Still snowing....
This is Judy blogging today. Anders called in from his tent at 11,200 ft to say it was still blizzard conditions, so they were staying put at Camp Three for another day. He had just been to breakfast and meeting up with the team, then cleared the snow off his tent and was snuggling back into little cocoon. He said he really can't tell how much snow they've had since it's so windy that there are drifts all around them. In some places it's 3 feet; in others a foot. But regardless, they are still getting a LOT of new snow, which makes moving up the mountain not practical at this point.
I asked all the typical Mom things:
How is he sleeping? Very well, thankfully, after not sleeping well the first night or two. He appreciated that the guides had gotten up during the night and reinforced the snow walls and cleaned off the tents!
How does he feel? Really good. They are still at 11,000 feet so he sounds just slightly out of breath, but he's not having any altitude issues since they are not that high up (yet).
How is the food? Fine. The guides make breakfast and dinner, and they are on their own for lunch and snacks. As the guides had recommended, Anders had brought along about 20 pounds of energy bars, candy, cookies, and more candy so he is digging into that in between. We laughed about how he is supposed to be burning thousands of calories hauling his heavy gear up this challenging mountain, instead as he said, he's "laying in his tent eating candy"!
Is he bored or restless? No, he was mentally prepared for this. He said, if nothing else, he is enjoying "being outside, up in the mountains, camping"!
How are the other people? "Awesome". He is getting along really well with his 18 year old tent mate, Max. I was glad to hear he let Max use his satellite phone to call his family and check in. I'm sure they were happy to hear his voice, since I know how I feel when I hear Anders' voice.
Is Dave Hahn as cool as you thought he'd be? Yes! Definitely. This is a real highlight of the experience for Anders. Since they have all this downtime, they spend a good deal of time as a team in the group tent, and Dave has shared a lot of his amazing experiences with them all.
How will you know if/when it's safe to move further up the mountain? Obviously, I can't help but think (worry) that all this new snow does bring up the possibility of avalanche. Anders said that Dave Hahn is really, really good at assessing avalanche risk, and he just trusts that Dave and the guides will know whether and when to proceed with their climb. In other words, "Chill out Mom; I'm in good hands".....
Anders was glad that I could tell him who won the Tour today (Randy had prepped me --Mark Cavendish) He was also happy to hear Andy Murray and Djokovic made it into the Wimbledon semi's today. He really sounds in good spirits, and it was hard to believe that I'm at the beach and he's in whiteout conditions. For some reason today I was remembering that Anders was a bit of a finicky toddler. He wore socks on the beach cause he didn't like the feel of sand in his toes, and I had to bring extra bathing suits because he didn't like to be wet!! He definitely has come a long way in terms of what he can endure! (I'm sure I'm providing good material for his friends to tease him about at some point...)
More when we hear any news!
This is Judy blogging today. Anders called in from his tent at 11,200 ft to say it was still blizzard conditions, so they were staying put at Camp Three for another day. He had just been to breakfast and meeting up with the team, then cleared the snow off his tent and was snuggling back into little cocoon. He said he really can't tell how much snow they've had since it's so windy that there are drifts all around them. In some places it's 3 feet; in others a foot. But regardless, they are still getting a LOT of new snow, which makes moving up the mountain not practical at this point.
I asked all the typical Mom things:
How is he sleeping? Very well, thankfully, after not sleeping well the first night or two. He appreciated that the guides had gotten up during the night and reinforced the snow walls and cleaned off the tents!
How does he feel? Really good. They are still at 11,000 feet so he sounds just slightly out of breath, but he's not having any altitude issues since they are not that high up (yet).
How is the food? Fine. The guides make breakfast and dinner, and they are on their own for lunch and snacks. As the guides had recommended, Anders had brought along about 20 pounds of energy bars, candy, cookies, and more candy so he is digging into that in between. We laughed about how he is supposed to be burning thousands of calories hauling his heavy gear up this challenging mountain, instead as he said, he's "laying in his tent eating candy"!
Is he bored or restless? No, he was mentally prepared for this. He said, if nothing else, he is enjoying "being outside, up in the mountains, camping"!
How are the other people? "Awesome". He is getting along really well with his 18 year old tent mate, Max. I was glad to hear he let Max use his satellite phone to call his family and check in. I'm sure they were happy to hear his voice, since I know how I feel when I hear Anders' voice.
Is Dave Hahn as cool as you thought he'd be? Yes! Definitely. This is a real highlight of the experience for Anders. Since they have all this downtime, they spend a good deal of time as a team in the group tent, and Dave has shared a lot of his amazing experiences with them all.
How will you know if/when it's safe to move further up the mountain? Obviously, I can't help but think (worry) that all this new snow does bring up the possibility of avalanche. Anders said that Dave Hahn is really, really good at assessing avalanche risk, and he just trusts that Dave and the guides will know whether and when to proceed with their climb. In other words, "Chill out Mom; I'm in good hands".....
Anders was glad that I could tell him who won the Tour today (Randy had prepped me --Mark Cavendish) He was also happy to hear Andy Murray and Djokovic made it into the Wimbledon semi's today. He really sounds in good spirits, and it was hard to believe that I'm at the beach and he's in whiteout conditions. For some reason today I was remembering that Anders was a bit of a finicky toddler. He wore socks on the beach cause he didn't like the feel of sand in his toes, and I had to bring extra bathing suits because he didn't like to be wet!! He definitely has come a long way in terms of what he can endure! (I'm sure I'm providing good material for his friends to tease him about at some point...)
More when we hear any news!
3 comments:
Great synopsis Judy...all will b fine
Absolutely inspirational!
judy, last comment was moi
mike stricklin
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