Dan Mazur's Kangchenjunga Spring 2002

24 April Dispatch: Today was clear and sunny in the morning, and cloudy and foggy in the afternoon, but it did not snow. Felix, Dan and Ian walked to the base of the ice building at 6100 meters, and Felix fixed 170 meters of polypropylene 7mm static rope inside the ice building itself, to an altitude of 6250 meters. It is a 40-65 degree ice and snow couloir, about 5 meters at its narrowest. One significant feature is the large double tier of seracs that loom about 50 meters directly above. He almost reached the top of the couloir. It was burning hot up in the corner of the valley and while Ian and Dan belayed Felix, they sweated profusely and all of their exposed skin became sunburned, even through their sun cream. Chris took a rest day in camp 1. Stuart descended to ABC to carry a load and Steve joined him for the walk to camp 1 and slept there. Malte, Paul, Ivan and Julio descended to basecamp. Dorje Tamang and Jangbu Sherpa walked from ABC to camp 1, carrying a load. Jangbu couldn't stop coughing and felt badly, and if he does not recover, we are thinking of sending him down to Taplejung or even Biratnagar to see a doctor. Mark walked to ABC with Tek Bahadur, while Mike organized equipment in basecamp. 

25 April Dispatch: Today was beautiful in the morning and the clouds barely closed in during the afternoon, and the weather finally became foggy in the evening. Chris and Stuart walked up to the ice building, and Chris fixed a further 200 meters of polyester 7mm static rope, as the ice-snow couloir tapered off and broadened out, to an altitude of 6350 meters. Mark and Tek walked to camp 1 in order to spend the night. Dorje Tamamg, Dorje Sherpa, and Galu Sherpa walked to ABC, carrying a load. Ian and Felix and Dan descended to basecamp, refixing all of the  rope above ABC, and building many cairns along the trail across the flat Kangchenjunga glacier. They also removed bamboo flags from the three routes which had evolved during the sherpas many forays up and down the glacier, between basecamp and ABC. The apparent bamboo shortage was solved. Steve Rested in camp 1. Malte, Paul, Ivan, Julio and Mike stayed in basecamp.

26 April Dispatch: The morning was clear and windy. In the afternoon a ferocious wind-driven snow storm blew in. Steve walked down to basecamp. Dorje Sherpa, Ang Galu Sherpa, and Nike Sherpa carried a load up to ABC and returned to basecamp. Mark and Tek Rested in camp 1. Malte, Paul, Ivan, Julio, and Mike walked to camp 1. Ian, Chris, Felix, Stuart and Dan all rested in basecamp. A fresh shipment of potatoes, spinach, and fresh yak meat had arrived, so the food in basecamp has been especially fresh and delicious these days. It was windy all day, and a lowering lenticular cloud covered the mountain. Finally, after lunch, a wall looking cloud roared up the valley from Lhonak, and blasted our camp, and the entire mountain, with tons of fresh snow, heavy winds, and it was a real blizzard. It was hard to tell how much snow was deposited, as the wind drifted it all about. For example, a 60 centimeter snowdrift formed outside the mess tent. The kitchen tent blew down. In the night the wind finally died, and the moon came out.

Thank you very much. Cheers for now. Yours
Sincerely, Daniel Mazur from http://www.SummitClimb.com

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