Text Box: Xpedition 8000

Dispatch Twenty-four: September 17th, 2009

2009 Shishapangma Expedition

Day Twenty-four: Climb from ABC to Camp I (6,400 meters); High Winds

Today, Mario and I woke up at 4:00am, had a quick breakfast in the kitchen tent, and headed up in the morning twilight. The way was quite well established this time thanks to the huge number of expeditions that have been carrying to the deposit and our attention was allowed to wonder to the beautiful sunrise we were allowed to witness. Shishapangma was alight in alpenglow, and the lakes were a beautiful aquamarine, seemingly glowing in the morning light. We reached the deposit around 7am, and slowly packed our backpacks with the tents for Camp II and Camp III as well as some of our high altitude gear. We left a half hour later, quite a bit heavier than when we arrived, and headed through the penitentes. We reached the start of the snowfield to Camp I about 45 minutes later. After starting up the slope, we noticed a number of other people coming up. Apparently they were all waiting for someone to break trail before starting up, and now, around ten climbers, mostly Sherpas for other groups, were trailing behind us. We reached Camp I around 12:30 in high winds and quickly took refuge in our tent. Juanito and Tolo arrived soon after, and Juanito came inside our tent, where he would be spending the night. We chatted for some time, winds blasting the tent outside, prepared a late lunch, and settled into our sleeping bags as the sun dipped behind the peaks around us. The temperature dropped and the winds continued all night.

Photos: Left: Camp I ; Right: Climber arriving to Camp I

 

Satellite Phone: +88216 212 75615
E-mail: nickrice16@hotmail.com

Contact Info:

Copyright © 2007-2009, nickrice.us All Rights Reserved