Tuesday 24 April 2012

Up to Camp Two

Having been lying in our sleeping bags since 6.00pm the previous evening it was a relief to hear the alarm go off at 5.00am. I had about two good bouts of sleep with an interrupted period between 10.00pm and midnight. At one stage in the early hours I thought the tent was literally going to take off so strong were the winds.

We set off in biting winds slightly later than planned. After the excitement (danger) of the icefall the walk up the Western Cwm is relatively straightforward and without too much inherent danger except for a few crevasses and a couple of ladder crossings.

I struggled today, whether it was my pack size or the cold I'm not sure but I was the penultimate one to reach Camp Two after two hours and forty five minutes.

On arrival we had some soup and hot squash after which I just crashed out in our tent. At least we are on rocky moraine here rather than on the glacier so the tent might be slightly warmer than Camp One.

Camp Two (circa 6350m) is the equivalent of Advanced Base Camp on the north side and the facilities are similar. We have a mess tent, two Nepalese cooks with their own cook tent, a storage tent and last but not least a toilet tent.

The one thing that is really hard to grasp is the scale of these mountains. As I look out of my tent across the Lhotse face I can see the site of Camp Three which is 900-1000m higher up yet it looks physically much closer and that is what is so daunting. To give you an idea Mount Snowdon is 1065m above sea level and for those who have climbed it will know how long it can take depending upon the route chosen. We have basically got to do the same but starting at sea level but with less than half the air pressure (hence oxygen), the only upside is that our 'cafe' will definitely be open when we get there!

That's it for today looking forward to a couple of hours rest before dinner at six.

I've sent out a Spot2 location message so you can hopefully see the exact position of our tent.

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