Dispatch 9 - Summit Preparations:
May 5th
Click pictures for larger image
The waiting game begins. We need two good weather periods. The first needs to last two days so that our sherpas can carry tents, stoves, and oxygen to our high camp at the South Col (Camp Four). The next good weather period after that would be for our summit attempt. Right now I can break down our summit preparations into three parts: personal, group, and logistical.
On a personal level, you try to reach a balance between keeping
yourself healthy and rested and trying to stay active so that you
don't turn into a ball of mush. All of this balancing must be again
balanced with a certain amount of escape - it gets stressful
if every minute of the day you are thinking about preparing for
one of the biggest climbs of your life. Distractions can be reading
a good book, listening to music, playing cards, or taking
a hike like I did yesterday to have lunch and visit a lake and skip
rocks.
On a group level, we practiced working with fixed lines with oxygen masks, goggles, and big gloves on and passing other folks in awkward/steep places during our simulated summit ridge (The Hillary Step) practice. This was a great opportunity for people to experience how their gear worked (or didn't) in this specialized situation that we will all hopefully experience for real in the coming days or weeks.
On a logistical level, it is the sherpas working really hard while we rest at Base Camp. All of our camps below Camp Four are stocked and ready to go. This is actually not the case with every expedition. Some expeditions are waiting for a weather window to get their tents, oxygen, stoves, and food to their Camp Three sites.
As I am writing this dispatch I just heard that the
sherpas did in fact make it to the South Col with the first half
of our supplies despite strong winds. Now we are keeping our fingers
crossed that the wind will calm down again tomorrow so that they
can be done with establishing camps (Of course on our way down
we will take all of our supplies with us, so the sherpas will again
need to do carries involving the South Col, but in reverse.).
It is amazing how much work goes into a camp that is only
going to be used for two nights - for a few hours before we get
up to climb the mountain and on the night after our summit attempt.
One expedition member, who has climbed the mountain before
with oxygen, is trying this time to summit without it. He
is planning on sleeping at the South Col before the summit attempt
to better acclimatize (but this is unusual these days for most
climbers).
Here's the plan for the upcoming days (or weeks, but hopefully not weeks): In ideal conditions the sherpas would make their second carry to the Col tomorrow, the 6th. On the 7th the sherpas would come down to BC. Then they need at least 4 days of rest (8-11). On the 12th the sherpas would go back to Camp 2, then on the 13th they would go to the South Col. At this point the earliest summit day that we could expect would be May 14, but there are a number of factors that can set this back, the major one being weather. If the weather is bad tomorrow and the sherpas can't go up, that puts us back a day. If high winds are forecasted for the week of the 14th, that throws everything off - our plans at this point are highly reliant on the weather up high (where is the jet stream?). Generally, sometime before the end of May there are weather conditions that are conducive to a summit attempt. Hopefully it won't come to it, but if it looks like our summit day is going to be pushed back to late May, we may do another trip back up to Camp Two just to stay in shape (acclimatization-wise).
When the weather cooperates, the expedition members will either
go directly to Camp Two (or to Camp One then Camp Two) and then
take a rest at Camp Two for a day. Then up to Camp Three for a night
where we will breathe bottled oxygen (unlike scuba tanks these are
filled with pure oxygen). Then climbing on oxygen we will make our
way to the high camp at the South Col. We will spend the afternoon
and the evening resting, eating, and drinking and then head out
on our climb sometime in the middle of the night (probably between
10pm and 2 am). Each expedition member will leave the Col breathing
oxygen and will get a fresh bottle of oxygen at a place called the Balcony on the way to the top (sherpas will carry these "Balcony
bottles" up and leave them there for us.). Most teams use Russian
made oxygen apparatus and sometimes there can be confusion as to
who's bottle of oxygen is who's, but we are the only team that
uses an American system, with slightly larger bottles, so our bottles
are easy to identify and no one else can use them!
For now, we are just waiting and hoping for good weather!!
The Numbers
0 outhouses above BC. At Camp One and Two solid human waste goes
directly into small crevasses. Above Camp Two it goes into plastic
bags that are later thrown into crevasses.
2-3 Liters/minute is a
normal oxygen flow rate for climbing on Summit day.
-20 F is the estimated nighttime summit temperature this week.
45 sherpas from different teams turned around because of high winds trying to go to the South Col on May 1.
Day by Day
1 May - Simulated summit ridge practice.
2 May - Rest at BC.
3 May - Rest at BC.
4 May - Hike to Gorak Shep for lunch and to Pumori
Base Camp and lake.
5 May - Rest at BC.
Photo Captions
Simulated Hillary Step
IMG climbers experiencing the crux of the summit ridge simulation.
See
Windows Media Video of the Hillary Step 3.5.mb
Downclimber
One climber negotiating a difficult
down climb section of the simulation.
Tuck at Pumori Lake
Mark Tucker, IMG expedition
leader, recovering from an especially well skipped rock at Pumori
Base Camp.
