Hardwear Sessions

Today is the last of 3 rest days which were very much welcomed after a tough 2 days going up to camp 1 at the end of last week. The climb to 1 started at 5am with breakfast, (always hard to consume at such an hour) and by 6 we were moving in the icefall. Things all went really well and Ran was climbing at a steady pace. We were soon at our pervious high point and the sun was still to hit us, I was very happy with how Ran was coping with the climb and the altitude.

The upper section of the icefall is pretty broken with a couple of large vertical ladders, but on a whole the icefall is safe and quick to move through this year. Once one breaches the icefall there is still about an hour weaving this way and that though crevasses before one comes to camp 1.

The team all got there in around 5 ½ hours which was great timing. Once there we all got busy melting ice to water to re-hydrate and eating. The afternoon was spent in our tents sheltering from a bitter wind while we debating if Sir Cliff Richard was Indian or not (answers on a postcard please). Ran and John were sure he was at least ½ Indian while the rest of us were a little less sure.

The night at one is never that nice but it passed pretty quickly and soon I had purring at 6 in the morning. Ran had had a fit-full night and was keen to head down so Dave (the cameraman) and myself headed down not long after 8am in order to miss the midday heat. In the meantime Rob and John headed up for a couple of hours and got into the western cwm before they too returned to BC.

All in all it was a very successful trip one where Dave reached a new high point (Altitude wise) in life, Ran got to see the Lhotse face at last and the rest of us got a cool couple of days in the hills.

After that as I mentioned we have had a few rest days which have involved washing dirty clothes, eating heaps and playing a large number of cards. The only sad point was saying goodbye to John who headed home after reaching his own goal of seeing the western cwm. Rob also took this time to take some amazing photos at night, see the one of my tent at the top of this page. It has been very very cold at night here so a big thumbs up to him for the dedication needed.

Last night myself and Ran ate at one of the other camps which was fun so thanks to Victor Saunders for that, although the walk back in the dark with just one head torch was an adventure in its own right.

That's about it for now, we'll be away for a few days but I'll try and keep you all up dated with what happens soon.