The team is once again at Base Camp after what can only be described as an epic rotation on the hill.
The team left early on Sunday morning with a 4am breakfast of eggs and toast, this is always quite hard to put down knowing that there is the gruelling trek through the ice fall ahead of us. We were all away by 4.30 and soon we were putting our crampons on at the start of the ice fall. The 1st hour or so is pretty flat and very soul destroying as almost no height is gained. We wound our way through the icy towers as a team and slowly as the gloom gave way to the light of day we gained height towards camp 1. It was a really uneventful trip through the icefall and we all made fab time to camp 1 where we were to spend the night.
Monday saw us all transfer to camp 2. It was a bitterly cold night so we were all a little reluctant to leave our tents even in the knowledge that it was only a couple of hours to Camp 2. Finally we all left around 8.30 when the sun had warmed things up a little. The climb to 2 is quite flat but what a climb it is, walking under the huge SW face of Everest and the N Ridge of Nuptse is stunning. The Western Cwm must rank as one of the most amazing mountain places in the world. We all made it to Camp 2 in under 3.5hrs despite the heat of the sun, which was a great effort by all.
Camp 2 is the staging post for the ascent of Everest, we have mess tent there and two full time cooks looking after us, it sounds pretty easy but you have to remember we are at 6400m and just walking to your tent is hard work. We spent the afternoon resting up and getting used to our new surroundings, and of course drinking lots of milky tea.
Tuesday was a day of active rest; I took the team out of camp and up to the bottom of the Lhotse face, the HUGE sweep of ice that soars skywards, well maybe not to the sky but certainly to the summit block of Lhotse. It’s up to 55 degrees steep and this year it is made up of bullet hard blue ice. The hike to the bottom took a couple of hours and sitting at the base drinking orange tang we all felt rather small compared to the towering mountains all around. The hike back to camp took a just over 40mins and with little to do that afternoon we all played a rather heated game of cards before a little nap before dinner.
The evening weather forecast was rather confusing to say the least and I wasn’t sure if we could make the climb to Camp 3 on Wednesday especially as when we all went to bed it was snowing hard and there was a strong cold wind blowing. I woke at 5am and poked my head out into the bitter cold of a clear morning, not a cloud in the sky and little wind….the climb to 3 was ON!!!!
Leaving Camp 2 at 7am we climbed through to the bottom of the face in the bitter cold, finally as we used the fixed ropes to start the ascent to Camp 3 did the sun finally hit us. Now most teams struggle with the climbing to 3 the first time but not this team. I followed Rick up as he made great progress climbing the ropes, he quickly found a rhythm that worked for him and we steadily climbed up the sheet of rippling blue ice. Not far behind where Tom and Bonita each lost in their own little world as they too found their own rhythm. The only member missing was Trotty who due to here sinus infection was making her way to BC for some R&R.
It took Rick a little over 2.5hrs to reach Camp 3 at 7100m…now that’s a great time!!! Bonita was next up about 40mins later and Tom just behind. Once we were there it was a quick break and the ZIP!!…. back down the ropes. Almost 5hrs of effort was turned around in just under 2 and all of us were sipping tea in camp feeling pretty smug with the day’s effort.
Thursday saw a much needed return to BC, the only slight hiccup was Bonita had run out of contact lenes and therefore was having a few problems with her vision. She needed a little help here and there seeing where to put her feet on the way down through the icefall. She braved up to the problem and was rewarded when one of the Sherpas came up from BC bringing her some fresh lenes. All the team where back in BC in under 4hrs (again another amazingly quick time).
That was yesterday, and finally today was spent washing clothes and of course ourselves after the 5 days up the mountain. As we left camp 2 the Sherpa team were preparing the carries of equipment to Camp 4 on the South Col. This is a monster effort by them and it will open the way for the western climbers to the summit. My fingers are crossed that they are all safe over the next few days while they carry this work out.
So what’s left….well the team is ready, what we need is a good forecast and then the game is really on!!!!!
I’ll post photos tomorrow from the last 5 days so keep an eye open for them.
Be safe out there
Kenton.
