The ladders are in. The ropes are fixed. The Sherpas have already gone up. Now it is time for the climbers to ascend to camp 1. But, medicine as is sometimes the case, they were all dressed up with nowhere to go. Some teams made their foray into the Icefall with a short trip to the first ladders – no gear, just a walk-through. But others wanted to go all the way.
Once again, our Finnish friends, Mikko, Tomi and Joni wanted to set the pace by going to Camp 1 and spend a night or two. But on Monday night:
The plan indeed was to leave for camp one last night and the wake-up call was given at 1.33am. However, the clouds that accumulated over the sky last night, had brought some snow and at this point we were unwilling to take a risk not to reach camp one due to snow conditions. So we wrapped back deep in the sleeping bags. Only one wasted and failed attempt to climb up would take two days rest before the next go at this altitude. Thus it was once again a side-splitting day at the base camp.
Smart call.
Then on Tuesday night, it was a strong electrical thunderstorm. Jussi Juutinen with Skyclimbers on the Altitude Junkies team noted:
The thunderstorm that struck our base camp yesterday evening turned out to be milder than some predicted. For few hours the thunder clouds were circulating our camp and it was also snowing heavily. By midnight the storm calmed down and it had only snowed about 5 cm.
Meanwhile, IMG has gone to nearby Lobuche Peak for their first round of acclimatizing bypassing the Icefall altogether. However as Eric Simonson told us in an interview a few weeks ago, they will not avoid going through the Icefall:
We have been going down to Lobuche Peak for many years as a warm up climb, and that is a good way to get some acclimatization prior to the first trip up the Icefall. However, I still think you need to do a couple rotations up the Icefall and on up to Camp 2 and 3, prior to summit bids. The Sherpas do dozens of trips up and down the Icefall, so I don’t think doing three roundtrips through the Icefall is unreasonable for the members to do. Plus, every time people go up on a rotation they get stronger and faster, it’s a fact.
Illustrating the dangers of the Icefall, Patrick Hollingworth with his own small team noted:
There was also quite a large serac collapse in the icefall early this morning, although fortunately it missed the route. I don’t think many people saw it as it occurred around 7am with most people still in bed. Sumit saw it happen and was quite concerned until he realised it had missed the route.
Remember that the Icefall moves as much as 3 feet a day so falling seracs are quite common and the Icefall Doctors try to put the route away from the most obvious dangers.
Meanwhile not every team has arrived at the base camps. Lei Wang with IMG posted a nice overview of her last few days along with a few good pictures of the area just below base camp. It is the Blog of the Day. You can feel her anticipation as they get closer:
I couldn’t take my thoughts away from those emotions from those memorials until suddenly some new peaks popped out of the ridge in front me. I was too excited that I raced up the ridge – those are the beautiful peaks I have been admiring from far away in Gokyo a week ago: Pumo Ri, Lintren, Khumbutse! And you can clearly see Nuptse ridge winding down into Kumbu Glacier. Those 7000m or 6000m peaks are just right in front of my eyes, not intimidating at all, rather, felt dear to my heart like those lovely hills in my home yard!
With good weather, look for teams to starting climbing to camp 1 and perhaps camp 2 tomorrow. Simone Moro has already said he will skip C1 and go directly C2 however, most climbers need a night in between.
Also, it will be quiet for a few days because most teams do not post updates when they are above base camp. A few will via their base camp managers or home teams from a phone call but look for more detail of these first trips in a few days.
Climb On!
Alan
