Saturday May 17. Camp 2 6400m.
It is 2:40pm and I am sitting in my tent at camp 2. We arrived here at 12 noon. It was a slog, but not as bad as last time.
The last few days have been really hot so we decided to leave earlier today. We woke at 3:30am and had breakfast at 4:00am. We were off at 4:30am.
Since this is our summit bid the base camp Sherpa were all up to see us off (our climbing Sherpa were already at camp 2). To send us off the Sherpa had lit a juniper fire at the Chorten. We all walked up to the Chorten, passed through the aromatic smoke, and threw some rice. We were now ready to head up hill for our summit bid.
The walk through the ice fall went well. It is amazing how much it has changed in the last five days. The top has not changed much because it is cooler up there, but the bottom had changed dramatically. New ladders had been placed over rivers of melt water and it took us a few minutes to find the start of the trail. It had changed so much we did not recognize it.
We climbed most of the ice fall in the shade which was nice. There were not too many people in the ice fall today so the going was pretty easy. No traffic jams.
We made it to camp 1 in good time and had a snack. Unfortunately the sun caught up with us here. Today was mostly overcast, but the sun was still extremely hot. The few times the sun did poke out it threatened to bake me alive.
It took us two hours to travel from C1 to C2 (same as last time). One of our climbing Sherpa met us part way with a pot of cold grape drink. That was quite refreshing.
Once in camp we had lunch and rested for a while. As I said earlier I an now in my tent. The sun has just broken through the clouds and it is at least 100 degrees F (35 C) in here and I am not exaggerating. I may need to escape outside if the clouds do not come back in.
Our Sherpa have been working very hard while we were at base camp. They have taken two trips to the South Col and it is now stocked with three tents and 25 bottles of oxygen. That is all we need for our summit push. It took them eight hours to get to the Col from C2 with full packs. It only took them two hours to get down.
Lama Babu told me that a team of 11 Sherpa will go up on the 20th and fix rope as far as they can. Likely to the South Summit. When we go on the 21st the lead team will fix the rope the rest of the way to the summit. I do have some concern about going on the first day. It has happened at least once that the lead team ran out of rope and was unable to summit as a result. This was many years ago and has not happened since, but it is still a small concern.
For the last several years Mountain Madness has been the lead team and they are poised to do so again this year. Willie Benegas (sp?), the head guide for Mountain Madness prides himself to be the team that fixes rope to the summit. He has done it for several years and knows what he is doing.
If for some reason that plan falls apart, there will be enough manpower (mostly Sherpa power) to get the job done.
We have heard many stories regarding how many people will go for the summit on the 21st. Numbers range from 50-100, but word on the street now is that it will be closer to 50. That would be good. We'll just have to wait and see.
That's all for today. Not really much new. We will be at camp 2 tomorrow for a rest day.
Hugs to Susan, Amy, and Colin.
Scott SS.

Messages:

Susan, the old way for messages is easier to read, but either way works. You choose based on your time and energy. If the grass needs trimming go buy an electric trimmer. You can also look in the C'Wood shed and see if there is one there or hire someone to do it. See if Jem's guys can do it once or twice.

Colin, thanks for the message.

Penny, my pleasure to do the notes. I hope this helps your class.

Claudia, the parties have been fun and a good distraction. Sic weeks is a long time to spend at base camp.

Mops & Pops, thanks for your note and your encouragement.

Karen, train hard for your triathlon. Your challenge is just as big as mine, just different. I'm glad Phil and the kids enjoyed the poop talk.

Melanie, thanks for the words of encouragement.

Paul, I will see what I can get. It is a small store so they don't carry too much stock. Glad you can use my climb to get your spinners working harder.

Carrie, my pleasure to help your Dad connect with you and the rest of the family. He is doing great.

Dave, thanks for the note. I will be home soon to give you some support..

Pat, I spoke to Nima Dorjee today and I think you climbed with a different Nima. My guy did not summit last year.

Dana, thanks for the note. You are a funny girl.