Monday May 19. Camp 3.
Well we didn't need too worry about getting overheated on the Lhotse face today. Keep reading to find out why.
Last night just before bed we changed our morning departure time to 5:45am. Breakfast was to be at 5:15am.
I slept ok, but not great. I often do not sleep great before an early departure. I woke at 4:45am and packed my bag and wandered to the dining tent. No breakfast was to be found until 6am. Our assistant cook has been reassigned to the Junkies as they have lost two climbing Sherpa for various reasons. This has left our cook shorthanded and he has not recovered from it. Most meals these days are late.
After breakfast we finally got on the trail by 6:30am.
We made our way up the Western Cwm towards the Lhotse face. Last time this trip took us two hours, but this time it only took 1.5 hours.
We walked in shadow as the sun's rays had not yet hit us. It was quite cold, but not too bad. I was wearing my Everest boots, light long underwear bottoms, my Gore-Tex bib pants, a base layer top, my Windstopper vest, my Patagonia down sweater, a light hat, and my TNF ski glove. I was not hot, but I wasn't too cold either.
When we got close to the face the sun hit us and we stopped to put on sunscreen and helmets for the face. A lot of debris comes down from above (snow and ice and sometimes gear) and it is best to wear a helmet while on the face. As we were getting ready for the face a very strong wind picked up. I looked up the face and could see it being ravaged by the wind. Climbers were hitting the ground to ride out the gusts. At least its' sunny I thought. Otherwise it would be brutally cold.
We clipped onto the rope and started up the face. The wind did not abate and the sun did not help. My fingers started to lose feeling as the wind sand blasted my face with snow and ice. I tried to shied my face with my free hand but it was of little use. My nose went numb and I started to be concerned about frost bite on my face.
Otherwise it was not a bad day. Although my hands and face were cold, the rest of my body remained pretty warm. I was also making good time. Perhaps speared on by the storm. I felt strong and moved well. My pace of four breaths per step changed to three and I made it to the tents in 3.5 hours. That cut 30 minutes off my last time.
Ultimately, it was good we did not leave when we said we would. We would have froze. The clouds came in half way up the face so we did not have to deal with the intensity of the sun and worry about sun burn quite so much.
I was still pretty tired when I got to the tents and my throat was raw from breathing in all that cold air. I added to the chorus of coughing that could be heard all around camp. Some hot drinks and rest have made my cough better and it is now not too bad. Overall my cough has been much better today.
The rest of the day will be rest, eat, and drink time. Angus and Al are asleep as I write this. I can not sleep during the day. The sun has come out and it is pretty warm in our tent (35c).
Tomorrow will be a big day, but based on everyone's performance today, I think we will do well. We will also have the added benefit of oxygen.
That is all for now (2:00pm). I will do an update later before I send.
5:45 Update:
So what do five guys do for entertainment when sitting in a scorching tent for hours on end? Talk about music of course. We started by naming the top ten bands of the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's. That led to long discussions of our favourite bands (mostly Angus, Ryan and myself). We talked about the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Everclear, The Ramones. Rage Against the Machine, and many others. This led to discussions and sing alongs of just about every band we could think of. Angus and I then talked about local bands of our youth like Teenage Head and Rough Trade. This went on for about three hours and was a great way to kill some time.
We have now finished dinner. We had mashed potatoes with BBQ chicken. Overall quite good. The sun will be setting soon and the tent is cooling quickly.
The forecast for tomorrow looks good. Cold with light winds. The 21st (our summit day) looks very good. The forecast is calling for clouds up to 8000m and virtually no wind. This means we may walk through some clouds, but the summit should be clear. Not the best for photos, but pretty good. The most important part is the lack of wind.
We will depart camp 3 for camp 4 around 5am tomorrow morning. We will wear our down suits as it will be cold to start and get colder as we get closer to the South Col. We will also be using oxygen for the first time.

Message from Al B: Darlene, My note book got wet and I lost your cell phone number. Can you send the last four numbers to Scott's web site. His wife will forward it to Scott in an email. What is the best time to call on the 21st. Leave your phone on as that will be our summit day.
I am feeling well at camp 3.
Thanks. All my love, Al.

Angus says hello to his family and friends. Feeling good. Tomorrow we head up to Camp 4 (South Col).
Angus.

Messages:

Susan, Amy, and Colin, thanks for all your support. I think of you always.
I love you, Scott (Daddy).

Karen, train hard. Climb your mountain.

Kevin, great to hear from you. Thanks for your message.

QE, thanks for the note. I'm going for it.

Doug & Dave, thanks for the note. I'm Playing to Win.

Jean, Thanks for the message.

M.C., thanks for the message.