Rotation to Camps 1 and 2

On Wednesday the 19th, we left base camp for our first rotation on Everest.  The next 5 days will bring us to camps 1 & 2 with the plan for spending two nights at each location.  Our goal is to acclimatize to the increasing elevation gradually as well as bring supplies and gear further up the mountain.

We were up at 2:30, had a quick breakfast and were walking by 3:35.  Fura and I moved at a nice even pace through the Khumbu icefall and arrived at camp 1 (19,800 ft) by 8:05.  I felt well exercised for sure but still healthy and happy with the safe and successful morning.

Camp one is a pretty basic setup since we won't be spending too much time there.  Just a half dozen climbers' tents, a few Sherpa tents and a cook tent, plus a sweet restroom setup.  You'll notice all of our facilities lie between a couple of crevasses so no walking around camp in slippers!

On Friday the 21st,  we packed up and moved from camp 1 to camp 2.  It was another clear and brisk morning and we looked forward to a change of scenery and a more comfortable camp.  While this route had far fewer obstacles than the Khumbu icefall, we did have some challenges along the way.

This part of our climb lies within the Western Cwm.  It's a great expanse of open terrain which can be described by any number of superlatives.  The scale is amazing and goes on for miles.  The nights are bitterly cold and sunny days are unbearably hot due to the effects of solar radiation reflected from all sides.  A climber could easily suffer from heat stroke in the middle of the day, even though the temperature in the shade is 20 degrees F.

Unlike some, my focus is not on documenting myself overcoming treacherous ladder crossings jumping crevasses or gingerly walking on free standing ice pillars.  These are dangerous places and safety is my priority.  Below is a photo showing a ladder crossing in the Western Cwm that we had just crossed.  The crevasse was easily 100 feet deep and a ladder crossing is no place for fiddling wth a GoPro camera.

The climb took less than 3 hours to gain the 1,500 ft elevation gain and cover who knows how many miles.  We can definitely feel the elevation and lack of oxygen as we climb the rocks approaching camp 2.  Arriving at about 9:30, we were glad to have arrived before the sun got too strong.  Knut, Moe and I arrived first, had a nice drink and then went to work setting up our tents.

Our teammates came in shortly thereafter and we were together once again at a new camp, happy that everyone arrived safely.  The photo below shows our sleeping tents with the long dining tent in the background.  It's a comfortable camp and it doesn't take us long to settle in.

Above camp 2 is where the climbing gets quite sporty.  It's a solid hour to the base of the Lhotse face and then a couple of thousand feet straight up the face to camp 3.  The photo below shows the terrain for this next section of our climb.  The route heads up along the boundary between the smooth face and the rough looking glacier to the right.  Camp 3 is just now being established by the Sherpa to the right of the "yellow band" which is the diagonal rock formation almost at the top of the face.

Saturday and Sunday were active rest days for us.  On both days, we climbed up towards the base of the Lhotse face for more acclimatization and to move our bodies.  Sunday was supposed to be our descent to base camp but we stayed at camp 2 because the icefall route was damaged over night and needed to be reworked.  It was probably better for us to spend an extra night anyway and our bodies were definitely feeling better after the extra time up high at 21,300 ft.

The climb Sunday was further up than Saturday and we reached our high point at almost 22,000 ft.  The bonus for us is that our cloudy weather up here is much better than the wet snow they've been getting down at base camp.  

The Icefall Doctors made quick repairs to the route and we were back on track to descend to base camp on Monday the 24th.  Knowing the route may be unstable in places, Fura and I kept our focus and made good progress through the Western Cwm and the Khumbu icefall.  The rest stop we took shown below was fairly stable and gave us a nice view of base camp over 1,000 ft lower.

We left camp 2 at about 5:45 am and arrived back to base camp about 3-1/2 hours later.  Fura and I became a stronger climbing team through this rotation and were happy to be back at our comfortable base camp safely along with the rest of our team.

Namaste