Camp 2/Western Cwm

May 19, 3:30 am, Camp 2/Western Cwm

The climb up to camp 3 is a major piece of work.  The Lhotse Face is a lot steeper than it looks from a distance and, once on it there are very few spots for a break.  In fact, the whole camp 3, located about 2/3 up the face is a rather precarious place with a few tent platforms carved out of the slope.  It is exposed and with little space, the sherpas don’t like this camp at all and will only spend a night there when absolutely necessary.  Climbing the face is hard work, the elevation difference between camp 2 and camp 3 is a good 2,000 ft.  The IMG camp site is located above the main camp sites on the face, it takes almost another hour to get there after passing through the lower camp.  Two large sections on the face are huge, near vertical ice bulges, and climbing up there took nearly all of the strength I could come up with that morning.  In addition, fatigue, continuing exhaustion and the lack of sleep are now more debilitating, hence two climbers of our group turned around here before reaching the camp located at just over 24,000 ft.  While climbing through the last section up to our camp I briefly thought of Rick who went down right here in the steep, icy section and never got back up again…  The climb that morning took a good 5 hrs and, although a bit faster, I thought that it was just as hard as it had been the first time a few weeks ago.  Hoping now for the all crucial “go ahead” to the South Col in the morning, I settled in for the day and tried my best to rest, eat a few bites, and to regain some strength.