Annapurna II

We set out in a team of two at the end of October to summit Annapurna II, but were forced to retreat from the mountain before the final push. By this point we had done all the hard bits – ahead of us only a slow plod leading up to the summit.
Jamie Annetts is an expedition leader and director of Exped Adventure, an expedition company based in Staveley, Cumbria. For his big personal challenge in 2016 he had set his sights on Annapurna II – a rarely climbed mountain in central Nepal.

We had planned to reach the top of the 7,937 metre peak unsupported and without bottled oxygen – but the mountain had other ideas.

After three weeks of everything going to plan, high winds, freezing temperatures and ultimately a medical emergency forced us to make a retreat.

We had planned the siege tactic of advanced camps to conquer Annapurna II, climb high, sleep low for acclimatisation, and to move fast and light on the ridge to the summit.

At base camp we heard six avalanches a day; there w...