Climbing Annapurna, the World's 10th-Highest Peak

Annapurna in the Himalayas is one of the hardest mountains to climb in the world.

Rupert Jones-Warner

Images

Dusk at Camp 1

Hakon with Annapurna in the background

Puja ceremony days before our final send off.

Hakon looking at the memorial of the lost climbers which is situated on the route to Camp 1.

Trekkers making their way towards Camp 1 before leaving the trekkers route and stepping on to the glacier.

Annapurna Basecamp with Summit in background.

Hakon and Sonam packing at Camp 1 for the next few days ahead.

A climber drying kit at Camp 1.

Sonam and Hakon crossing the glacier. What you don't see is the endless amounts of crevasses which are covered with a light coating of snow.

Hakon and Sonam crossing the glacier before making the uphill climb towards Camp 2

Mine and Hakons tent at Camp 2 where we spent several nights acclimatising

Camp 2 on our descent after heavy snowfall.

A picture of me in from of the Dutch Rib, the route will take to get to Camp 3.

Looking down at Camp 2 after about 2 hours walking...

Hakon and Sonam making their way up the Dutch Rib

Looking down the Dutch Rib at a few climbers coming up.

The steep route we took up from Camp 2.

Above the Rib we had a bit of ice... The last hurdle before Camp 3.

Nims Dai sitting outside our tent enjoying the view.

This is actually a photo of the descent... You can see Hakon making his way down.

Nims Dai and Mingma David at Camp 4

Perfect conditions as we left Camp 3.

A climber on the route up to C4

The view as we approached C4

Team summit photo!

Hakon and I just hours away from the summit.

A view to a kill (literally) - the view just to the right approaching the summit

For your eyes only - Annapurna Summit

First light on the summit push

Probably the best I have ever looked. Beat this for a summit photo!

by Don Bowie

Description

Located in the Himalayas in north-central Nepal, Annapurna I is the only peak in the Annapurna massif over 8,000 meters (26,000 feet). In 1950 Maurice Herzog led a French expedition to its summit, making it the first of the eight-thousanders to be climbed.

The entire massif and the surrounding area are protected within the 7,629 sq km (2,946 sq mi) Annapurna Conservation Area, the first and largest conservation area in Nepal. The Annapurna Conservation Area is home to several world-class treks, including the Annapurna Sanctuary and the Annapurna Circuit.

Annapurna has a fatal reputation and is known as one of the hardest mountains to climb. This fatality-to-summit ratio (1:3.1, or 32%) is the highest of any of the eight-thousanders.

In 2019, Rupert Jones-Warner became the youngest Brit to summit Annapurna.
https://www.rupertjoneswarner.com

Adventures

Annapurna Summit push!

After spending several weeks slowly acclimatising on the mountain, we are making our final push for the summit. Usually a trek to a higher altitude would be considered pretty strenuous but because we had acclimatised out bodies had adjusted and it was ok. A rather daunting send off, Annapurna has a fatal reputation.

Camp 1 to Camp 2

Glacier Crossing

Camp 2 to Camp 3

The most arduous, dangerous and beautiful part of the climb.

Camp 3 to Camp 4

What I thought was going to be a short climb ended up being a bit of a slog!

Annapurna Summit Day

Fortunately, summit day couldn't have had better conditions. There was no wind and blue skies (mostly). Had the weather been anything other than this it would have certainly changed the difficulty rating to extreme. That said, we were climbing into the Death Zone where there is a third of the oxygen than at sea level. Climbed through the night which is always cold and seems to go on forever but all was well! Then we had a long trek to the summit which we arrived at about 3pm. This is usually later than usual on an '8,000er' but we were held up by deep snow. All went well though despite the odds!