Sunday 6 May 2012

Up to Camp Three - what a slog!

Mother nature smiled on us this morning as after yesterday afternoon's snow and the forecast of more this morning we were convinced we would be returning to BC.

We woke to a cloud free morning and after much discussion about clothing I decided to put on my down suit. Adele and Pasang had theirs on so I took my lead from them. I immediately felt much warmer but would pay the price of being far too warm once the sun hit the Lhotse face.

Our route up the glacier was initially the same as before but then it swung right beneath the the Lhotse face. After about fours hours we were directly underneath the start of the new route. No wonder the sherpas didn't like it. It started with 30 m of 80 degree ice!!!

The route zig zagged it's way up and we were just going slower and slower in the heat ( we'll that's what I like to blame - it wasn' t). We just found it impossibly hard with the lack of oxygen. One foot up and a short rest. If I tried to take five or six consequetive paces I'd slouch over knees for three of four minutes - probably longer. This wasn't a good advert for our suitability for a summit attempt!

To give you a idea about how keen we were to conserve energy I don't think anybody took any pictures on this section of the route!

It took us 8 hours to reach Camp Three, two hours longer than planned. Ok we could be generous and say the new route added an hour. As for the other hour, we just were not fit enough at the altitude.

Since we got here we have desperately being trying to rehydrate. Brett and I are trying to get three litres each down us before we go to sleep. We are also trying to eat abit of food although to be honest our appetites are severely depressed.

Tonight is the first night we will also be sleeping on oxygen. Not much just half a litre a minute.

I've got a slight headache so I'm going to take an Acetazolamide as well.

Perhaps that's why I feeling so exhausted my pulse is 65 but my SpO2 is 52. Respiratory rate 28, height 7150m. That should give the docs something to think about!! Good job we will be back on base camp in 42 hours.

It now 18.30pm and we've just finished boiling up some more water. A litre each for the night - mine's at the end of my sleeping bag along with some inner mitts so that they have some warmth in the morning. We've also filled a litre thermos so that we don't have to bother lighting a stove and melting snow in the morning.

Tonight I'll be sharing my sleeping bag with two pairs of outer gloves, a pair of inner gloves shoved down between my long johns and my underwear whilst across my chest are my thick wool socks which I hope wil be dry in the morning. It's now wonder I had difficulty finding a wife!!

I'm also wearing a balaclava and a hat. The balaclava will hopefully keep the cannula ( plastic tube delivering oxygen) attached to the bottom of nose.

Apologies if there are more spelling errors than usual I'm whacked!

6 comments:

  1. Congratulations making it to camp 3 - sounds like it was pretty horrendous.
    Helen

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  2. great effort Ian.You got there that's the main thing.not tooooooo many spelling mistakes!!
    best wishes
    Andy

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  3. Ian, you are doing really well. you paint quite an image of your sleeping arrangements. hope you sleep well and all goes well tomorrow. We are constantly thinking of you.
    all the best,

    Neil

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  4. Apart from having somebody I know attempting to summit Everest, your blog has been providing a much more detailed description of what it's like than I've heard before from any of the professional lectures I've been too.

    First job of the day is logging on to your site with a cuppa to read the latest installment. It's great to see that progress is still being made upwards. It's been an amazing achievement just to get to camp 3, so you should be proud.

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    Replies
    1. Al, thank you very much for your comments. I'm glad there are at least a couple of people reading it.
      Ian

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