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Yesterday
we came up through the Khumbu icefall; everything has
changed again. Near the top of the icefall, a
difficult vertical ladder and ice wall have completely
collapsed and looks like a bomb went off. It’s been
very important to start early and move quickly, as
later in the afternoon, everything starts melting and
falling. Our 4th trip through now, each one a bit
scarier as it gets later in the spring. As the monsoon
draws closer everything warms up creating an increased
risk from both the weather and avalanche in the
icefall.
Everything
is coming together for our summit attempt. Our team is
acclimatizing well and ready to go. All the camps are
being established; the route to the South Col is in
now, so Camp 4 will be set up very soon. Staying
at Camp 2 and higher demands some mental toughness as
any simple task can put you out of breath. Even
putting boots on in the morning is a challenge. We
have a good camp near the top of the Camp 3 area,
protected from most larger avalanches and spindrift
slides. Still it’s very steep ice right outside the
door. We have set safety ropes up around the tents in
case anyone takes a slide. Our camp is set in about
the safest place around, although all of Camp 3 is
very exposed to avalanches coming down off Lhotse.
This simply is not a place to be during any kind of a
storm like we had all last week.
Look
for us to call in another update in the next day or so
from Camp 3. This is where things get a bit more
exciting. We hope to spend 2 nights there, although in
any bad weather we will come down as soon as possible.
It’s interesting how all the teams are slowly lining
up their summit days. Lots of different strategies
forming, and really it just comes down to having some
luck with the weather when we’re all ready to go.
Forecasts are great, but far from accurate enough,
especially as a summit attempt has to be planned
almost 8 to 10 days ahead.
So
let's hope the mountain will allow us higher as we
take each next step up.
Scott
Woolums
Adventures International Inc.
 Dispatches
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