May 1, 2008 - 9:27am — MountEverest2008
Heavily Dusted!
5400 m
Yahoo! Whereas our time at Camp II was well spent and we are getting the upper mountain fairly well stocked (for example, with oxygen for summit attempt), we are now safely back down at base camp. We departed Camp II at 7am this morning- it was bitter cold, but it was also a strikingly beautiful to time to travel. As we descended towards Camp I, we were in the mountain's shadows and it was cold to the point that each foot placement made a crisp 'crunch' sound as the crampons bit into the hard pack snow. And of course, going down is certainly a bit easier- with each step you are accessing increasingly thicker air.
Soon, we passed Camp I and then quickly entered the now familiar Icefall. I really dig this part of the mountain... the terrain is so diverse. One minute you are crossing a deep crevasse via two ladders tied together (the tricky part is properly placing your crampon teeth on the ladder rungs), the next minute you are rappelling down a 45ft vertical ice wall. All this in a land of sun twisted ice shapes, some the size of humans, others the size of large buildings. Cool too, today we were the only ones in the Icefall. Typically, there's a lot of traffic here from other climbers and Sherpas. Today though, as the mountain basically has to be vacated per China's torch effort, we found we were the last ones off the mountain and as such, enjoyed the final stage of the descent to ourselves.
One aspect of today's journey was particularly fascinating. Kent, Jose Luis, a couple Sherpa, and I were in the tail end of our group, ideal given some of the photography we wanted to shoot. We were working on some cool ladder shots when - BOOM! - very nearby, a giant avalanche was born. Unlike the others I have spoke of it, this one was close! It was something, seeing this wall of snow and ice break free from the mountainside and then, transform into a rapidly moving white mass of snow and ice - directly towards us! Jose and one of the Sherpas were on the avalanche side of the crevasse, a precarious position as the snow from the avalanche could easily sweep them right into it. They scrambled across the ladder and we together traveled as fast as we could away from the fall. Soon though, the avalanche caught us... and we found the clear blue sky environment had turned into a temporarily white-out condition. The avalanche cloud engulfed us, heavily dusting us from head to toe with snow. As quickly as they had left us, the blue skies had returned and we kind of looked at each other and then shared some 'oh my god' type comments. Certainly one the most interesting experiences I've had so far.
So, now we have a few days of true rest in base camp. I am feeling pretty good at the moment and looking forward to regaining some strength, eating a lot, and catching up on some much needed sleep over the next few days. Think the full team has the same plan. At the halfway point, I feel we're a solid group and I think everyone has a good shot at reaching the summit.