Tonight the team is resting at 20,500 feet at the base of Camp II. For several days we have waited and watched the weather forecasts to find the right window to start up the mountain, in hopes of this being the push to the summit. The forecasts have been questionable, but are now showing a window of low winds on the 21st. The last few days were spent preparing gear and getting ready, eating like crazy and making sure that we have a solid strategy in place. Higher mountain gear, the Sherpas, and the team are all poised for movement further up the hill once we have had a chance to rest properly and all are fully prepared to do so.
Last night, we all went to bed earlier than usual thanks to a 4am start, yet some of us are not sleeping as well as we'd like. This is an exciting time for sure, and the move up the Icefall, past Camp I and on to Camp II is one of the more effort-driven portions of the climb. Super Mila is at Camp II to provide us with some great food, replacing Indra who was transferred to another camp. There are some mixed feelings about this but very few complaints given our previous experiences at Camp II. I think Francisco and I even high-fived at one point.
Today went well; the team is going strong and feeling good. We took less than 6 hours to get to Camp 2 and the Sherpas took just under 4 hours.
Tomorrow is a rest day at Camp II and while we would rather get going to Camp III, we recognize the need for patience, time to rest and repair, and most importantly to allow our bodies the ability to acclimatize.
See also:
Climb to Camp II: http://landtarget.blogspot.com/2008/05/summit-push-17-may-trek-to-camp-ii.html
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment