We heard from Anders later tonight than the last few days....the reason is they were finally able to climb today! Anders and his team awoke to a reasonably nice day and left at 9 a.m. and made the climb to their cache point around 13,000 feet. This involved a total of 4 or so hours of very rigorous climbing carrying around 50-60 pounds each. Anders was roped with Max, his tent-mate and the two younger guides (The Young Guns!). During this carry they had to negotiate Windy Corner, which is quite steep and very exposed (i.e. one does not fall there).
They used crampons today for the first time and just carried their loads in their backpacks. After burying their cache, they downclimbed back to Camp Three and they had a total workday of about 6 and a half hours. Anders called us shortly after getting back into his tent. He was very upbeat, as you might imagine, after 4 days of being locked down in his tent. The day was rigorous physically, but very satisfying. It was great to be making progress upwards towards their goal! Everyone in Anders' family is thrilled that he and his team were able to make this progress today.
Tomorrow, if they are fortunate enough, they would attempt to move to Camp Four at 14,200 feet--this would be a significant milestone and would materially improve their probability of summiting. We will continue our weather dances here to try to our bit. A couple of pics of the climb above Camp Three and near Windy Corner:
They used crampons today for the first time and just carried their loads in their backpacks. After burying their cache, they downclimbed back to Camp Three and they had a total workday of about 6 and a half hours. Anders called us shortly after getting back into his tent. He was very upbeat, as you might imagine, after 4 days of being locked down in his tent. The day was rigorous physically, but very satisfying. It was great to be making progress upwards towards their goal! Everyone in Anders' family is thrilled that he and his team were able to make this progress today.
Tomorrow, if they are fortunate enough, they would attempt to move to Camp Four at 14,200 feet--this would be a significant milestone and would materially improve their probability of summiting. We will continue our weather dances here to try to our bit. A couple of pics of the climb above Camp Three and near Windy Corner:
Here is a short video clip of the windy corner for your enjoyment:
Also, here is a Goggle Earth vid segment of the West Butress route they are climbing:
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