This was my first trip with Adventure Peaks (AP). My original plan was to climb a mountain in India with another company. The concern there was that the trip may not be filled since it was not a common mountain climbed. I started looking for a backup plan when I ran across AP. I requested some trip information from AP and got an email from Stu asking if he could be of any assistance. I explained my situation and Stu said they would be happy to be my backup plan. Six months later the trip did not fill, and I reached back out to Stu again. Stu assisted me in selecting my next climb and for the next seven months was always available to answer any questions I had. Enter the picture Janet and Hazel. I sometimes wonder if they don’t run the place. Both are extremely efficient and responsive, making things easy for me. This was my contact with the internal staff, and it was a good experience. Thanks to everyone for your support. Once in Nepal I got to meet the field staff. Chris Harling was our lead guide from AP. Hard to ask for a better guide. Chris is a true mountaineer, whereas I am an alpine tourist. I learned so much from my time with him, including how to walk. Towards the end he said I was beginning to walk like a Sherpa. High praise indeed. Our lead Sherpa was Phurba who had an extremely impressive resume of climbs. The man is a beast and always had time for everyone. My Sherpa was Pisang. One thing to note is that we had the same Sherpas each day. This is huge to me, after a few days we had a good working relationship and made a good team. Most of my success on Annapurna goes to him! Our camp manager was Tenzing. He met us in Kathmandu and was with us till our return. He was attentive to everyone’s needs and did a great job of taking care of everyone. I can give you two personal examples of this. I am caffeine free which limits what I can drink at camp. Tenzing made sure we stayed stocked with hot chocolate. When we finished our first rotation the camp staff had cokes for everyone. I can’t drink coke. On our second rotation somehow, Sprite had been brought in for me. While this may sound trivial it was important to me and just shows the lengths that he went to take care of everyone. Our cook was Pisang (yes, we had two Pisangs). Pisang also did a very good job catering to what we liked. One member of the team was hooked on French Fries (aka Chips). If by magic they appeared with every day’s meals. Couldn’t ask for a better group of people. Thanks to everyone for your support. I would also like to take a moment to address the camps. At base camp we each had our own double walled tent with a foam mattress in it. Our toilet tent and shower tent were clean. Our main tent was comfortable and at night it was heated and there was a generator for lights and if you needed to charge something. Base camp was well prepared and run. I do appreciate this. As for my fellow climbers I was indeed blessed to have met three strangers and when it was over I had three new friends. I do miss each and every one of you and wish you the best in your future adventures. As for the climb, it was great and it was a challenge. I had told Stu that I wanted something with some spice to it and he delivered it. Annapurna 4 is a beautiful place and a challenging place at the same time. The weather started off great and remained that way till the final rotation to the summit. Then mother nature stepped in and tossed us a curve ball. We had to get off the mountain due to a snowstorm moving in. I don’t think anyone realized just how big this storm would become. We made it back to basecamp and it set in. Once the snow got chest high and still coming down, the decision was made to bring in a helicopter to evacuate us. It took two days before it arrived. Once it did it took four trips to get everyone down to Humde. Then another two days before a jeep could get in to get us. While we didn’t get a chance to summit, I did get to witness something that is probably more important. It’s easy to say good things when everything goes right, but how often do you get to say it when everything goes wrong. This was my first time to be in a situation had we stayed on the mountain I probably wouldn’t be writing this. That camp got twelve to fifteen feet of snow. What did happen was that our support team in Nepal and back in England were doing their thing monitoring the weather for potential problems. They alerted Chris and he took it from there. The entire team went into action and got us down to base camp. During the storm trenches were cut around the tents to keep them from collapsing. Heat was kept on during the day and through it all Pisang kept the water and food coming. Chris stayed in contact with the support network and the chopper got us out before the camp got covered. Everyone walked away with zero injuries. If you are reading this and have never used Adventure Peaks before and trying to decide if they are a reputable group, my answer to you is yes, they are! From start to finish they have been a first-class bunch of professionals.

Casey

This mountain wasnt my first choice for this year but issues elsewhere meant this was a good 7000m+ option for the autumn season. It ended up being a magnificent expedition to a rarely climbed peak, with a great mix of steep rock sections on the lower part of the mountain and less technical snow and ice sections higher up. Local staff in Thamel were incredibly welcoming and helpful in a city of (organised) chaos. The road trip from Kathmandu to Humde and back provided an insight to life outside of the capital and a gentle start and finish to the trip. Transport, drivers, guest houses and food on the journey in and out were great. Location and scenery in that area is simply stunning and while the Annapurna Circuit track has increased traffic, off the main route there are few people. Similar situation to John above, despite being peak season in Nepal, with the exception of a small Bulgarian group who bailed before our summit attempt, we had the mountain to ourselves. The setup and organisation at base camp was impeccable, food prepared by the camp cook far exceeded expectations in both quality and quantity. Support on the mountain could not have been better, ropes and camps were set by the sherpa team who worked tirelessly and efficiently to maximise our chances of success. Expedition Leader (Stu) dealt with all the challenges presented by the group and the mountain, and made the right calls at the right time to get the team to the summit. Great leader and group, fantastic support from local teams on the mountain and in the city, and an awesome mountain in a stunning location in a beautiful country. Highly recommended.

It was a demanding trip that provided me with a great spectrum of experience.
Yet, above all, it was the people that I will remember. From clients to staff, all the greatest
and most colorful characters.
All that in a beautiful country.

Epic high altitude adventure with mixed rock, snow and ice climb (Camp 1), large ice wall (Camp 3) and deep snow trekking. As we were the only team on the mountain it added to the remoteness. Fantastic base camp and Sherpa support throughout the expedition. Excellent food. Over the last 15 years I always advise customers, clients, friends and family to consider Adventure Peaks first and foremost.
[The info we received was] very thorough, informative and timely.
I've got the utmost respect for not only Stu's [trip leader] management skills (excellent ratings) but his actual Leadership skills are second to none. When you're in this type of adverse and remote environment it was very interesting observing how Stu operates and uses all aspects of Leadership.
[Overall, the highlights were] having the mountain to ourselves (remoteness), the High Camps and working with highly skilled individuals (teamwork).