Another foray up to Camp Two - hopefully our last

We set off at one thirty am this morning back up through the ice fall. It felt warmer on the lower sections and amazingly we didn't hear any avalanches. I just climb steadily (slowly) ever upwards with just a small circle of light from my head torch roughly 18 inches in diameter lighting up the ground just ahead of my feet and showing me the heels of the person in front. Everything else is darkness.

The route is becoming familiar now as we begin to recognise different sections. What hasn't changed is the overall length.

Once past Camp One we are into the Western Cwm and it's now light. It's not long before the sun is scorching across the glacier and your body temperatures rises rapidly. You can see Camp Two in the distance and you face a dilemma: do you stop and take some layers off upsetting the rythym you've developed or do you struggle on thinking it can be no more than another 45 minutes. I chose the latter, arriving exhausted and dehydrated. Apart from porridge before setting off I'd only eaten one energy bar for the whole seven and a half hours. Why so little? A) it's extremely cold when you stop and B) you don't want to hang around on the icefall.

We've all spent the afternoon sleeping in our tents thankful that tomorrow is a rest day! How we will cope with three tough consequetive days only time will tell.