience by forgetting both his helmet and his figure of 8! Pokalde summit team: Alan, Chris, Darrin, Jim, Karen, Kevin, Leslie, Mark and Matt.

It’s fair to say that everyone felt a sense of relief to have succeeded on our first summit and we headed off toward a peaceful Island Peak Base Camp with confidence and enthusiasm. High Camp however, was for us, not a welcoming or relaxing spot. We were buffeted by constant high winds and I was not optimistic about our summit day. Sometimes a gamble pays off and this turned out to be our lucky day; the winds abated and the sun came out as we struggled higher. Even the crevasse crossings using the ladders were relatively straightforward.

I suspect there are those in the team for whom hearing the word ‘Headwall’ may forever conjure a visible shudder. Darrin tried to make it all go away by burrowing into a crevasse halfway up…..nice try. Chris managed to remember all his kit today and in honour of this, threw his helmet down the headwall from the summit!

Island Peak was quite busy and the summit isn’t large, so our summit shots are taken as our two separate rope teams. Island peak summit team: Alun, Chris, Darrin, Jim, Karen, Kevin, Mark and Matt.

It was a very tired, very pleased team who descended to Base Camp. As we had a spare day in case of bad weather, we spent it recharging our batteries in Dingboche and treated ourselves to coffee, showers, Wifi and the bakery, making sure we all beat Kevin into the bakery before he hoovered up every cake in sight!

Our third mountain was Lobuche East. Base Camp was empty, but High Camp had a lot of tents around. We thought the mountain would be as busy as Island Peak. As it was, we had the place to ourselves and did manage to cram the whole summit team on the top. (Ought I mention the sunglasses Chris?!) Summit team: Alun, Chris, Darrin, Jim, Karen, Kevin, Leslie, Mark and Matt.

So, ‘just’ the Cho La and Gokyo Ri to go... these were a hoot. The pressure was off and all our technical mountaineering kit headed back to Lukla on the backs of our amazing Yaks. Despite some impressive ice-dancing skills on the glacier under the Cho La from both Alun and Leslie we all survived intact and made it on to our campsite in Gokyo which was lakeside and beautiful. Gokyo Ri itself felt in no way easy: everyone was tired and the team was well spread out with the super-fit Karen, Kevin and Mark enjoying the summit some considerable time before the rest of the team. It was an emotional summit and we spent some considerable time enjoying the views, the place and the achievements.

As we trekked out Matt, our self-appointed social-secretary organised our ‘last-night-party-playlist’. Awesome job. We got to choose 3 songs each that should be good to dance to….some of us have very dodgy music taste (Mark J) and some of us shouldn’t be allowed on the dance floor again (that’d be me.) Our Nepalese team also enjoyed themselves and seemed to find us thoroughly entertaining.

Back in Kathmandu, we variously headed off for shopping, sight-seeing, sleeping and eating. Our final success was in the local ‘ex-pat’ pub quiz. Somehow... partly because of Mark’s dodgy music taste, partly because we were the biggest team... we won by half a point. The prize was beer and bread.

Well done to everyone in the team. You all made the trip the success that it became, thank you.

« Previous report | Next report »

Jagged Globe Newsletter

We publish an email newsletter with trip reports and latest availability, plus features, competitions and general news of our climbing, trekking & skiing activities.