A group of climbers from the Sierra Peaks Section and the SCMA organized their own expedition to Nepal in the fall of 1992 to climb the trekking peaks Mera & Imja Tse (popularly known as "Island Peak").  The participants were Larry Tidball, Vi Grasso, Murray Zichlinsky, Pat Christie, Bob Wyka, Delores Holladay, Dave Dykeman, Dave Petzold, Scott Sullivan, and me.  Our sirdar was Ang Karma Sherpa, who has climbed Everest and Cho Oyu, and whose brother, Kunga Sherpa, own  and operates In Wilderness Trekking.  We left Luklha on October 23, crossed the Zatrwa La and ascended the Hinku Valley to Mera La.  On October 30 we established a high camp at 19,000' above the Mera La and went to the summit the next day.  There had been many parties on Mera ahead of us, and we found the route to be "paved" all the way to the bergschrund that blocked access to the 21,197' middle summit.  But the west summit is the high point of the peak  and we broke trail another 45 minutes to the 21,246' true summit.  Mera is a technically easy peak; it would be a great ski tour! 

We then ascended the Hongu Valley and on November 3 crossed Amphu Labtsa (18,986') a technical pass that leads to the Imja Valley.  This turned out to be the crux of the expedition.  Crossing this pass involved about 300' of rappelling, free in two spots.  Two of our porters lost their baskets descending the north side of the pass in the dark, and in the moonlight I watched half of our flatware slide down the glacier and disappear into a crevasse.  A tea house owner in Chunkhung later told me that some porters and trekkers have been killed trying to cross Amphu Labtsa, so it is not a route suitable for trekkers!  Island Peak is usually climbed with a high camp located at 18,700' on the southeast side of the peak.  But there was no snow at this site, so we climbed it in a day on November 7 from a base camp at 16,896'.  There was a short, technical section beneath the southwest ridge of the peak (with an angle of perhaps 50°).  And following the aesthetic southwest ridge to the 20,252' summit was a fitting end to a classic climb.  Over the following week we trekked between tea houses, visited Thyangboche for the Mani Rimdu festival, and the last stragglers arrived in Luklha on November 16.

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