Click here to view the photo + video album (part one) for this part of the trip
Click here to view the photo + video album (part two) for this part of the trip
We’d planned for one rest day at high camp, but that one day ended up becoming two accounting for the weather. It’s not uncommon for teams to get stuck at Seventeen Camp for a week or more, and in fact, another AMS team had been here for six days. Tomorrow is their final contingency go/no-go day. If they don’t summit tomorrow, they’re going back down.
We all have our fingers crossed. Weather has been bad for a while up here, but it can change on a dime.
The best way to describe Seventeen Camp is… stark. Life is hard up here. At Fourteen Camp, we’d bask in the sun; it actually felt great to be outside. Here? Even in direct sunlight, it’s cold. When the sun goes behind a cloud or a mountain, it’s freezing. You never really feel warm, and you have no appetite. Sleep is fitful at best, and you feel robbed of energy. And as if that wasn’t enough, I was now bunking with my guides in a single tent. In a bid to save weight, we left my tent at Fourteen Camp, and all four of us were in the big Hilleberg. It was a very tight fit.
That said… my experience here at seventeen thousand feet is far better than it’s been on prior peaks I’ve climbed. Here again, I feel like my decision to live and train at altitude has paid off immensely. I feel stronger and less winded, and even after spending one day up here, I felt ready to tackle the summit. With two days of rest, I feel almost as good as I did down at the lower camps. I’m ready… and what’s even better is that taking Ibuprofen at night has allowed me to sleep soundly, even up here! I tried a bit of Diamox (altitude sickness medication), but found that Ibuprofen works far better. I don’t have any altitude sickness issues – no headaches or nausea, so Diamox wasn’t needed. It makes you feel jittery and you have to use the restroom more often. This will be my first time summitting such a tall peak without Diamox, but I think it’s the right decision.
Unfortunately, Jason and Grace’s guide, Porter, fell ill during our time up here. He went back down the mountain today, but Jason and Grace will be guided by Michael Gardner, another AMS Guide who was recently featured in the Alpinist Magazine. They’re in good hands.
Planetary Muffin Expeditions 