Imja Tse, better known as Island Peak, is a

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

Sagarmatha National Park Sagarmāthā National Park is a national park in the Himalayas of eastern Nepal that was established in 1976 and encompasses an area of in the Solukhumbu District. It ranges in elevation from and includes Mount Everest. In the north, it shares ...

in the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

of eastern

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

. The peak was named Island Peak in 1953 by members of the British

Mount Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at it ...

expedition because it appears as an island in a sea of ice when viewed from

Dingboche Dingboche is a Sherpa village at an elevation of in the Khumbu region of northeastern Nepal. Its population was estimated at approximately 200 in 2011. Transport Coming from Namche Bazaar or Tengboche, Dingboche is the better alternative tha ...

. The peak was later renamed in 1983 to Imja Tse but Island Peak remains the popular choice. The peak is actually an extension of the ridge coming down off the south end of

Lhotse Shar Lhotse Shar is a subsidiary mountain of Lhotse, at high. It was first climbed by Sepp Mayerl and Rolf Walter on 12 May 1970. Climbing routes and dangers Lhotse Shar forms the eastern highpoint of Lhotse’s central ridge, far from the main summi ...

. The southwest summit of Imja Tse was first climbed in 1953 as part of a training exercise by a British expedition that went on to summit

. The team that climbed Imja Tse comprised

Tenzing Norgay Tenzing Norgay (; ''tendzin norgyé''; May 1914 – 9 May 1986), born Namgyal Wangdi, and also referred to as Sherpa Tenzing, was a Nepalese-Indian Sherpa mountaineer. On 29 May 1953, he and Edmund Hillary were the first confirmed to ...

, Charles Evans,

Alfred Gregory Alfred Gregory FBIPP, FRPS (Hon) (12 February 1913 – 9 February 2010) was a British mountaineer, explorer and professional photographer. A member of the 1953 British Mount Everest Expedition that made the first ascent of Mount Everest, he ...

, Charles Wylie and seven other Sherpas. The main summit was first climbed in 1956 by Hans-Rudolf Von Gunten and two unknown Sherpas, members of a Swiss team that went on to make the second ascent of Everest and the first ascent of

Lhotse Lhotse ( ; ; ) is the List of highest mountains#List, fourth-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest, K2, and Kangchenjunga. At an elevation of above sea level, the main summit is on the border between Tibet Autonomous Region of Chin ...

Alonzo-lyons-imja-tse-island-peak-nepal-DSCN6013

Climbing route

Alonzo-lyons-imja-tse-island-peak-sign-DSCN5840

To climb Island Peak, one has the option of starting from a base camp at called Pareshaya Gyab and starting the climb between 2 and 3 A.M. Another popular option is to ascend to High Camp at around to reduce the amount of effort and time needed for summit day. However, an adequate water supply and concerns about sleeping at a higher altitude may dictate starting from base camp. Base camp to high camp is basically a hike but just above high camp, some rocky steps require moderate

scrambling Scrambling is a mountaineering term for ascending steep terrain using one's hands to assist in holds and balance.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. It can be described as being between hiking and climbing, rock climbing. "A scramble" is a relat ...

up through a broad open gully. At the top of the gully, glacier travel begins and proceeds up a steep snow and ice slope. From here, fixed ropes may be set up by the guides for the strenuous ascent of nearly to the summit ridge. The climb to the summit is somewhat difficult due to steep climbing. On top, while

is a mere ten kilometres away to the north, the view is blocked by the massive wall of

, towering above the summit.

Headwall crevasse

A substantial

crevasse A crevasse is a deep crack that forms in a glacier or ice sheet. Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the shear stress generated when two semi-rigid pieces above a plastic substrate have different rate ...

along most of the headwall leading to the summit ridge has sometimes caused teams to turn back. In April 2009, the

Nepal Mountaineering Association The Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) is the national mountaineering association of Nepal. The NMA was founded in 1973 with the goals of promoting mountaineering activities in the Himalaya, providing safety awareness and mountaineering skills t ...

tasked the Nepal Mountaineering Instructors' Association with installing stairs (ladders) at the crevasse. As of the 2016 fall climbing season, a 5-metre high fixed aluminum ladder is being used to cross the crevasse.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Mountains of Koshi Province Six-thousanders of the Himalayas

Climbing route

Headwall crevasse

See also

References

External links