May 16, 8:15 am, Base Camp
It started out as just another day at base camp. After resting up yesterday, I decided to go on another short outing – back up to Pulmori, upper camp 1. More than a month ago, this was my first hike after we got into base camp following the acclimatizing climb at Lobuche peak. I remember well the miserable weather that day, and that it took almost 2 ½ hrs one way from base camp up to the ~19,000 ft high camp. I was sucking
air, and wondered how one can seriously ever climb any higher. The hike today however, went rather well. I got up in just a little over an hour, the view across was clear, and I was able to finally get some nice pictures of the big three: Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse. Mt. Everest’s summit was clearly visible, with just a small snow plume coming of the summit. Looking up there though, it seemed rather inconceivable that I would ever be able to get there… Back in camp, the rest of the day was rather uneventful, and after dinner I was already contemplating another hike for the next day, just to keep it up a bit, for the time being. It was now close to 8 pm, and within the next hour things were about to change significantly…
The latest weather forecast now seemed to favor conditions for a summit window around May 20, which was 3-4 days earlier than originally thought. With that, things got busy with checking gear, gathering up food for the next several days, and preparing for an early; 3 am start to go back up through the ice fall towards the upper part of the mountain. Although nobody spoke the words, we all knew that this would be it, our one and only shot for a summit attempt 3-4 days from now, as there is not much time left in this season…
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