Dispatch 5 - Foray to Camps One and Two :
April 19th
Click pictures for larger image
Finally the climbing has begun! Climbing Mt. Everest is very
different from climbing in the Cascades and requires a totally
different strategy. The name of the game is acclimatization
- letting your body slowly adjust to the altitude. The best
way to make this happen is to make trips up the mountain. When
you go to a higher altitude the partial pressure of oxygen
in the atmosphere is less and that triggers various physiologic
responses that increase the number of oxygen carrying red blood
cells in you body (among other things). If you are interested
in the specifics of high altitude acclimatization, you should
talk with one of the 28 Vashon Island High School students
that took Extreme Physiology with me this last fall. The acclimatization
process works best if you give your body these high altitude signals
for awhile, then descend to a lower altitude to let your body recover
(many body functions like digestion and sleep are adversely affected
by high altitude).
The
climbing route from Base Camp to Camp One is through the Khumbu
Icefall. Glaciers such as the Khumbu move, they are essentially
a slow moving river of ice. When the terrain under the glacier
gets steep you get an icefall (analogous to a waterfall). In
an icefall instead of whitewater you get unstable towers of
ice called seracs and jumbled blocks of ice all around. When
you look at the Icefall from Base Camp (See
background of Puja in Dispatch 4) there doesn't really
seem to be a logical climbing route up it. A special group
of Sherpas known as the Icefall
Doctors are hired by Sargamartha
( Mt. Everest ) National Park to maintain a route through the
icefall. By using thousands of meters of fixed ropes and numerous
aluminum ladders these skilled individuals make the seemingly
impossible possible. (See
QuicktimeVR of Khumbu Icefall)
Traveling
through the icefall is a mixed experience for me. On one hand,
it’s like a huge jungle-gym
with ladders up, down, sideways, and diagonal in a setting
that can not be beat - beautiful mountains and shimmering white
towers of ice. On the other hand, everything is in motion,
and even though the glacier is moving slowly as a whole, individual
parts can move very quickly (crumbling or collapsing portions).
See
this Icefall photo for some perspective.
Ascending the icefall quickly and efficiently was a major accomplishment and a physical drain. What amazes me is that the Sherpas can do what took me over four and a half hours in two (day after day). In fact the Sherpas routinely go to Camp Two and back before lunch - usually two days in a row then one day off! The Sherpas are amazing high altitude athletes that make even the most fit westerners seem merely average. The Sherpas are a group of ethnically Tibetan people that emigrated to the Khumbu valley 600 years ago. During earlier Himalayan expeditions Sherpas were solely load carriers, but these days many Sherpas are skilled climbers and take on much more responsibility in addition to ferrying the majority of the food and equipment to the higher camps.
From
Camp One at the top of the Icefall the route to Camp Two gradually
ascends the upper section of the Khumbu Glacier in a valley
known as the Western Cwm. Even though the Cwm is gradual there
are still some huge crevasses (cracks in the glacier) that
need to be bridged by more aluminum ladders. Camp Two (also
known as advanced Base Camp - ABC) is fairly bleak, but the
up close views of Everest and the wonderful cooking by the
two sherpas that are stationed there make the experience more
than bearable. (See
QuickTimeVR of the Western Cwn)
My
last trip to Camps One and Two was as good as could be expected,
despite some horrendous winds up high (it sounded like there
was a train going by Camp Two for hours at a time) the
weather conditions were great - sunny and clear in the morning
with the wind and clouds picking up in the afternoon. I felt
pretty good (its all relative) at the higher camps and
we got done what we needed - to expose ourselves to the altitude.
It is great to be down in Base Camp again.
The Numbers. . .
2 cooks stationed at Camp Two (21,400 ft.) preparing 4 meals a day (breakfast, lunch, tea-time, and dinner).
6 ladders lashed together to climb up and out of the final part of the Khumbu Icefall
120 knot winds forecasted over the summit from April 14-16.
Day by Day . . .
10 April - Before breakfast training hike partway up the icefall. Participated in a Base Camp-wide helicopter landing pad building event (moving lots of rocks to make a flat spot).
11 April - Did laundry and rested at BC.
12 April - Climbed to Camp One (20,000 ft.) through the Khumbu Icefall in just over 4 1/2 hours.
13 April - Climbed to Camp Two (21,400 ft.) up the Western Cwm and returned to Camp.
14 April - Rest day at Camp One.
15 April - Climbed to Camp Two and helped set up tents.
16 April - Rest day at Camp Two.
17 April - Climbed above Camp Two to the base of the Lhotse Face (over 22,000 ft.).
18 April - Descended from Camp Two to Base Camp.
Photo Captions:
Icefall ladder and blocks
A typical icefall scene - walking over unstable blocks after descending a three
section diagonal ladder. An additional horizontal ladder can be seen in the
upper left-hand corner.
Three section ladder
The "meat and potatoes" of
ascending the icefall - a multisection ladder bridging a crevasse.
Six section climb
The last major obstacle on the way to Camp
One - the six section horizontal ladder. The climber must descend
into the crevasse and then climb out.
Western Cwm
The western Cwn as seen from above Camp One. Everest
is visible in the left and Lhotse and the right. The pass between
the two peaks is the South Col - the high camp. The line of
people leading towards Everest ends at Camp Two (ABC).
Lhotse Face from Camp Two
Camp Two is on a moraine from a
small glacier coming down from the flanks of Everest. From
Camp Twothe Lhotse face looms above. Three climbers can be
seen making their way from the glacier above.
