Wednesday, 26 September 2007
Storm on the mountain
Well I am back from the mountain at ABC. We had a terrible storm and only got to camp 2 again but at this stage I am just glad to be back at ABC and in one piece with all my fingers and toes! Camp 2 lost a number of tents over night and camp 1 lost between 20 and 25% of all the tents including 4 of Russ's. Of the 4 tents that Russ lost one was the tent I was in the night before. As I have said we are now back at ABC and the decision has been made to try and rescue some of the equipment from the mountain before we pull out back to Base Camp and then Kathmandu. I will fill you in with the whole story once I am back but at the moment power is very low on the computers as there has been very little sun for the batteries and so we have been asked to keep things short and sweet.
Home sweet home
Morning after we got back showing all the snow that had fallen at ABC. It was much worse up on the mountain. Very glad to be back home at ABC!!!!!
Changing back to normal boots
Changing from high altitude boots to normal boots for the decent down to ABC. The winds were gusting up to 100km/hr
Carnage at camp 1
Carnage at camp 1 on our way back down from Camp 2. The second picture shows in the foreground a few stakes in the ground which is all that is left of my tent from the previous night!
Sunday, 23 September 2007
Camp 2
Camp 2 is at 7100m is certainly the highest I have ever been and certainly slept at! When I say slept I mean I went into my tent at 5:45pm and lay there listening to the wind and watching the snow blow in through every tiny hole and crack until 6:00am. I did not feel as if I slept at all and it was certainly one of the most uncomfortable nights I have ever had. Picture is of the zips of the inside of our tent at camp 2. The whole inside of the tent was covered in ice. Everytime the wind blew or we turned over in bed we were covered in ice. Not a very comfortable night.
It took 2hrs to boil water and pack up camp, something that would take 10 minutes down at sea level. We left from camp 2 just after 8:00am, got back to camp 1 at 10:30am and ABC just before 1:00pm. I think it is fair to say I was completly exhausted! All the teams with Russ have now completed their climatisation and to celebrate Russ threw a little party with red wine, beer and wiskey. A great way to relax and I certainly had a headache for a different reason in the morning!
We now have 2 rest days at ABC before we go for the final push to the summit which is currently scheduled for 25th Sep. We should reach the summit around 8 or 9am which is 3 or 4am UK time.
The Ice Cliff on the way to Camp 2
Jim, one of the other clients with Russ traversing the ice cliff.
Adrian, one of the guides with Russ just starting the steep section of the ice cliff.
Towards Camp 2 and the ice cliff
From Camp 1 we set off along the ridge, rising slowly and leaving the tents of Camp 1 behind.
It is a challenging climb with a huge ice cliff looming in front of us. It does not look much but at nearly 7000m it is very tough
Overnight at at Camp 1
Pictures taken from Camp 1 where we stayed the night of 17th. The first looking down into camp where all the other teams have their tents and the second looking up the hill to the summit. These were both taken at approx 6:30am.
Leaving ABC
As scheduled, I went to camp 1 on 17th to spent the night before going up to camp 2 on 18th. Pictures taken while on a walk from ABC camp to Poo Na La pass (not sure of spelling) This is where last year the chinese shot at some people they expected of people smuggling. We were not shot at nor did not see any soldiers although were told plenty were around.
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