Friday May 9. Camp 2 6400m.
We made our break for camp 2 today. It was a bit of a death march. By the time we got to camp 1 I was a bit of a zombie, and by camp 2 I was the walking dead. Actually I did get a second wind by camp 2 so it was not too bad.
We departed at 5:30am as planned. In retrospect this is a little late and I would vote for about an hour earlier next time.
I don't think I slept one minute last night. I did not doze at all. I went to bed at 9pm and quickly overheated. Once I am too hot it takes me a long time to cool down. I think this, combined with the early start worked against me for sleep.
I heard our cook rattling pots at 3:15am and the generator started at 4:00am.
Breakfast was milk tea (tea made with milk instead of water with sugar and spices; it is a Sherpa specialty) and oatmeal. We were then on our way.
We were all dragging our butts a little today. We had had nine rest days before we came back up and I'm sure we lost some fitness during this time. We moved slowly through the ice fall, but quickly caught up with the line. It seems we were not the only ones moving slow.
The ice fall had changed over the last nine days. With the constant motion of the ice and the warming temperatures there had been a lot of changes. New routes were in place in some sections and new ladders spanned newly opened gaps in the ice. Overall I think there were fewer ladders than the last time we went through.
We were making pretty good time (faster than last time despite our lengthy rest) until we got to the unstable ladder I wote about last time. It was just as bad as last time and was creating quite a traffic jam. Just above this ladder is another vertical one that is also a little tricky. Not only were there many people going slow across the ladder (I counted about 25 in line), but there were also about 20 Sherpa trying to come down. One would think that the best thing to do would be to alternate, but the challenge is once you let one Sherpa in they all file through.
Eventually we got over the ladder and got in line for the next one. Once again there was a large cue with fast moving Sherpa trying to work the line. There is a rappel station to help ease congestion on the ladder, but most Sherpa will not use it. Some don't know how to rappel and many just find it too scary and refuse to do it.
With all these slowdowns we lost close to an hour. By the time we wound our way into camp 1 the sun was on us full force and this slowed our pace to a crawl. We took a break at camp 1 and had some food and drink. It had taken us almost five hours to get here.
After our break we set out for camp 2. The heat was almost unbearable. We stumbled along the trail like everyone else. The rolling hills of the Western Cwm did not seem so beautiful this time. All I could do was put one foot in front of the other. Camp 2 can be seen from a very long distance away, but the distance is misleading. It looks so close, but you know you have close to two hours to go. The other thing that is very important is to apply copious amounts of sun block frequently. If not, any exposed skin will burn in minutes.
Half way to camp 2 clouds came in and partly blocked the sun. The air temperature dropped dramatically and some light snow started to fall. This change gave me the energy I needed to make it to camp. It was still very tiring, but the last hour was not too bad. In all it took seven hours to go from BC to camp 2. I do not look forward to the next time.
Once in camp we had popcorn and tomato/ginger soup for lunch. Everyone was quite tired and we sat on the floor of the dining tent for a long time. As we were relaxing the tent fly (the outside layer) spontaneously exploded and shredded to pieces. The constant hot/cold temperature fluctuation makes the tent fabric very tight, add to this extreme UV exposure and fabric does not last long up here. It was this tents time to go. It went with a loud pop and the sound of breaking poles. When we stepped outside to have a look the damage was extensive. Almost the entire fly had been destroyed. The tent is still usable and a blue tarp will make the repairs for now.
Right now it is 5:30 and I am laying in my tent waiting for dinner. Soon the cold will come and I will crawl into my down suit for the evening.
Tomorrow will be a much needed rest day and then we tackle the Lotse face to camp 3. This will be extremely difficult, and is a big step in our preparation for the summit.
All restrictions seem to be lifted now. We were told the Chinese made the summit yesterday.
That's all for now.
Huggs to Susan, Amy and Colin.
Scott.