As outlined in the Sunday blog, the past 2 days has seen us climb to Camp 1, stay overnight, and return to ABC. As Camp 1 site at 6,400m this climb of around 800m was significant in preparing our bodies to function properly as we progress up the mountain.
The trek to Camp 1 commenced along the same route used in our acclimatisation walk on Saturday but thereafter took on a very different character. It took 2 1/2 hours to reach the point at which we departed the moraine to head up the mountain, and a further 3 1/2 hours to climb from there to Camp 1. By no stretch of the imagination could this second part be called easy. It was around 500m of very steep scree and each of us experienced varying degrees of pain in getting to the top - but get there we did.
The camp is on a rocky shoulder and as we crested the final rise a winter wonderland was exposed to us. The barren rock of the climb was replaced by quite deep snow and the mountain ridge lines beyond looked magnificent. A down-climb of 10m or so took us to our tents - already erected by our Sherpas. It was very cold so the first action was to get the stove going melting snow to make tea. This was immediately followed by melting more snow to make dinner - various soups and other boil-in-the-bag offerings that varied from the fairly tasty to the utterly inedible. After this was more snow melting to provide drinking water through until the morning. The latter would be placed in our sleeping bags to avoid it freezing overnight. All of this activity was conducted from within our tents, indeed from within our sleeping bags as by then it was snowing, and in any case it was far too cold to be outside once the sun dropped below the horizon.
By about 7pm most cooking/boiling was completed and following Tim's tent-by-tent briefing on the plans/timings for the following day and the importance of continuing to hydrate through the night, head-torches were turned off and we tried to sleep. I say 'tried to' as even following a tough day in the mountains 7pm is still a little early. Then there is the coughing, snoring and of course the impact of hydrating.
By 7am the gas stoves were all active again producing breakfast and shortly thereafter we were on our way back to ABC where we were met with lunch.
The objective of the trip to Camp 1 and back was fully achieved. All team members made it to the Camp, did well overnight, and returned in good form.
All eyes are now on the weather, trying to work out what is the best summit strategy which combines the best weather with our future acclimatisation needs and the fixing of ropes on the upper parts of the mountain
The trek to Camp 1 commenced along the same route used in our acclimatisation walk on Saturday but thereafter took on a very different character. It took 2 1/2 hours to reach the point at which we departed the moraine to head up the mountain, and a further 3 1/2 hours to climb from there to Camp 1. By no stretch of the imagination could this second part be called easy. It was around 500m of very steep scree and each of us experienced varying degrees of pain in getting to the top - but get there we did.
The camp is on a rocky shoulder and as we crested the final rise a winter wonderland was exposed to us. The barren rock of the climb was replaced by quite deep snow and the mountain ridge lines beyond looked magnificent. A down-climb of 10m or so took us to our tents - already erected by our Sherpas. It was very cold so the first action was to get the stove going melting snow to make tea. This was immediately followed by melting more snow to make dinner - various soups and other boil-in-the-bag offerings that varied from the fairly tasty to the utterly inedible. After this was more snow melting to provide drinking water through until the morning. The latter would be placed in our sleeping bags to avoid it freezing overnight. All of this activity was conducted from within our tents, indeed from within our sleeping bags as by then it was snowing, and in any case it was far too cold to be outside once the sun dropped below the horizon.
By about 7pm most cooking/boiling was completed and following Tim's tent-by-tent briefing on the plans/timings for the following day and the importance of continuing to hydrate through the night, head-torches were turned off and we tried to sleep. I say 'tried to' as even following a tough day in the mountains 7pm is still a little early. Then there is the coughing, snoring and of course the impact of hydrating.
By 7am the gas stoves were all active again producing breakfast and shortly thereafter we were on our way back to ABC where we were met with lunch.
The objective of the trip to Camp 1 and back was fully achieved. All team members made it to the Camp, did well overnight, and returned in good form.
All eyes are now on the weather, trying to work out what is the best summit strategy which combines the best weather with our future acclimatisation needs and the fixing of ropes on the upper parts of the mountain