Elusive Summit

Blocked by tooth-like spires, author and adventurer Mark Jenkins turns back from the ridge leading to the snowy summit of Hkakabo Razi in Myanmar (Burma), part of the largely unexplored Dandalika Range. Thought to be the tallest mountain in Southeast Asia, Hkakabo remains unmeasured by GPS—a task taken on by a mountaineering team that included Jenkins, photographer Cory Richards, and climber Emily Harrington. For Jenkins, it was a windy and emotional retreat after 41 days of effort and two previous attempts. To go on, the team would’ve had to spend a night without food, a tent, or sleeping bags. “We’d have lost digits, if not our lives,” says Richards.

See more pictures from the September 2015 feature story “Point of No Return.”