(Picture: Team at Camp 1)

We completed our first acclimatization cycle 2 days ago by spending 2 nights up at Camp 1. We reached Camp 1 on 4 Sept at about 1.30pm and then spent the rest of the day resting, cooking and sorting out our gear for the next day’s climb.

We left Camp 1 the next day at about 7am with the goal of reaching the base of the second ice cliff en route to Camp 2. From Camp 1, we had an unobstructed view of the daunting route up. Most of the route up required the use of fixed ropes which were buried due to the heavy snowfall of previous days. After about 4 hours of back-breaking climbing, we reached the bottom of the first ice cliff and we had to wait for one another to clear the vertical ice cliff. Although it was only 20m tall, it took each of us about 30 min to ascend the vertical ice, using a front pointing technique (with our crampons) all the way up. At 6700m, “tiring” was a description that barely cut it.

Moving up the first ice cliff

When we reached the top of the ice cliff at 2.30pm, bad weather and poor visibility prevented us from proceeding any further and it was also past our turn-around time of 1.30pm.

During the descent back to Camp 1, the prevailing wind speed was about 60-70 km/h and we had to stop numerous times to shield ourselves from the oncoming spin-drifts. The round trip took us about 10 hours and we were relieved to be back in the relative “comfort” of Camp 1.

Descent back to Camp 1

Throughout the second night in Camp 1, our tents were continuously blasted by heavy winds and we did not manage to sleep well. In the middle of the night, we also heard disconcerting rumbling sounds caused by heavy avalanches on the mountain above Camp 3.

In addition, to add to our unease after hearing the roaring avalanches the night before, what would have been a smooth descent the following morning turned out to be an agonizing descent in knee deep powder snow caused by the heavy snowfall the night before. It took us 4 hours before we finally managed to return to ABC where we met up with our newly-arrived “campsite buddies”, a team of 19 American climbers and another team of 7 from Singapore. Looks like we’ll have no shortage of company for the rest of our climb!

We will be resting at ABC for the next 2 days before moving up the mountain for our next acclimatization cycle. This time around, we plan to clear the first and second ice cliffs on the way to Camp 2, stay a night at Camp 2 before moving towards Camp 3 and then descending to ABC for our final rest period before our summit bid.

Wish us luck and fair weather!