Sunday 23rd
6pm - The group are now having a well earned rest day at Camp 1. The weather is sunny, cloudy and very windy. Last night it was about -20 degrees C. Yesterday we were hauling sleds in 2 teams, 1 of 3 and 1 of 4. It is so cold that the crevasses have snow bridges which are enabling us to take a more direct route than we would otherwise have had to take.
The wind can be extremely strong and gusty, ranging from 0 to very extreme gusts in a very short time. The wind was so strong that it blew down our catering tent.
We now have five tents and they have built snow walls 4’ high all around the camp, the walls are just higher than the top of the tents.
The spin drift is about 500 metres. Just 500 metres away the wind is coming down the mountain at quite a speed. We are expecting exceptionally bad weather tonight.
It is so cold that I am keeping the following items in my sleeping bag at night:- water bottle, pee bottle, all batteries (camera, sat phone, and ipod), toothpaste, socks, inner thermals and boots!!!
Tomorrow (Mon 24th) we intend to have a 5-6 hour climb up the head wall which is at a 45 degree angle to high camp where we will stash equipment before returning to Camp 1.
I have met a friend at camp who I climbed a previous mountain with so sharing this experience with someone again is very special.
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2 comments:
Have you an update as of 2nd December 2008
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