Garrett arranged a nice surprise last night as i was able to talk via radio to Anders up at C2, around 21,500 feet. He sounded in great spirits and his voice was clear and strong. We chatted for a while and he told me about his trip from ebc to C2 yesterday. It took about 10, 10 and a half hours as it was a bit more crowded early, in the lower Ice Fall. They were delayed a bit and it was quite cold. They were prepared for the cold of course and things eventually got moving more quickly.
Overall, a pretty smooth trip through the Ice Fall (their third of six, but who's counting?). It was a lot of work of course and all four of them took naps up at C2. When I talked to them last night (about 7:30 pm local) they were about to get a quick bite to eat and go back to sleep for the night. Today will be an easy day for them, with probably a short (2 hours) hike up by C2 and then tomorrow they will climb the Lhotse Face for the first time and do a short visit to C3 before returning to C2 for the night. They rest up at C2 and then return to ebc on My 1st, Anders' 31st birthday....not your typical celebration for sure!
Anders will get our sat phone today so hopefully we can get some updates from him over the next few days as well....
Meanwhile back at ebc, i got up about 6 and packed up all my belongings in my two big duffels. i put my big puffy jacket and sleeping pad in Anders tent as he had brought his with him up to Camp 2 and this way he could leave them there for the next rotation. I had a little bittersweet reaction as the reality of my imminent departure became more starkly real. I'm going to miss my "little" buddy!
Anyways, breakfast here shortly and then I'm off on what will no doubt be a memorable helicopter ride down the Khumbu. Hopefully, my next update will be from Katmandu.
Onward and Upward (or Downward in my case)!
This pic from their first rotation:
This is from yesterday morning as they prepared to leave for C2 around 3:30 am:
Overall, a pretty smooth trip through the Ice Fall (their third of six, but who's counting?). It was a lot of work of course and all four of them took naps up at C2. When I talked to them last night (about 7:30 pm local) they were about to get a quick bite to eat and go back to sleep for the night. Today will be an easy day for them, with probably a short (2 hours) hike up by C2 and then tomorrow they will climb the Lhotse Face for the first time and do a short visit to C3 before returning to C2 for the night. They rest up at C2 and then return to ebc on My 1st, Anders' 31st birthday....not your typical celebration for sure!
Anders will get our sat phone today so hopefully we can get some updates from him over the next few days as well....
Meanwhile back at ebc, i got up about 6 and packed up all my belongings in my two big duffels. i put my big puffy jacket and sleeping pad in Anders tent as he had brought his with him up to Camp 2 and this way he could leave them there for the next rotation. I had a little bittersweet reaction as the reality of my imminent departure became more starkly real. I'm going to miss my "little" buddy!
Anyways, breakfast here shortly and then I'm off on what will no doubt be a memorable helicopter ride down the Khumbu. Hopefully, my next update will be from Katmandu.
Onward and Upward (or Downward in my case)!
This pic from their first rotation:
This is from yesterday morning as they prepared to leave for C2 around 3:30 am:
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