From base camp Lobouche
Dining al fresco Practising rope skills Climbing the vertical slab Stopping for quick bite to eat a couple hours into summit day I’m in the red The day dawns on top of the world
Dining al fresco Practising rope skills Climbing the vertical slab Stopping for quick bite to eat a couple hours into summit day I’m in the red The day dawns on top of the world
We left high camp at 2.30am and the first two and half hours were climbing over big boulders and rocks in the dark with head torches. A few times we had to rope up for some dodgy bits. I was quite glad it was dark and I couldn’t see the steep drops. But it was …
Today we practised the last of our rope skills. I must admit it’s brain overload for me. I have selected which bits to retain as some of it is unnecessary and is more for lead climbing. I’ve retained the parts I need to know. We’ve sorted all our gear out now and are moving up …
Yesterday we trekked to our base camp for Lobouche. Thankfully Bob was feeling better and decided to keep on with the program so there’s still the two of us. We spent the latter part of the afternoon practicing crevasse rescue. Today we spent a lot of time learning rock climbing skills, how to build anchors, …
Ascending the extremely steep head wall Straight up That creature in yellow is me Approaching ‘the head wall’ as day light breaks On top of the world (well it felt like it) Having lunch on the way down at ‘crampon point’
Oh my god. What the hell was that! This is one heck of a mountain. It’s definitely good training for Everest. So we leftbase camp (5080m) at midnight last night. From 6am yesterday morning I had one hour sleep during the day. The nerves you feel the night before an ironman race, multiply that by …
So today is a rest day as we leave tonight for the summit. We get our gear ready today. I’m just lying in my sleeping bag with iPod on, waiting. While the tent blows around me. Will try and get a few hours sleep later. I listen to songs that I like to listen to …
Yesterday we practised using a fixed rope and jumaring up it. Then rappelling down. This is for the top of Island Peak where the last 250m ascent is pretty much a steep cone of snow. Today we climbed up the first 2.5 hours of the route to help acclimatise for the height gain on summit …
Today after walking for 8 hours we reached base camp on Island Peak. It was a welcome sight. We’d set off at 7 am and stopped for lunch at Chhukhung (4730m) and continued on only stopping for short water breaks and to have a pee behind a rock. We reached base camp about 3.30pm. A …
Just having breakfast now. Using the last of my wifi card. We got news there’s a cyclone heading our way but hopefully it will dissipate before it reaches us. They come over from Bay of Bengal and quite common apparently. See y’all on the other side. It’s unlikely we’ll bag all three summits. Weather and …