Camp II
Just below the Lhotse face on a tortured jumbled moraine, at around 21,500 feet, sits a collection of tents that climbers in the Western Cwm refer to as Camp II. To get there you march up the valley of silence 2000 feet from Camp I, crossing several crevasses bridged by narrow aluminum ladders. If you do not leave early in the morning by 9:00 am you are marching through a reflector oven of high altitude rays. To combat the sun we slathered on SPF 110, but my nose still burnt. Our team is on the front end of the climb so we had the Western Cwm to ourselves. The entire morning we saw no Western Climbers and only two groups of Sherpa’s coming down after carrying to Camp II. We were carrying as well. My 50 liter pack has never been so abused. The...
Camp I
On April 15th we got up at 2:45 am to get ready to climb by gearing up and eating. We were moving in the icefall by a little after 4:00 am. Sometimes it is better to climb in the dark as you can only see what your headlamp allows you to see; you just keep moving, blissfully unaware of the enormous challenge ahead of you. By first light we arrived at our first ladder. I love climbing, but climbing rickety aluminum ladders over crevasses that are up to 150 feet deep is not my idea of fun. The vertical ladders or nearly vertical ladders are pretty easy to rip up and down on. The horizontal ladders spanning the deep crevasses are crossings that I curse and become religious about. Just before Camp I there is one last horizontal crevasse to cross. This...