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Lhotse
2001: Gary Pfisterer And the International Expedition
Dispatch
Six:
April 22, 2001
Hi
friends, back in base camp 2 days now, relaxing,
reading and enjoying the scenery. Mornings tend to be
sunny and warm with clouds in the afternoon. Other
numbers are rotating up the hill to acclimatize in
camp 2 as the route gets pushed up to camp 3. We have
3 members in the sidelines temporarily, 2 with upper
respiratory infections and 1 who experienced high
altitude pulmonary edema in camp 2. All should be back
in action in 2/3 days.
While
on the hill a few days ago we were able to see most of
the upper route which doesn't look as bad as we feared
in terms of the dry conditions. While the lower face
up to camp 3 is mostly ice, the traverse to camp 4 has
some snow cover and what we could see of the couloir
above camp 4 also had some snow in it. We won't know
the full story until we actually get there but this
was a bit encouraging. Meanwhile here at base camp a
couple more days where the glacier creeks and groans
at night, I feed my little flock of sparrows every
morning and the periodic avalanche crash from the Lho
la and Pumori.
The
barometric pressure is going up, which generally
heralds better weather, but for now it has brought
high winds to the upper slopes. Hopefully these will settle
in the next day or two as we will try to
establish our camp 3 at 7400 meters on the Lhotse face
when we head back up in a couple days.
