Greetings! This will have to be short; almost every electronic device bigger than an iPod is experiencing power issues and for some reason that includes my computer. Hopefully it will heal itself while I’m up on the mountain.
I carried a big load (19kg or 42 pounds) up the icefall on 4/16. I left earlier (3:50) and was faster overall. I knew what the route was like and managed to avoid the sun. Of course it didn’t matter that day as the wind was blowing quite hard. I was going to set my tent up but it was just too windy. I put my stuff in the Altitude Junkies tents that were already pitched, added a few anchors so the tents wouldn’t blow away, and headed down. I left my camera in BC because of my big load, so of course there were many opportunities for excellent photos. I got back before noon, quite happy that my three bottles of oxygen were now at C1.
The last two days have been rest days. There really isn’t any reason to hurry at this point. Tomorrow (Sunday, 4/19) I’ll carry a load of down gear and my sleeping bag to C1 and stay there. The plan is to spend the next two days carrying my stuff to Camp 2, which is just being established now. I’ll be eating food at C2 (also called Advance Base Camp or ABC) in the Altitude Junkies kitchen.
I’ll have more general observations after I get back down and my computer heals itself. From the perspective of an experienced climber, things are quite surreal here–sort of an alternate climbing universe. I knew that before I started, but it’s still strange.
Remember that I don’t answer my normal email while I’m gone. Oh, and for those of you who are expecting postcards, I’ll be finishing them at C1 and C2 and will get them down to Kathmandu after that. The postcards were in my baggage that just arrived a few days ago, so I couldn’t start on them until yesterday.
More in a few days, Mike