We decided to start our final summit attempt on the 29th of September. The big snow storm had stopped so with a few days of good enough weather, we would hit the upper mountain. Many other teams were also heading up to attempt the summit.
In the morning we had an early start, we brought along another sleeping bag to increase our comfort, as we has been using one just to save weight on our days carrying our gear up the mountain. we also packed some food and lots of Gatorade.
We were set. We had planned on a 4 day trip and maybe one for decent... The attempt to the main summit would be on the
2nd of October. Everything was planned like that, Tzhiring the Sherpa who was working with the Italians organized Yaks, Jeeps etc, for our departure for the 4th so we could reach
Kathmandu before the 6th. On the 6th the Hinduism festival would start and was celebrated throughout the whole week so everything is closed. It is celebrated by everyone.
The weather looked OK and there was no signs of wind or snow. The temperatures had been dropping since our arrival in early September. We hiked quickly along the moraine and dry glacier towards the "killer slope". The 45+ degree steep mud cliff that leads us to camp one. I started up ahead only thinking on the condition of our tent. The storm had been really strong and there were stories of stranded climbers and their tents collapsing. I arrived to find our tent intact! It was covered in snow but it was fine. I climbed down to the tent, cleared some snow and opened the door in search of our shovle. As I looked inside I find out the tent has no holes!! Great!! I start shoveling out the tent and soon after Anna arrived at camp and took care of drying the gear from inside while I dug out the tent.
On the morning of the 30th we started up to camp 2. We figure that the first time it had taken us 7 hours with the loads and poor acclimatization We could do it in maybe 6 or faster. We started up at 11 am, it was perfect weather, no clouds and no wind, just very cold. We had a good pace from the start, our acclimatization had paid off, in two hours we reached the steep serac that divides part of the ridge, quickly we climbed it to find at the top the Italians resting. we sat down for a few minutes but decided to continue. Pretty soon I arrived to camp 2 at 7400mts dropped my pack turned around and there was Anna, just a few minutes after, She had gotten caught up behind some climbers on the fixed ropes. We rested for a minute and set up camp.
Our strategy had already been discussed and agreed that we were going to set up a camp 3 at 7685mt just below the rock band.
The weather was still good. it was very cold though, even in the sun.
On the Morning of the 1st we awoke to great weather no wind and no clouds, we climbed the steep slope between camp 2 and 3 relatively quick but were stopped just before the rock band because of descending climbers that had attempted the summit the night before. We waited for about half an hour in that time it got really windy and cold, I was wearing only liners on my hands and didn't realize the worst... I was getting frozen. I put my hand inside my down suit and it felt a little better, so I continued up but the higher we went the more windy and very cold it got, just before camp i couldn't hold the pole any more and i noticed i couldn't move my fingers. Pretty soon I put both my hands inside my suit and continued to camp. On my arrival i stopped at the Italians tent and ask for aid in the mean time while Anna arrived. They tried to warm up my hand but it was not working so good. As soon as Anna arrived she set up the tent and organized camp. We got into the tent and Anna heated up water to re warm my fingers. She also massaged them and examined them for blisters or discoloration. They looked okay so we warmed them with the hot water bottle and massage. In the mean time the wind was gusting stronger and stronger. The spindrift was coming in all the vents and soon our sleeping bag was covered in soft white powder. We also had icicles forming inside the tent! Needless to say it was a long cold night. We discussed our options. We both know going up in the storm was out of question and going down right then was very dangerous. We did not have enough time to stay another day at Camp 3 and with the condition of my fingers I wanted to head down asap. So we decided to hang there a little longer maybe until the early morning light and head back to
Camp 2.
During the night the storm was so intense we wondered that we could get blown of the mountain!! Because we were on a carved platform on a very steep slope, the snow was going to give way under
neath us!! Needless to say it was a very long night!! I was anxious because my hand was still feeling weird. I thought to my self that no mountain was worth a digit or a toe.
Finally around 7 am the storm eased with intermittent gusts of wind, quickly we decided this was it, so we packed our gear really quick got out of the tent, stuffed the tent into the pack and started our decent, with the hope the wind was not going to be so strong in the lower mountain.
We got all of our storm gear on and started down without even thinking twice. We battled the slope the whole way down but made it down to camp 2 in one piece. we rested for about half an hour and quickly decided to continue down. Being in that kind of storm at that altitude was not very fun and it was very intense experience at one point it just turns into survival mode...
That night we reached Base Camp, we gather our thoughts of the climb and went to sleep totally spent.
We succeeded on this expedition by learning unique experiences that only go on at extreme high altitudes and by coming back home in one piece. Some climbers paid the ultimate price on this expedition reminding us that what is most important in the mountain is life.
