Rest and Weather Days

September 16

I’m feeling fine after a great night of sleep at Base Camp more than 4,000 ft below our high point from two days ago.  The weather however has deteriorated with rain all night and the sound of distant avalanches and rock fall permeating the night.  Our goals for today are showers, a bit of laundry and the three familiar ingredients of rest days: eating, hydrating, and making red blood cells.  I’m also catching up on blog posts during this action-packed day.

The weather forecast shows heavy precipitation for today, tomorrow and Sunday so the tentative plan is to rest here for three days and then head back up the mountain for our Camp 3 rotation. 

 

September 17

It’s still raining and we’re still resting, eating, drinking and making red blood cells.  With showers and laundry out of the way yesterday, today is even more low key.  Reading books is a rare luxury during my normal life so I take advantage of this free time to do just that while listening to avalanches rumbling down an adjacent mountain.

 

September 18

The rain is lighter today and sometimes only a mist.  This big storm is definitely waning, which brightens my mood a bit.  Never before have I experienced so much rain on a big mountain or even camping, except for a few days in southeast Alaska.  All our gear is damp at the very least and some is quite wet.  The majority of our team is plenty rested, and we want to get back onto the mountain for our next rotation.  Two climbers from our team have left for home after the last rotation and there will be one or two more leaving tomorrow.  The weight of a prolonged expedition combined with the ever-increasing efforts of climbing higher and higher on Manaslu is taking its toll. 

I’m eager to see what the upper part of the mountain looks like in person.  The weather is predicted to improve greatly starting tomorrow so in the morning, we will leave Base Camp and climb up to Camp 1 to spend the night.  Tuesday, we will climb through the icefall once again to spend the night at Camp 2 for the first time.  Wednesday we will climb up another couple thousand feet to Camp 3, rest there a bit and then head back to sleep at Camp 2 or maybe descend to Camp 1 depending on timing and mountain conditions.  On Thursday we will descend to Base Camp for a few days of rest before heading up once again for our summit bid.  This is the tentative plan which is of-course subject to change at any time.  No news is good news from the mountains and I look forward to sharing photos of this rotation at the end of the week.

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