Imja Tse is one of the most famous climbing peaks in Nepal. It stands in the Everest Region, reaches a height of 6,189m and is popularly known as Island Peak, a name given to it by Eric Shipton’s party in 1951, as the peak resembles an island in a sea of ice when viewed form Dingboche. Later in 1983, the peak was given the Nepali name Imja Tse. The peak was first ascended in 1953 by a British team as part of their preparations for climbing Everest. Tenzing Norgay was one of the members of the first ascent team. The peak is actually part of the south ridge of Lhotse Shar and forms a semicircle of cliffs that rise to the north of Nuptse, Lhotse, Middle Peak and Lhotse Shar.

Expeditions to the peak can either go by road to Jiri and then by trail to Solulukhumbu or fly to Lukla. A day’s trek from Lukla takes you to the entrance to Sagarmatha National Park. Another day’s trek reaches the town of Namche Bazaar, the gateway to Everest’s base camp. The best idea from here is to continue to either Everest Base Camp or Kala Pattar, at 5545m, from where there is a famous view of Everest. Either trek is good for acclimatizing before the climb of Island Peak. One very good trek for acclimatizing is to walk along the Gokyo valley, then to cross the Chola pass, visitng both Kala Pattar and Everest Base Camp, before moving on to Chukhung. From there a 5 hour trek reaches Island Peak Base Camp at 5200m. The camp is in a small valley with Island Glacier on the right. From Base Camp we climb steeply up to 5500m – the climb takes about 3 hours – and set up a high camp. From there the climb is rocky at first, then across a glacier, with crevasses, to reach a final steep ascent to the summit. Ropes are fixed for the final summit climb.