Dispatch 8 -Camp Three and Above :
May 2nd
Click pictures for larger image
After spending nearly a week in BC and getting turned around
by the icefall collapse (noted in previous Dispatch), it was
refreshing to start climbing again. Because of the time spent
at BC, my body has partially acclimatized to the altitude.
The practical result of this process is that I can climb faster
at altitude than when I first got to BC ( I still can’t keep up with the Sherpas!).
For this trip up the mountain I opted to skip Camp One and climb
directly to Camp Two (about six hours of climbing). The icefall
had changed in a couple of places since my last trip through - a
reminder that it is constantly moving. Some people have asked what
I think about in tough scary places like the ladders and steep spots
through the icefall. Generally, I don't do a lot of thinking in
these areas - I try to size up what the actual danger is then move
deliberately and quickly - some people call it "unhurried haste".
During our rest day at Camp Two several inches of snow fell, and
consequently the next day we had to break a new trail to the base
of the Lhotse face. At the base we crossed paths with two Sherpas
and two Greek climbers (from a different expedition) who had come
down the face after spending a night at Camp Three. The Lhotse face
is a steep climb. We use fixed ropes that have been laid by sherpas
or other climbers. But even with a fixed route with hard snow or
ice underfoot it is very difficult ( don’t forget we are at
about 24,000 ft at this point). Since there weren't really any good
steps kicked in up to Camp Three we had to do more work that normal
and the climb from Camp Two took us seven hours.
Camp
Three (24,000 ft.) is a precarious little perch in the middle of
a very big, very steep slope. There are fixed ropes between the
tents, because you can't afford to slip up there. Most all of the
time (two nights) we spent up at Camp Three was in the tents. The
views from there are spectacular! Looking down, you see the entire
Western Cwn with its steep walls and hanging glaciers (and Camp
Two). Looking up, you can see Lhotse and the South Summit of Mt.
Everest (its starts to seem like a realistic goal).
The
first night at Camp Three we spent without supplemental oxygen to
give our bodies a bit of a jolt to hopefully jump-start more acclimatization.
The first night at 24,000 ft. without oxygen is not a restful one.
Of the nearly 12 hours of being horizontal that night (you go to
bed early and get up late because it is really cold at night and
there is not much to do) I probably slept 3 hours.
The next day we went for a "little walk" above camp towards
the Yellow Band (on the way to the South Col ). The snow and the
wind during the previous days coupled with the fact that no one
had climbed above Camp Three for a week or so made for tough climbing:
The fixed ropes were buried under a bit of a wind crust (hard snow)
and we were breaking trail in
hard snow up to mid-shin. We made it about 750 feet above camp in
two hours, breathing supplemental oxygen. Our goals were to get
some exercise (to further acclimatization) and to get used to using
the oxygen equipment before it really mattered. The second night,
we treated ourselves to real luxury and slept with the oxygen masks
on, breathing oxygen all night.
The descent of the Lhotse face was dramatically faster than the
ascent - we came down (to Camp Two) in a little under two hours,
recall it took us seven on the way up. We spent one more night at
Camp Two, so that we could get an early start the next morning and
descend the icefall when it was still cold and hopefully frozen
together. Another 3 hours of descent saw us from Camp Two back to
BC. Now we are just waiting for the weather so we can go back up
for our summit attempt.
The Numbers . . .
1 liter/minute is a normal oxygen flow rate for sleeping.
7.5 mm is the average diameter of fixed line on the Lhotse Face.
18 weather battered, destroyed, abandoned tents frozen into the mountain at camp three.
Day by Day
25 April - Climb from BC to Camp 2
26 April - Rest at Camp 2
27 April - Climb Lhotse Face to Camp 3 (24,000 ft) - sleep without supplemental oxygen
28 April - Climb above camp with oxygen to 24,750 ft. - sleep with supplemental oxygen
29 April - Descend to Camp 2
30 April - Descend to BC
Photo Captions
Camp 2 Lhotse
Individual sleeping tents at Camp
2 with the Lhotse Face in the background.
Brin w-face
Brien Sheedy, Whitman College Outdoor
Program Director and fellow expedition member at the bottom of the
Lhotse Face ready to begin the ascent to camp 3.
Camp 3
Our team's 4 precariously perched tents
at camp 3 on the Lhotse Face.
Cwm Camp 3
Looking back down the Western Cwn from
Camp 3. Camp 2 is on the right side on a rock section.
South Summit Camp 3
Looking up at the South Summit
from Camp 3. The climbing route is on the right-hand skyline. 
Tanguay above C3 - O2
Mr. Tanguay climbing above Camp 3 using oxygen.
Kevin descending face
Kevin Flynn, IMG expedition
member, descending the Lhotse Face.
Cooks and Camp 2 dining
Our sherpa cooks Mingmar and Mingma Tenzing at Camp 2 in
front of the combination cook/dinging/communication/storage tent.
