We’re now enjoying our third day of rest at Base Camp. The good news is the heavy snow which has blighted pretty much every afternoon since we’ve been here has now cleared, and we’re looking at a long summit window. The weather changed very suddenly yesterday: it’s now a little colder, but we have had two clear days and this pattern is set to continue. It looks like the monsoon has now passed!
The plans is to make our summit attempt on 30th. This means leaving Base Camp on 27th for those wishing to attempt the summit from Camp 3 (7450m), and leaving on 28th for those wishing to attempt the summit from Camp 2 (7150m). After some deliberation I’ve decided on the second option. This will mean a longer and harder summit day, but it means I spend less time on the mountain, where I’ve not been eating or sleeping particularly well. I’ve done plenty of 1100m summit days before, though never at this altitude. This is balanced by the fact that I’ll be using bottled oxygen from Camp 2, which will help significantly.
So I have a couple more rest days here, and with the clear weather I’m enjoying them. Today is Mark P’s (Four Jokes’) 50th birthday, so tonight there will be some sort of celebration. Tomorrow some of us are going on a short walk up to the Nangpa La to look over into Nepal and get some gentle exercise. And here’s a photo of one of our Slovenian friends Miha on his way up the serac wall between Camps 1 and 2.
