Thursday 12 April 2012

Day 5 at BC

Well we've been in BC for five days now and thankfully moving around the camp and across the moraines has got ever so slightly easier. Whether this is a sign that I am slowly acclimatising or more likely I've learnt to move more slowly!

Life in BC revolves around meal times so much so you could almost set your clock by them. Adam our BC manager and chef has done an excellent job at producing a very varied and filling menu to date (we've only had Dahl Bat once since arriving here). Last nights Yak stew with mash pototoes and green beans was superb but it was surpassed by the dessert. He had said that he had tried to make some chocolate brownie during the afternoon but it hadn't worked. So imagine our delight when he produced chocolate brownie crumble and custard. There must have been 1000 calories a serving! No one uttered a word until our bowls were empty.

Today we had another three hour foray into the icefall this time venturing another 100m higher. The sun was beating down and those of us wearing black really suffered in the heat. (Unfortunately that's really the only colour I've brought as it hides the dirt so well).

On our return whilst drinking hot squash (sounds odd but very thirst quenching) we witnessed a large avalanche cascading down the western face of Lho La just above BC. The snow and ice was falling for at least five minutes. We're grateful for being near the middle of the Camp!

Once again the afternoon was spent either reading or sleeping. I'm amazed at how much I am sleeping and wonder whether this is a result of the lack of oxygen or the physical effort of moving around. Perhaps it's a combination of both.

To give you an idea of how dry things are (which seems odd given the amount of snow and ice around and beneath us) my thermometer says the humidity is 10% outside and currently -4 (@17.40 local time). At home I doubt it rarely drops below 50%.

Well that's the end of another exciting installment of life at Everest BC!

(now I wonder what's for dinner-all we know is it's chicken, not that I've seen any since Namche Bazaar).

1 comment:

  1. It's my birthday today and as usual it is a good excuse for a family party. When we are together we are eighteen in number. As we live in the Yorkshire Dales the Lake District is our stomping ground,only one of us has made it to the Himalayas. The usual evening banter changed when I produced my Everest blogs and stunning photographs. They were all impressed with the amount of time I am devoting to the expeditions but when you receive one blog it becomes addictive and get impatient for the next instalment so please keep them coming. Alan Arnett tends to chose your blogs as "blog of the day" Thanks Kate

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