DayZ creator Dean Hall is taking his skills to new heights. The developer explained on his blog today (via Kotaku) that he is taking a two-month sabbatical to climb Mt. Everest, the world's tallest mountain. Hall after the Puja ceremony, where flour is smeared on climbers' faces as a symbol that they may live to an old age.

Fans may be upset over Hall taking time off as the DayZ standalone game is still not released, but he explained that his team of developers at Bohemia Interactive are more than capable of getting the job done while he is away.

"I realize some people are upset at my departure from the project for two months to climb Mt. Everest, but hopefully from this you can see the large team Bohemia have assembled behind the development that are continuing to innovate and develop DayZ Standalone in the direction of the game we all want," Hall wrote.

"This is going to take as long as it needs to, we want to release our initial alpha under the architecture it needs to avoid hacking and security issues--this is the only remaining task stopping us from releasing the alpha," he added. "But while this task is being completed, we can continue with other activities."

Hall penned his blog post today from the Mt. Everest base camp at an elevation of 5,400 meters. Tomorrow, he will head to the Khumbu Icefall to train on fixed lines and ladders as he prepares for his ascent to the peak.