Travel Photo| Climbing Himalaya’s Rathong Glacier India

January 29, 2014/by Ian Yacobucci

Instructor posing on the Himalaya’s Rathong glacier, West Sikkim, India

Walking on ice:Himalaya’s Rathong Glacier – West Sikkim, India

While training with the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, in West Sikkim, India, I captured this image of my instructor on his way down from Rathong Glacier. After a day of training at roughly 5000m above sea level, on the border of Nepal and India, it was time to head back to base camp.

Training with India’s Ministry of Defence is an incredibly challenging yet rewarding experience. Sherpa Lokba is one of the institutes toughest instructors, and during his tenure at HMI has climbed several 20, 000+ foot mountains. Training with experts like Lokba is incredibly humbling.

On most days during the basic mountaineering course we would train on Rathong Glacier. It’s on the glacier we learned climbing techniques, ice climbing, crevasse rescue and so much more. The power of the mountains is incredible and views like this, with people being a 7 day trek from civilization, cannot be seen anywhere else in the world.

Read more about HMI and mountaineering in India

Happy Travels,

Yak

Ian Yacobucci

Traveling the Trans-Siberian, mountaineering the Himalayas, or teaching in Tokyo, I'm always trying something new. As a someone who's worked, studied, and traveled to 40+ countries around the world, I'm here to share my experiences so you can do the same.