Camp 3 Rotation

September 19

Today is a tough day for our team.  Two more climbers have decided to leave the mountain, including my wife Kriss.  High altitude mountaineering is physically and mentally demanding and each of us evaluates ourselves throughout the expedition.  Unless one is 100% confident in their ability to continue successfully, they should probably not do so.  While the rest of us feel a loss, we also respect their difficult decision to discontinue their climbs.  We will miss our teammates Kriss and Alison for the remainder of the expedition.

Today we begin our Camp 3 rotation.  The plan is to climb to Camp 1 today and spend the night at 19,000 ft.  Tomorrow we will be heading to Camp 2 and spending two nights there.  On Wednesday the 21^st we’re planning to climb up to Camp 3 for additional acclimatization before descending to Camp 2.  This part will depend on the weather since snow is forecasted up high.  If all goes well, we will return to Base Camp on Thursday by noon. 

I know this seems like a lot of up and down multiple times and lots of people ask me why we don’t simply climb slowly all the way to the summit.  The reason is that it takes the body significant time to be able to acclimatize to elevations above about 14,000 ft.  Since we will be heading into the death zone above 26,000 ft, we want to give ourselves the best chances of staying safe, healthy, and strong when going for the summit.  The ever-higher rotations accomplish that goal even though it’s more overall work. 

This morning’s weather was good when we woke up but then deteriorated somewhat by the time we were ready to go up.  Our climb started off in the rain with a breeze and then turned to light snow by the rock scramble.  Snow continued for an hour and then some sun came out and it got hot.  We were sweating our butts off for rest of the way to Camp 1.   What a crazy weather day! 

As we approach Camp 1, we can see so many climbers on the route up to Camp 2.  There are long lines waiting at each of the steep sections and we’re hoping that fewer climbers will be joining us on that same route tomorrow.  If you zoom in on the photo below, look for black dots all in a line like ants snaking up to where the snow meets the sky. 

Matt and I are sharing a tent up here and now just eating, drinking, and resting.  We made pretty good time today, leaving base camp at 10:20 and arriving in Camp 1 at about 3:00.  That’s a good time of 4:40 climbing up about 3,000 ft and we’re feeling happy about it.

 

September 20

Sleeping at 19,000 ft isn’t great but we’ve been here twice before, and I did okay last night by exchanging quality for quantity.  The poor weather is back today with clouds and wet snow coming down on us for most of it. 

Trying to find a better upper body layering system, I went with a triple layer of breathable top layers with a very light hooded wind jacket in the middle.   This turned out to be the perfect combo with less sweating than yesterday even though the route is much more physically demanding.  When I’m hiking or climbing at home, it’s a snap to make layering changes but here and climbing as a group, it’s better to be efficient and make as few stops as possible.

It's busy here at Camp 1 which means we will have lineups just like we saw yesterday.  At least 30 climbers leave camp ahead of us and there are more bustling around getting ready to leave.  I take a moment for a selfie at the top of one of the vertical pitches while hanging from my jumar and a safety tether clipped into the anchor while our head guide Tendi gives a thumbs up from below.  I promise it was safe 😊. 

We left Camp 1 after a leisurely breakfast schedule and made it to Camp 2 in just under 5 hours.  This is my first time seeing this camp set up high on a snow slope like a small oasis on an expansive glacier.  The elevation here is 20,786 ft so we made a gain of about 1,800 ft, breathing hard the whole way.   The route is so steep and physical that it takes a lot out of us during the ascent.   

By arriving in the early afternoon, we have lots of time for eating, drinking, and resting in preparation for tomorrow.  Matt and I are tent mates again.   He had a rough start to the night with GI stuff but then slept well afterwards.  Our bodies are much more susceptible at these elevations so any little thing can set off a big headache or GI issue.  It’s definitely a balance between working hard climbing and pushing your body too hard.

 

September 21

Today we slept in, hoping others would break trail in the foot of new snow that fell last night.  The fresh snow looks nice in the morning light.  

Our German teammate Rolf decided he wasn’t going up today and that his climb was finished.  This was a big surprise since he has been so strong from day 1, but everyone has their limits, and he must have reached his yesterday.  Our team is getting smaller and we are now down to 6 which is half of the original group. 

Since the weather isn’t bad, we will follow our original plan to climb up to Camp 3 and spend a little time there before descending back here to Camp 2 for another night.  Our morning excursion took us up another 1,100 ft to 21,900 ft in just over three hours.  The route was somewhat steep and rambled about with us breathing hard the whole way.  Parts were quite dramatic. 

 

We are legitimately high now at an elevation reserved mostly for peaks in the Himalaya.  While resting, I can’t help but look up and imagine the route to Camp 4 and ultimately the summit.  We will be back in a week or so and I’m looking forward to whatever lies beyond this place. 

After almost an hour breathing the rarified air up here, we leave for Camp 2.  Heading downhill is so much easier and we’re back in under an hour, arriving by 2:20 pm and feeling great about our day.   There were lots of climbers heading down to Base Camp from Camp 3 today.  A few teams were staged to go for the summit, but the route between Camps 3 & 4 is heavily loaded with three or four feet of new snow which makes for hard and dangerous work.  Only the fixing team has been past this point over a week ago and their lines are now buried too deep to be useful.  We need some days of sunshine to consolidate the snow and make the route safe.  The big team staged up there was Seven Summits Trek and I met an old mountain acquaintance Matthew as we were going up and he was coming down.  He said two of their guides ventured out a couple hundred yards and turned back, spooked at the avalanche danger.  Their plan is to descend to BC and wait it out for a few days.   

 It seems that Manaslu is the place to be right now.  The Norwegian woman Kristin Harila working to break Nirmal (Nims) Purja’s record for all 14 peaks above 8,000 meters was on the trail today and I had a chance to speak with her briefly while she was going up to Camp 3 and we were coming down.  She’s got Manaslu, Cho Oyu and Shishapangma left and has been tracking a few days faster than Nims.  Also, Hilaree Nelson who skied down the Lhotse couloir this year was at C3 and skied down past us during our descent.   She has a male partner but not sure who it was. They skied through the bottom of an avalanche debris field in front of us which looked sketchy and then most of the way down to Base Camp.   At Camp 3, Tendi introduced us to his good friend Sanu Sherpa who was the first person to climb all 14 peaks over 8,000 meters high twice.   All I can say about that man is wow!

Here’s a view of Camp 2 as we approached it from above. 

September 22

I woke before dawn this morning and realized the weather had changed.  The air was crisp and cold with no sounds of rain or snow.  When finally dressed and out of the tent, the sun had broken the horizon and the light was magnificent!  What a great day to be alive and on such a beautiful mountain.  Looking north, I could see beyond the Himalayan mountains and well into the Tibetan Plateau for maybe a hundred miles.  

With our goals accomplished, we’re heading down from Camp 2 to Base Camp this morning.  It’s “game on” right away through the steep sections down to Camp 1 so I’m focused on being efficient and double checking everything, especially my rappels.  The fine weather holds and our team is in great spirits on the way down. 

At one point we have a great view of Camp 1, the massive glacier and Base Camp all laid out below us. 

We’re all moving efficiently and even with a half hour rest at Camp 1, we make it down to Base Camp, dropping 4,800 ft in less than four hours.  The thicker air propels us forward even though we feel the cumulative work of the past four days. 

I’m feeling energetic and take a quick shower before getting some lunch and then chilling out for the rest of the day.  We just finished a great rotation and my body held together well during the entire time.  I’m looking forward to a few days of rest and then heading back up for a successful summit bid.