Camp 2 and back.....

April 27 – May 2

We just returned back to base camp, one day earlier than planned. Everything worked out well the last couple of days, the climb up through the ice fall was definitely more exhausting than expected. The ice fall is a fascinating, but also dangerous place. The main elevation difference is approximately 2000 ft, and is moved with a speed of about 3 feet/day. Usually, we leave between 3-4 am in the morning in order to get through the main part before the sun comes up. While the lower part of the ice fall is not too steep, the upper section is very broken up with ice blocks as big as houses, and many steep, sometimes vertical sections need to be negotiated in order to get through this gigantic maze. Some sections change their appearances quite visibly. One part, we called “the canyon”, still allowed some of us to squeeze through between two gigantic blocks on the way up just a few days ago. When I got there, the path at the top had narrowed enough that we could not get through anymore, but still allowed us to actually crawl along the bottom underneath the ice for about 20 feet in order to get through to the other side. Needless to say, these 20 feet was quite nerve racking. The main reason for never really getting a lot of pictures from inside the ice fall is simply the fact that this is not a good place to either stop or spend any more time than necessary. While most of the lower ice fall is quite stable, the upper section above the so-called “popcorn field” is more active. One section that we crossed on a 4-section ladder on the way up had completely collapsed when we returned four days later with the remains of the twisted ladders partly buried in an enormous new crevasse. 

Camp 1 is located just above the ice fall in the lower part of the Western Cwm. We got there after a more than 6 hr struggle, and I spent two nights there for further acclimatization. The way upwards through the Western Cwn towards camp 2 is less steep, but also heavily crevassed. When the sun hits, the reflection coming from three sides makes this section unbearably hot, and everyone tries to get through there as early as possible at all cost. We did not have too much of an issue with this, since the weather was pretty terrible anyway. Just when we got to camp 1, the snow started again, later with heavy winds almost through all of the night. Next day, we had about a foot of new snow, the sun was out for about two more hours, and then it snowed pretty much again for most of the day. I arrived at camp 2 without any issues, and settled in for the rest of the day. The afternoon I walked a bit around camp, and also a bit further up towards the Lhotse Face. All in all, this outing took me up to about 22,000 ft, a very noticeable altitude… 

What happened later in the afternoon that day was nothing but tragic. With respect of the family involved I will not go into any detail at this point until an official statement from IMG on the events has been released. Pretty much due to the events this afternoon I spent only one night in camp 2, and returned in the morning back to camp 1 and then further down to base camp. 

The next three days are for rest and recovery, then I will go back up the mountain one more time, this time all the way up the Lhotse Face to camp 3 before returning back to base camp.