I could see the snow capped summit in the distance. Getting excited, I rushed up to the top of the moraine ridge, and there it was. From this 5500m view point, trying to catch my breath, the impressive west face of Baruntse stood proudly in front of me. The south west ridge was the route we had come to climb. The ridge looked well defined, and weather conditions looked promising. Our support crew had already set up the tents and prepared dinner when we arrived at base camp. Life can be way too easy sometimes! The next day one of our porters, who was also a lama conducted a puja ceremony – where our gear is blessed and we implore the gods for good weather and good health. The following 2 days were spent resting to ensure proper acclimatisation prior to heading up higher on the mountain. As I got bored easily, I spent my time going on walks and eating the endless supply of food from our chef Robin. Davina, in the meantime was happy chilling out and reading. Then everyone got busy at base camp packing for the next 5 days – for the climb. Sumit, our friend and also group leader had mapped out the expedition climbing plan. Day 1 – we would walk to Camp 1 , Day 2 – we would acclimatise by walking to Camp 2 and back again to Camp 1, Day 3 we would walk to Camp 2 and stay there for a sumit bid on Day 4. The climb to Camp 1 was the most exciting with a 300 metre section of ice and snow at about 45 to 50 degrees. I wasn’t at all keen on jumarring up fixed ropes, so started pitching it myself, with Pat seconding, and ended up soloing the top section. It felt like hard work, especially at 5100metres! Pat and I arrived at Camp 1 before any of the other team members, and there we took the only stove, to melt water and rehydrate. It felt good to chill out at camp, nicely protected from any avalanche. The next day we went for our acclimatisation walk to Camp 2 at 6500 metres and back, on a beautiful sunny day that gave us a good view of the south west ridge of Baruntse as well as a stunning postcard shot of Makalu. That night, back at Camp 1 , Pat and I got stuck into some freeze dried meals that looked appealing, but were not so appealing the following day. I was as sick as a dog the next morning, and we had to get to Camp 2 ready for our sumit bid the following day! I took it slowly, throwing up along the way a couple of times, although I didn’t know how I would feel the following day. Thanks to a few digestives, I felt suprisingly better on the summit morning when we had to get up at 2 am. The sky was clear, stars out, and the night calm. We left the campsite in a chilly -20 degrees walking in 1 foot of fresh powdered snow that made our progress slow and difficult. About 30 minutes after leaving the camp, I lost feeling of most of my fingers and toes which made me think about going down.... but I decided to wait for the sun to rise. When it rose, it didn’t really help warm them, but the view of Makalu was so beautiful at about 6700 metres that it helped me upwards. The progress was quite difficult due to the loose snow and I was happy to rest every 10 steps or so. I eventually joined lakpa who was leading the climb at 6,850 metres where he had stopped. He was in front of a crevass which almost totally crossed the ridge, and below us was a 2000 metre vertical drop. The only way through was a steep section of very loose snow which he was unsure whether to lead. “What do you think?” he asked, perplexed. I wasn’t at all keen to lead that section either, particularly because we only had static ropes to fix the lines which wouldn’t have been great in case of a lead fall. So, this was the highest point we reached on the mountain. I was happy enough to go back down, as my toes still didn’t show any signs of life, but back at Camp 2 I was relieved to discover I had no frostbite. It felt good to leave the mountain and get back to the comfort and saturated oxygen air at Base Camp at 5500 metres.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
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Cool Froggy, good adventure man!! Would love to go to the Himalayas as well. Hope to see you in Europe!!
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