a winter ascent of Island Peak at “Sherpa speed” by Chan Joon Yee, dedicated to the late Jason Ho

The Challenger
Name: Chan Joon Yee
Nationality: Singaporean
Born: 1-3-1964
Alpine Experience: climbed Mera Peak (6476m) in 10 days, descended into Hongu Valley, crossed Amphu Laptsa (5845m) into Khumbu Valley, trekked to Kala Patar and returned to Lukla [...]

I’m back at Namche again. Let recap on the unbelievable events over
past few days.
Day 1 Lukla to Monjo
Day 2 Monjo to Namche
Day 3 Namche to Pangboche (an ascent of 500m)
Day 4 Pangboche to Chukung (an ascent of 800m)
Day 5 Chukung to base camp
Day 6 supposed to be summit day, but would you believe it, my
climbing [...]

Below (in green) is the “raw” news sent out from Namche Bazaar. This was Day 2 of the trek. I started off from Lukla nearly 4 hours late due to a combination of delayed flight and a local porter who suddenly decided to have lunch when we were about to move off.
My original plan was [...]

The airport and its surroundings didn’t seem to have changed very much over the years. My last visit was in 2003. It was still the brick walled building, the bronze decor, nothing obviously added or subtracted. Even though it was midday when I arrived, it was not particularly warm. This was winter after all.
Once I [...]

I didn’t make it to the summit of Island Peak this time. I aborted the climb when my climbing boots cracked at base camp. Singapore’s hot and humid conditions are probably not ideal for the storage of climbing boots.
I discovered that winter is not a bad time to do low altitude treks. The days are [...]