Hardwear Sessions

The ascent from the 2000' in the jungle to this wet and snowy bench has been eventful and adventurous. The last section of the 6 day approach was seemingly endless as we led our porters and wound our way up one last long spine to the base of the route. It was a 6500' day. The porters stayed for lunch and we shared our jackets and laughter. They have been good to us and we abliged them with healthy tips.

Tim and Josh are feeling good and we all share sentiments of wonder and excitement. Staring at the mountain before the afternoon storm moved in, we plotted our line from every vantage. It is a beautiful line and from here, we can solve many of it's difficulties. It also looks very,very ski-able!

Right now, the weather has turned and it is snowing heavily so we will wait for the mountain to be ready or begin climbing in three days, whichever is most prudent. Storms in this range can be very dangerous, not only because of avalanche hazards but also thunder and lightning, a treat unique to the Western Himalaya.

May 1, 2008

We spent most of the day today dodging thunderstorms and Austrians. Both are omnipresent and change the nature of base camp. It was a classic rest day in a secluded Himalayan locale.

Upon our arrival yesterday, we found a toilet tent smack dab in the middle of the trail and 8 tents in camp for 4 people. Since only 2 were here, they requested we keep our camp separate. I explained that in America, we share. This did not go over so well when their expedition leader arrived today. They are members of a commercial expedition that was denied access to Tibet 3 weeks ago and instead wound up here.

We set our three tents for the 5 of us on the only available dry spots left in what is an acre and a half. Smugly we eyed their shower tent and today had it moved. Needless to say, they are not communicating with us. Kind of a bummer, we just thought it was unneccessary to pitch our tents in a 4" deep puddle...go figure. I'd be upset too though if I thought I was heading to Tibet and instead ended up here with three rowdy Americans.

Camp is still really sweet, I mean c'mon... secluded Himalayan locale right? We spent most of the day walking up and down the spines of the moraine eyeing our line on the mountain and awaiting our chance to climb higher. It looks sooooo good up there. During bouts of thunder and snow, we retreated to our cook tent and sorted gear for the ascent that will happen in the next few days.