Monday May 3, 2010
Preparation Day
Got up this morning about 730 am with the sun shining and heating up my sleeping bag. Slept well and was warm and had a good breakfast. Eggs, pancakes, bacon and of course my coke that they bring to me every morning at 7 am. I was hoping that the weather would be good today for me to shower but after about 1.5 hours of sunshine the weather turn to crap with snow and wind.
Made a few phones calls to people before I am to leave tomorrow and started getting my stuff together.
We have left stuff at camp 1 and camp 2 so I will not bring much stuff up with me this time. I will put the top on my backpack, take a thicker pair of mittens and a few more shirts and that will be it.
Got my boots refitted with my crampons, got my harness refitted so I am good to go.
The BEGAN Satellite is not working so I hope I will be able to send this out before I leave tomorrow.
We just had a helicopter land with a few people ( The Italian team( Simone Mora) climbing Lhotse and Everest) who have come back from a few days off in Katmandu. (Rest and relaxation)The client that is climbing Everest, is a really rich Industrialist from Italy. With the Helicopter grand entrance today plus his offer of $25000 extra to spend up the process of establishing fixed lines last week, this “excess” showing one’s of wealth is beginning to bother the “old faithful”, they are starting to complain of the use of the air strip for personal use. Of course, the Sherpa’s are going as fast as they can but due to the weather on the top they have been held up, so the $25000 doesn’t mean much if you cannot live by putting in the fixed lines. Interesting to see how people react to these types of things. Even on Everest money talks even when it might not be appreciated. Funny!
The fixed lines are complete to the Southern Col right now and with the weather clearing in the next couple of days I am sure the Sherpa’s will complete the task by week’s end.
If this happens, I am sure the Russians will be on the summit right behind them as they have done nothing but complain from almost day about the fixed line even though they did not offer to help install them.
I am off until the weekend Take care and have a great week
Monday, May 3, 2010
Sunday REst day May 2nd and schedule for week
Sunday May 2nd
We woke up at 6 am with more than a foot of snow on our tents. I knew something was wrong when I awoke because my tent had formed around my body and when I tried to stretch I couldn’t move. It was a strange feeling but before long the Sherpa’s were shoveling the snow off the tent and around the base. The dining tent almost collapsed but the Sherpa’s and Tracy got it back upright without any damage.
The day was long because the weather was not very good all day. It was cloudy and cold so a lot of time was spent in the tent. I should have been more productive but turning the IPOD on and getting warm in the sleeping bag was too tempting.
I did spend some time on the internet looking at what was happening in the world (especially BKK) and of course keeping up with the Celtics who lost a hard fought one to the Cavs in game one.
We had dinner with some friends and had a great meal, Fried chicken, mashed potatoes and salad. The dessert was apple strudel. After our friends left, I spent some personal time with Jim to discuss the next few days.
I wanted to try his harness as it was lighter and easier to put on and off. He said he would be happy to let me use it for this climb.
I also hope this helps me adjust my backpack so I can put more weight on my hips. The last few days with my harness on, the weight of the pack has been transferred to my shoulders and neck and this really hurts after a while pulling on the ropes with the weight also on them.
We also discussed boots. I think I will change my boots this time. I will go with my Sportiva’s with the built in gaiters. This will allow me to change my clothes on the bottom and maybe regulate my heat better. Also it will give me the boot to climb the Lhotse with a warmer boot for the colder weather. I will try this and see what I will do on the summit push. Maybe my Crisper’s up to camp 2 then switch to my Sportiva’s. I am just trying a different combination to make it better than the time before.
I also talked to him about camp 3. We are now in the time to “fish or cut bait” I need to be able to get to camp 3 in a reasonable amount of time. Jim doesn’t want me to sleep at camp 3 but would like for me to climb to camp 3 and touch and come back down all in a day (8-9 hrs) This will be a challenge due to the steepness, the ice surface, the lack of oxygen moving from 21000 to 24000 ft and the lack of my familiarity of fixed lines. If I did make it to the top and was too tired to go back down, this would be ok ( 2nd option)but we would have to stay at 24000 ft without oxygen and he believes that this just “hammers’ the body and he hopes this does not happen due to my health. Now all of this is providing we will have good weather so as they say” It is all on me” for the next few days.
I have eaten better and have stayed hydrated so I do not think I will have any issues but the mountain will let me know if I am ready enough to go to the top.
I will be gone Tuesday- Sat / Sun so do not expect any email or blogs posted
The plan is to go to camp 1 Tuesday
Camp 2 Wed
Camp 2 Rest Thurs
Camp 3 Friday if I return to camp 2 (option 1)
Camp 2 Sat if I spend the night at camp 3 ( option 2)
Base Camp Sat Option 1
Sun Option 2 Mother’s day
We woke up at 6 am with more than a foot of snow on our tents. I knew something was wrong when I awoke because my tent had formed around my body and when I tried to stretch I couldn’t move. It was a strange feeling but before long the Sherpa’s were shoveling the snow off the tent and around the base. The dining tent almost collapsed but the Sherpa’s and Tracy got it back upright without any damage.
The day was long because the weather was not very good all day. It was cloudy and cold so a lot of time was spent in the tent. I should have been more productive but turning the IPOD on and getting warm in the sleeping bag was too tempting.
I did spend some time on the internet looking at what was happening in the world (especially BKK) and of course keeping up with the Celtics who lost a hard fought one to the Cavs in game one.
We had dinner with some friends and had a great meal, Fried chicken, mashed potatoes and salad. The dessert was apple strudel. After our friends left, I spent some personal time with Jim to discuss the next few days.
I wanted to try his harness as it was lighter and easier to put on and off. He said he would be happy to let me use it for this climb.
I also hope this helps me adjust my backpack so I can put more weight on my hips. The last few days with my harness on, the weight of the pack has been transferred to my shoulders and neck and this really hurts after a while pulling on the ropes with the weight also on them.
We also discussed boots. I think I will change my boots this time. I will go with my Sportiva’s with the built in gaiters. This will allow me to change my clothes on the bottom and maybe regulate my heat better. Also it will give me the boot to climb the Lhotse with a warmer boot for the colder weather. I will try this and see what I will do on the summit push. Maybe my Crisper’s up to camp 2 then switch to my Sportiva’s. I am just trying a different combination to make it better than the time before.
I also talked to him about camp 3. We are now in the time to “fish or cut bait” I need to be able to get to camp 3 in a reasonable amount of time. Jim doesn’t want me to sleep at camp 3 but would like for me to climb to camp 3 and touch and come back down all in a day (8-9 hrs) This will be a challenge due to the steepness, the ice surface, the lack of oxygen moving from 21000 to 24000 ft and the lack of my familiarity of fixed lines. If I did make it to the top and was too tired to go back down, this would be ok ( 2nd option)but we would have to stay at 24000 ft without oxygen and he believes that this just “hammers’ the body and he hopes this does not happen due to my health. Now all of this is providing we will have good weather so as they say” It is all on me” for the next few days.
I have eaten better and have stayed hydrated so I do not think I will have any issues but the mountain will let me know if I am ready enough to go to the top.
I will be gone Tuesday- Sat / Sun so do not expect any email or blogs posted
The plan is to go to camp 1 Tuesday
Camp 2 Wed
Camp 2 Rest Thurs
Camp 3 Friday if I return to camp 2 (option 1)
Camp 2 Sat if I spend the night at camp 3 ( option 2)
Base Camp Sat Option 1
Sun Option 2 Mother’s day
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Personal comments
Thanks Jerri for the prayers from Prattville. I look forward to sitting around Gammy's table also but I would love have some biscuits and saugage also.
Lauren - a Mexican surprise should be interesting.
Philippe- Thanks for you comments Hope you and Veronique are well
Ashley- Thanks as always for your encouraging words.
I sure hope the "Red Shirts" are gone by the time I get back to BKK.
All thanks for the encouraging comments.
Lauren - a Mexican surprise should be interesting.
Philippe- Thanks for you comments Hope you and Veronique are well
Ashley- Thanks as always for your encouraging words.
I sure hope the "Red Shirts" are gone by the time I get back to BKK.
All thanks for the encouraging comments.
Rest Day #2 base camp Sat May 1st
Saturday May 1st
May Day at Mt Everest
Happy May Day to all. Wish I was home to see some of my friends and enjoy some warm weather. I am only 3 days away from being gone 1 month and how times fly. I am ready to be home but there is still much work to do before that happens.
It has been a long time of cold, snowy weather and food that I would love to swap for a Nathan’s chili dog, Poe’s hamburger, Pizza Company double pepperoni pizza, Outback onion loaf, anything at Bourbon Street (BKK), Chili’s fried cheese, Wild Wing lemon pepper wings, etc and if lucky, I have less than a month left before I can enjoy this kind of good food again.
I finally got my bath today because the weather was so much better today in the morning. I know you think of a shower at home but this is just a bucket of hot water with a ¼” spout on it to let it run over your body. Doesn’t sound like much but it still feels good. 90 degree F water falling over your body in 40 degree F weather actually feels good and at least you smell better. Add a little baby powder, deodorant, body lotion and some clean clothes and you feel like a million $’s, at least for a few days. Again the little things are big things up here.
Yesterday (April 30th) was the 25th anniversary of Dick Bass starting his climb of MT Everest and become the 1st person to summit all the “7 Summits and he later went on and wrote the book “The 7 Summits.” This really started the mountaineering craze and has led to the increase in people around the world in people trying to complete 7 summits. Dick is 80 years old now and was trying to make it base camp with a lot of help but this plan did not work.
This is for sure a dream of mine but is not the end of mountaineering career if I do not get done. I have slowly been getting them done but also have been experiencing other great mountains in the world also. If I can somehow complete this summit then I for sure will try to make the last 2 mts (Denali (Alaska) and Vinson (Antarctica)
We are having dinner at our place tonight with some guys from RMI ( Seth a friend of mine and Mark Tucker) and Peter Hackett ( Father of High Altitude medicine), and Ruth who is Dr in Alaska. This should be interesting conversation. We are having country ham from a place in Paris TN called, Swifty Ham so I am looking forward to dinner.
I am off for today so read up and give me your comments.
Thanks for all for the support and kind words.
May Day at Mt Everest
Happy May Day to all. Wish I was home to see some of my friends and enjoy some warm weather. I am only 3 days away from being gone 1 month and how times fly. I am ready to be home but there is still much work to do before that happens.
It has been a long time of cold, snowy weather and food that I would love to swap for a Nathan’s chili dog, Poe’s hamburger, Pizza Company double pepperoni pizza, Outback onion loaf, anything at Bourbon Street (BKK), Chili’s fried cheese, Wild Wing lemon pepper wings, etc and if lucky, I have less than a month left before I can enjoy this kind of good food again.
I finally got my bath today because the weather was so much better today in the morning. I know you think of a shower at home but this is just a bucket of hot water with a ¼” spout on it to let it run over your body. Doesn’t sound like much but it still feels good. 90 degree F water falling over your body in 40 degree F weather actually feels good and at least you smell better. Add a little baby powder, deodorant, body lotion and some clean clothes and you feel like a million $’s, at least for a few days. Again the little things are big things up here.
Yesterday (April 30th) was the 25th anniversary of Dick Bass starting his climb of MT Everest and become the 1st person to summit all the “7 Summits and he later went on and wrote the book “The 7 Summits.” This really started the mountaineering craze and has led to the increase in people around the world in people trying to complete 7 summits. Dick is 80 years old now and was trying to make it base camp with a lot of help but this plan did not work.
This is for sure a dream of mine but is not the end of mountaineering career if I do not get done. I have slowly been getting them done but also have been experiencing other great mountains in the world also. If I can somehow complete this summit then I for sure will try to make the last 2 mts (Denali (Alaska) and Vinson (Antarctica)
We are having dinner at our place tonight with some guys from RMI ( Seth a friend of mine and Mark Tucker) and Peter Hackett ( Father of High Altitude medicine), and Ruth who is Dr in Alaska. This should be interesting conversation. We are having country ham from a place in Paris TN called, Swifty Ham so I am looking forward to dinner.
I am off for today so read up and give me your comments.
Thanks for all for the support and kind words.
Rest Day at base camp Friday April 30th
Friday April 30th
Back to base camp rest day
Sleep well after the long trip down form camp 2 and the weather was much more pleasant. It was a little windier but it was at least 30 degrees warmer than what we had left. I wanted to take a shower but the wind was too much for today so I will wait until tomorrow. It has only been 6 days since my last one so 1 more day couldn’t hurt but I know I needed and wanted one.
I got my tent re organized for my next 4 days in camp. I am still a little sore on my shoulder, my legs hurt a bit, and I lost 1 toenail off my left foot ( 2nd toe which I damaged in Kilimanjaro in Feb )but it looks pretty good and I feel pretty good.
I also got a good hot shave. I have been trying that new 5 blade system my little Leah told me about but I hated to pay so much for the blades. But after a few shaves up here, I am beginning to like it. It shaves the longer beard better and it stays shorter longer. Thanks Little Leah as always you are the “savvy” consumer.
I will be trying to eat 3 meals a day and drinking as much as I can in the next few days to try and get ready for the next round on Tuesday morning. We will leave on our way up to camp 3 and will be gone for 4 more days. It will be just Nima and Nawang as Jim will stay in camp to get things ready for the summit run when we return. If you look at Jim original itinerary, we will only be a day behind if I successfully complete the next run so that is not so bad after I lost a week due to sickness. At this point he is worried about the “blue ice” on the Lhotse face and the fixed lines. They have installed 1 rope for going up and 1 for going down but in the opinion of many, the ropes are too far apart and could cause some issues with people trying to switch back and forth due to slow people. When it is nothing but ice to climb on, the crampons do not have much “gripping” power so people easily could have accidents as they unhook to try and get around people and the other rope not is a safe option to use due to the distance. I know it is hard to explain but to a mountaineer, it makes sense as not every person moves at the same rate and you have to have ways to pass on these steep slopes.
I sat down and wrote 5 days worth of blogs to cover the last 5 days on the mountain. Words cannot describe the feelings of what I just went through over the 5 days.(Good , Bad and the Ugly) I try in many ways to write words to make sure I keep the memories for the future but sometimes I cannot find the right way to express myself.
We had trouble with the satellite today and could not get on the internet yesterday. Jim and I downloaded our UUPlus email off the Thuraya Satellite which wasn’t the most efficient but we managed to get them downloaded and I responded to as many of you as possible. I really appreciate all the emails of support and information. As of yesterday, I have heard from people spread over 6 of the 7 continents and have heard from people I have not seen or heard from in more than 10 years in the last 3 ½ weeks so this is pretty incredible.
The weather turned bad around 3 pm today and the snow started. After several hours in the Communications tent (freezing to death and trying to type in below freezing weather), we retreated to the dining tent to just sit and talk and stay out of the weather in front of the heater. By the time we had finished dinner it was almost 9 pm and we headed for the comforts of the sleeping bag to warm up the cold feet.
By the time, we laid down the sky was full of stars and the moon was shining bright. I could only look at the Ice Fall and know I have only a few more days before I go back into there. The night was quite active with avalanches all around and we even heard a big “Thud” that sounded like it was in the ice fall but at this stage we do not know where it happen and what it did. I will most likely see when I go back on Tuesday.
Back to base camp rest day
Sleep well after the long trip down form camp 2 and the weather was much more pleasant. It was a little windier but it was at least 30 degrees warmer than what we had left. I wanted to take a shower but the wind was too much for today so I will wait until tomorrow. It has only been 6 days since my last one so 1 more day couldn’t hurt but I know I needed and wanted one.
I got my tent re organized for my next 4 days in camp. I am still a little sore on my shoulder, my legs hurt a bit, and I lost 1 toenail off my left foot ( 2nd toe which I damaged in Kilimanjaro in Feb )but it looks pretty good and I feel pretty good.
I also got a good hot shave. I have been trying that new 5 blade system my little Leah told me about but I hated to pay so much for the blades. But after a few shaves up here, I am beginning to like it. It shaves the longer beard better and it stays shorter longer. Thanks Little Leah as always you are the “savvy” consumer.
I will be trying to eat 3 meals a day and drinking as much as I can in the next few days to try and get ready for the next round on Tuesday morning. We will leave on our way up to camp 3 and will be gone for 4 more days. It will be just Nima and Nawang as Jim will stay in camp to get things ready for the summit run when we return. If you look at Jim original itinerary, we will only be a day behind if I successfully complete the next run so that is not so bad after I lost a week due to sickness. At this point he is worried about the “blue ice” on the Lhotse face and the fixed lines. They have installed 1 rope for going up and 1 for going down but in the opinion of many, the ropes are too far apart and could cause some issues with people trying to switch back and forth due to slow people. When it is nothing but ice to climb on, the crampons do not have much “gripping” power so people easily could have accidents as they unhook to try and get around people and the other rope not is a safe option to use due to the distance. I know it is hard to explain but to a mountaineer, it makes sense as not every person moves at the same rate and you have to have ways to pass on these steep slopes.
I sat down and wrote 5 days worth of blogs to cover the last 5 days on the mountain. Words cannot describe the feelings of what I just went through over the 5 days.(Good , Bad and the Ugly) I try in many ways to write words to make sure I keep the memories for the future but sometimes I cannot find the right way to express myself.
We had trouble with the satellite today and could not get on the internet yesterday. Jim and I downloaded our UUPlus email off the Thuraya Satellite which wasn’t the most efficient but we managed to get them downloaded and I responded to as many of you as possible. I really appreciate all the emails of support and information. As of yesterday, I have heard from people spread over 6 of the 7 continents and have heard from people I have not seen or heard from in more than 10 years in the last 3 ½ weeks so this is pretty incredible.
The weather turned bad around 3 pm today and the snow started. After several hours in the Communications tent (freezing to death and trying to type in below freezing weather), we retreated to the dining tent to just sit and talk and stay out of the weather in front of the heater. By the time we had finished dinner it was almost 9 pm and we headed for the comforts of the sleeping bag to warm up the cold feet.
By the time, we laid down the sky was full of stars and the moon was shining bright. I could only look at the Ice Fall and know I have only a few more days before I go back into there. The night was quite active with avalanches all around and we even heard a big “Thud” that sounded like it was in the ice fall but at this stage we do not know where it happen and what it did. I will most likely see when I go back on Tuesday.
Long walk down from ABC back to base camp
Thursday April 29th
Going home to Base camp from Camp 2 (ABC)
I didn’t sleep well last night possibly because I had been in the tent for some 14 hrs and was restless but when the call to get up at 5:15 am I for sure didn’t want to get up. I was warm in my sleeping bag, there was frost on the entire inside of the tent and every time I touched the tent frost would fall down onto my clothes. I am so big my head hits the top all the time so it is like it is snowing in my tent in the mornings when I get up before the sun dries it out. It was -4 degrees Fahrenheit and I did not want to get out of the bag.
I had put my pullover and jacket inside my sleeping bag to keep them warm and dry but as I was putting stuff on the frost was being knocked down on me. It was cold and wet. I finally got my clothes on for my trip and then I had to put everything in my stuff sacks for the clothes that I was leaving at camp 2, stuff that was being left at camp 1 for next week and stuff that was going to base camp which is what I was taking down in my backpack.
I finally had pushed everything outside to Nima and gang for the trip down and headed to the dining tent to get some breakfast, put on my harness and get my crampons. We finally walked out the door at 6:50am for our trip down and it included all 5 of us (Nima, Jim, Naawang, Zhagbu (camp 2 cook), Steve) We all had our crampons on and I realized that I had left my sunglasses in the tent so Nima didn’t have his on so he went back to get them but told us to go on down and he will keep going. I left with Nawang and Zhagbu and Jim waited on Nima. We covered the 7 miles pretty quickly and when we got to camp 1 we dropped the stuff off and Nima told us to keep going.
As I had told you on a previous day, there was 1 nasty vertical ladder in between camp 1 and camp 2. Well when we were going down it I got my crampons and the rope hung up and fell off the ladder. First it was a pretty quick deal. The carabineer (on my harness) attached to the safety rope caught me about the same time that the ground caught my shoulder. This was a wakeup call for me to be careful for the rest of the day to be more careful and also showed me how quick something can happen. It scared me to death. I got right up and tried to get loose of the rope that was attached to my harness and was a little dazed and then Jim yelled at me not to do it as I was standing next to a huge crevasse located right behind me. Well what a way to start the day but all is well. (BTW the shoulder is a little sore today (Friday April 30th) but will be ok)
Then we proceeded to the ICE Fall where I was now dreading those first 2 sets of 3 ladders. It was hard work on the first one and we had a lot of traffic around them which makes it even more complicated with everyone trying to find a place to stand and get up and down efficiently. As far as I can tell in the 3 days I have been in the falls there are no common courtesies. People come down and go up at random rates with little regard for the others. I might be wrong but this is how I have seen it.
While we were working hard, I became very hot and needed to take off a layer of clothing and I told Nawang. He told me we couldn’t do it here as it was too dangerous to stop and we would have to wait. I said ok but I didn’t know that meant 45 mins later. By then I had been overheated for that long and my energy had been sapped. We did finally stop and I drank almost a liter of water. I was smoking with the work but the stressed of those few ladders especially after what had happened to me earlier. After a few mins of changing clothes and drinking we continued on down the ice falls. I was moving steady but quite a bit slower. I was just drained but I knew I wanted to get down. Quite a bit of stuff of changed in the fall since I was there 4 days ago but something that didn’t change was it was steep and slick. The sun was now full on and I couldn’t take enough clothes off so I would have to just gut it out for the next 3 hours.
We continued down and about 30 mins from the exit. We had some tea and a coke delivered into the ice fall. Zhagbu had gone ahead and had some of the guys bring us the drinks. It was perfect timing as I was out of water and needed a drink. We had our break gave them our backpacks and proceeded home and was there in the next 20 mins.
We were tired and wanted something to eat as it was almost 12 pm. We had the done the run in about 5 hours, 1 hour less than what Jim and the Sherpa’s had predicted. For me, it was not a min too early. I was shot and needed to sit down for a while.
When we got to the base camp, we went and sat in the dining tent for lunch and wait for Tracy (our base camp manager) to return from Gorak-shep. She had gone down to use the internet and was back within 30 mins of us arriving. She is nice and a friend of a friend of Jim’s who was looking for the neat trip. We sat around and talk and had lunch and I never left the tent until around 6 pm when all of a sudden I just went down and said I had to go to bed without dinner. Jim made me stay around a little while longer while they ate but I could barley hold my head up. I was tired getting cold and wanted to go to bed.
I did finally get into bed with my hot water bottle and went to sleep very quickly and slept all night. It was nice not to have to wake up for anything.
Going home to Base camp from Camp 2 (ABC)
I didn’t sleep well last night possibly because I had been in the tent for some 14 hrs and was restless but when the call to get up at 5:15 am I for sure didn’t want to get up. I was warm in my sleeping bag, there was frost on the entire inside of the tent and every time I touched the tent frost would fall down onto my clothes. I am so big my head hits the top all the time so it is like it is snowing in my tent in the mornings when I get up before the sun dries it out. It was -4 degrees Fahrenheit and I did not want to get out of the bag.
I had put my pullover and jacket inside my sleeping bag to keep them warm and dry but as I was putting stuff on the frost was being knocked down on me. It was cold and wet. I finally got my clothes on for my trip and then I had to put everything in my stuff sacks for the clothes that I was leaving at camp 2, stuff that was being left at camp 1 for next week and stuff that was going to base camp which is what I was taking down in my backpack.
I finally had pushed everything outside to Nima and gang for the trip down and headed to the dining tent to get some breakfast, put on my harness and get my crampons. We finally walked out the door at 6:50am for our trip down and it included all 5 of us (Nima, Jim, Naawang, Zhagbu (camp 2 cook), Steve) We all had our crampons on and I realized that I had left my sunglasses in the tent so Nima didn’t have his on so he went back to get them but told us to go on down and he will keep going. I left with Nawang and Zhagbu and Jim waited on Nima. We covered the 7 miles pretty quickly and when we got to camp 1 we dropped the stuff off and Nima told us to keep going.
As I had told you on a previous day, there was 1 nasty vertical ladder in between camp 1 and camp 2. Well when we were going down it I got my crampons and the rope hung up and fell off the ladder. First it was a pretty quick deal. The carabineer (on my harness) attached to the safety rope caught me about the same time that the ground caught my shoulder. This was a wakeup call for me to be careful for the rest of the day to be more careful and also showed me how quick something can happen. It scared me to death. I got right up and tried to get loose of the rope that was attached to my harness and was a little dazed and then Jim yelled at me not to do it as I was standing next to a huge crevasse located right behind me. Well what a way to start the day but all is well. (BTW the shoulder is a little sore today (Friday April 30th) but will be ok)
Then we proceeded to the ICE Fall where I was now dreading those first 2 sets of 3 ladders. It was hard work on the first one and we had a lot of traffic around them which makes it even more complicated with everyone trying to find a place to stand and get up and down efficiently. As far as I can tell in the 3 days I have been in the falls there are no common courtesies. People come down and go up at random rates with little regard for the others. I might be wrong but this is how I have seen it.
While we were working hard, I became very hot and needed to take off a layer of clothing and I told Nawang. He told me we couldn’t do it here as it was too dangerous to stop and we would have to wait. I said ok but I didn’t know that meant 45 mins later. By then I had been overheated for that long and my energy had been sapped. We did finally stop and I drank almost a liter of water. I was smoking with the work but the stressed of those few ladders especially after what had happened to me earlier. After a few mins of changing clothes and drinking we continued on down the ice falls. I was moving steady but quite a bit slower. I was just drained but I knew I wanted to get down. Quite a bit of stuff of changed in the fall since I was there 4 days ago but something that didn’t change was it was steep and slick. The sun was now full on and I couldn’t take enough clothes off so I would have to just gut it out for the next 3 hours.
We continued down and about 30 mins from the exit. We had some tea and a coke delivered into the ice fall. Zhagbu had gone ahead and had some of the guys bring us the drinks. It was perfect timing as I was out of water and needed a drink. We had our break gave them our backpacks and proceeded home and was there in the next 20 mins.
We were tired and wanted something to eat as it was almost 12 pm. We had the done the run in about 5 hours, 1 hour less than what Jim and the Sherpa’s had predicted. For me, it was not a min too early. I was shot and needed to sit down for a while.
When we got to the base camp, we went and sat in the dining tent for lunch and wait for Tracy (our base camp manager) to return from Gorak-shep. She had gone down to use the internet and was back within 30 mins of us arriving. She is nice and a friend of a friend of Jim’s who was looking for the neat trip. We sat around and talk and had lunch and I never left the tent until around 6 pm when all of a sudden I just went down and said I had to go to bed without dinner. Jim made me stay around a little while longer while they ate but I could barley hold my head up. I was tired getting cold and wanted to go to bed.
I did finally get into bed with my hot water bottle and went to sleep very quickly and slept all night. It was nice not to have to wake up for anything.
Day 2 at ABC
Wednesday April 28th
Day 2 @ Advanced base camp
Due to the weather, we stayed in our tents until about 8 am when the sun can shine brightly on them to warm them up. As I awoke early the entire tent on the inside was frozen. The sunglasses had a thick layer of frost on them and I just didn’t want to get up until the inside was thawed out.
By 845am the ice was gone and I was able to get up and go to breakfast. Pancakes and bacon was on the menu and I ate about half of it and a couple of pieces of bacon.
The wind had stopped during the night (Thank goodness) but it was still cold. The sun provided a good deal of warmth if you stood in the rays or was in your tent.
After breakfast, we all went back to our tents. The sun was shining and it felt good for about 30 mins. After that I did everything imaginable to try and stay cool but the heat in the tent was unbearable. I finally had to get up around 11 am and went to the dining tent. We stayed in the dining tent until around 12 when we had lunch and then I went back to the tent due to the cold weather again. I thought we were going on a 2 hr hike around 2pm weather permitting but before I knew it Jim was making his 5 pm base camp call. The opportunity to move up another 1000 ft had been lost but the weather was just too bad to go.
The snow had been falling for hours and the temperatures had been dropping and the sun was long gone. We would have another night of -0 Fahrenheit weather. It was a clear night when I looked out at the summit of Everest below a sky full of stars. The snow capped mountains were just unbelievable as the night looked like daylight inside the tent with all of the reflections off the snow.
It is amazing how much one can sleep his life away up here. The altitude, the cold weather outside vs the warm weather in the sleeping bag and the hiking just takes its toll on your body and I am not a lazy person at all.
One thing at this campsite that drove me crazy was the big rock in the middle of my tent. I could not find a way to keep my head up. I moved around every way I could in the tent (didn’t really care about where my feet pointed for religious purposes) and I couldn’t find a way to do it. The rock was perfectly placed right in the middle of my tent. I didn’t have the heart to tell the guys because they would have tried to fix the ground but I had seen the work they had done just to get it at this level which was not easy. The rock was right in my hip bones and it just worked on me all night. I was popping Aleve to help but it was not going to be helped until I got out of this tent site. What these guys accomplish on a “side” of nay terrain and on top of any surface (rock, snow and ice) is an amazing feat so doesn’t let it sound like I am complaining but did want to remember my 2 nights at ABC on my “teeter totter” rock in the middle of my bed.
We got up about 630 for dinner in the dining tent. It was another good meal of chicken and rice but it was so cold I could hardly eat. I had my Mountain Hardwear jacket on and I was still cold. I drank a couple of cups of hot tea but nothing was going to get me warm but the sleeping bag.
We went to bed at 715 pm and the wakeup call was going to come about 5 am for our trip back to home (base camp) and I was ready to go home. These 4 days were good for my acclimatization but I was smelling pretty bad and I needed a shower and I wanted the comforts of my bed in base camp vs these last 2 camps.
Day 2 @ Advanced base camp
Due to the weather, we stayed in our tents until about 8 am when the sun can shine brightly on them to warm them up. As I awoke early the entire tent on the inside was frozen. The sunglasses had a thick layer of frost on them and I just didn’t want to get up until the inside was thawed out.
By 845am the ice was gone and I was able to get up and go to breakfast. Pancakes and bacon was on the menu and I ate about half of it and a couple of pieces of bacon.
The wind had stopped during the night (Thank goodness) but it was still cold. The sun provided a good deal of warmth if you stood in the rays or was in your tent.
After breakfast, we all went back to our tents. The sun was shining and it felt good for about 30 mins. After that I did everything imaginable to try and stay cool but the heat in the tent was unbearable. I finally had to get up around 11 am and went to the dining tent. We stayed in the dining tent until around 12 when we had lunch and then I went back to the tent due to the cold weather again. I thought we were going on a 2 hr hike around 2pm weather permitting but before I knew it Jim was making his 5 pm base camp call. The opportunity to move up another 1000 ft had been lost but the weather was just too bad to go.
The snow had been falling for hours and the temperatures had been dropping and the sun was long gone. We would have another night of -0 Fahrenheit weather. It was a clear night when I looked out at the summit of Everest below a sky full of stars. The snow capped mountains were just unbelievable as the night looked like daylight inside the tent with all of the reflections off the snow.
It is amazing how much one can sleep his life away up here. The altitude, the cold weather outside vs the warm weather in the sleeping bag and the hiking just takes its toll on your body and I am not a lazy person at all.
One thing at this campsite that drove me crazy was the big rock in the middle of my tent. I could not find a way to keep my head up. I moved around every way I could in the tent (didn’t really care about where my feet pointed for religious purposes) and I couldn’t find a way to do it. The rock was perfectly placed right in the middle of my tent. I didn’t have the heart to tell the guys because they would have tried to fix the ground but I had seen the work they had done just to get it at this level which was not easy. The rock was right in my hip bones and it just worked on me all night. I was popping Aleve to help but it was not going to be helped until I got out of this tent site. What these guys accomplish on a “side” of nay terrain and on top of any surface (rock, snow and ice) is an amazing feat so doesn’t let it sound like I am complaining but did want to remember my 2 nights at ABC on my “teeter totter” rock in the middle of my bed.
We got up about 630 for dinner in the dining tent. It was another good meal of chicken and rice but it was so cold I could hardly eat. I had my Mountain Hardwear jacket on and I was still cold. I drank a couple of cups of hot tea but nothing was going to get me warm but the sleeping bag.
We went to bed at 715 pm and the wakeup call was going to come about 5 am for our trip back to home (base camp) and I was ready to go home. These 4 days were good for my acclimatization but I was smelling pretty bad and I needed a shower and I wanted the comforts of my bed in base camp vs these last 2 camps.
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