Walk to Camp 2 ( Advanced Base Camp)

Tuesday April 27th
Walk to Camp 2 (ABC)
As we expected, the Sherpa’s shook the tents at 6:30 am. (They had left base camp at 3:30 am and had scampered up the Ice Fall in 3 hrs, freaking amazing guys with 50+ lbs on their backs) Jim and I were just about ready to go when this happened so we continued to get our pads, sleeping bags and our other stuff in stuff sacks so the Sherpa’s could take our stuff up the mountain.
After about 45 mins of getting stuff together the Sherpa’s were on their way and Jim and I was ready to start our trek to Camp 2. Jim had anticipated about a 4 – 5 hour walk (about 7 miles) but it just didn’t seem like it would take that long looking at it the previous day but he had reminded me to sometimes your eyes can play tricks on you when you just look uphill. Our starting altitude point was about 19000 feet.
At 8 am we got started and were moving very well. This made me feel better as I was still frustrated about the 8 hour Ice Fall trip. The weather was good when the Sherpa’s left but by the time we were leaving Jim noticed the weather was getting bad from the west/southwest which he said was not a very good sign. We started and it was cold but we had made it to our previous day point about 30 mins quicker. One reason was because we had put on our crampons the 2nd day which made it a little quicker to move on the icy slippery slopes and we actually was feeling good after a good sleep. We had a few ladders (one pretty nasty vertical) and several “scary “crevasses that we had to navigate but after this was just one long continuous slope. I have thought over and over something I could use to describe the last 5 miles of walking but I could only describe a road in Tellico that I went for some training years ago on a recommendation by a friend Kevin Tumlin which was up as long as I wanted to walk that day or any day. I didn’t like it then and I didn’t like it this day either.
We walked about 2 1/2 more hours and we finally made it. What a frustrated feeling to just keep walking up for 2 + hours and never having a break of anything thing but up and almost dead straight. Again the slope was not steep or high but it was truly like a “death march” and I was tired when we got there. I did have to remember we were actually moving up more altitude than the Ice Fall 8 hr day (about 2000 feet) but we were getting there in an entirely different way. Jim did stop and continued to give me more history of things that had happened in these mountains over the years which I always thought was interesting. We also moved through 2 large patches along the trail where it showed the remains of 2 very large avalanches where some very large rocks and pieces of ice were now in the middle of the valley. I am glad I didn’t see these happen or be here when they did.
As we entered the camp, the weather started turning bad, the wind had really picked up so what Jim was saying early this morning was coming true. We were in for a cold afternoon and a miserable night.
I was now sleeping at the base of Mt Everest about 8000 feet from the summit and I could see it from inside my tent. What a view????
When we got there, we went straight to the tent and waited for lunch call. After about 2 hours, we got up and went to the dining tent for lunch. Good lunch but wasn’t too hungry so Nima was again concerned about my eating habits.
ABC- (Advanced base camp) this camp is similar to base camp with a dining tent and a kitchen. This is nice as you have someone else to go besides your tent to enjoy your food and conversation.

After lunch we returned to the tent until dinner time due to the weather situation. I just listened to my iPod as it was too cold to do anything outside the tent unless it was an essential task. The snow began to fall and the temperatures continue to drop. When dinner was ready, Nima came to my tent trying to serve me dinner. I refused and said let’s eat in the dining tent. Honestly if I would not have gotten up then I would not have eaten the food. It was a good dinner of chick and rice but I do not know if the cold weather was worth the walk to the tent.
Jim joined me but it was pretty scary with the wind just blowing the tent all over the place. Jim was actually worried that we might lose this dining tent if the wind got much stronger and blew the tent in a certain way and it would break the poles. After a quick dinner, we actually thought it would be safer in our individual tent. (Guys remember Berlin camp Aconcagua 2007; it was close to that but not quite)
I was tired, it had been a better day and I was ready for bed. The next day would be yet another adventure as we are going on a hike towards camp 3.
The temperature was -0 Fahrenheit and the wind continued to blow and it was snowing quite hard but in my bag with my hot water bottle it was pretty cozy. I could only think about those people, who had just moved up to camp 3 with this wind and the temperatures. Maybe tomorrow would be better or it would be a long day in the bag.
We did hear that 3 people were killed on the mountain on the North side (China) by an avalanche but nothing was confirmed yet. We also have heard that the weather from that side has been a lot worse than our side. I hope all is well over there as that is where the 13 year old boy is and Nawang’s bother is also over there.