Finally ..

April 24/25/26


We left around 4am on Wednesday with a crystal clear sky towards C1. As the it becomes light the icefall is at the same time intimidating as it is beautiful. After about 45min a rope starts guiding once through the iceblocks. Given that we had a couple of days of bad weather there were lots of people with the same timetable and thus we were slower through some sections than we would have liked.

After about 5h we caught a glimpse of the Western Cwm, the valley between Nuptse and the Western Ridge with the colossal Lhotse face at the end of it. Once the sun hit us it turns from cold to sizzling and the layers come off.

In Camp this meant that our sleeping bags were spread out on top of the tents as insulation instead of inside for warmth. But as we know with the weather it changes and soon enough early afternoon we were huddled inside again as it started snowing again and the wind picked up. So the day was spent munching cookies, tuna, and pate. Not the best combination but a good calorie to weight ratio. I cut a book in three pieces to save weight and was caught in wanting to continue the read but the remaining pages were still at base camp.

The next day we headed up to C2 which is a comparatively easy 2h hike up the valley with only 400m of altitude gain. We lngered for about an hour before beginning our descent all the way to base camp.

Today was a day in base camp catching up on developments on the mountain. The medium term weather forecast is very good so the camps and ropes to the SouthCol are expected to be up by May 1st. We are heading up again tomorrow (Saturday) and will go directly to C2 which will take us probably 7h plus a stop at C1. Starting out even earlier this time to beat the heat. Then Sunday to the foot of the Lhotse face (even though just heard that some more ladders are needed...) and then back on Monday.