Day 9 June 17

Today was a rest day. A true rest day. Nothing to do, and sleep until 9:30. Given the erratic sleep patterns, there never being any real ‘night’, the advantage of sleeping in had me intrigued. One really never knows how much sleep one gets. We go to ‘bed’ at about 8pm, not ready to sleep. We read, watch a downloaded TV show or something, and we fall asleep at some point. No one sleeps all night, but one never tries to open one’s eyes if awake, as it is so bright. I don’t fall asleep easily or early. I read as long as I can, usually stopped when my hand gets too cold holding my Kindle. I try putting the Kindle in my sleeping bag, but I can’t get my eyes focused on the print. I try adjusting the print size, up and down, but to no avail. When my hands get too cold, I just try and lie there, just rest. A good black out mask is a treasure. The other treasure is the pee bottle. No getting out of the tent at 4am for a quick trot to the latrine. Still the usual questioning “do I really need to go?” After 30 mins, a wasted 30 mins, unzip the sleeping bag, search for the pee bottle, try not to wake Andrew. “Should have done that 30 mins ago!”

This morning I was woken from being asleep at 9:30. My best sleep seems to be just before I wake, or am woken. I needed that sleep. Breakfast, believe it or not, was bagels and smoked salmon. Imagine that!! We were free to do nothing all day, but Dominic strongly encouraged us to do something. He said a day of laying around would make tomorrow’s second trip up Motorcycle hill to 14 Camp miserable. If we wanted to just walk, do it, but stay with the boundary of Camp 2, also known as 11 Camp, Outside the boundary was crevasse country!

Me, I wanted to practice my side-step walking. Dominic volunteered to go with me, and offer me his advice. We roped up and eventually ended up 3/4 way up Motorcycle hill. I learned to imagine how a ball might roll down the hill we were climbing, and to keep my feet at 90 degrees to that, to delaying moving my downhill leg for a micro-second when doing the side crossover step, and which step to use on smoother versus heavily walked on snow. It was a very worthwhile hour.

The rest of the day was relaxing. I spent an hour talking with Nate and Andrew on holiday destinations and restaurants. Nate bases his holiday on top-rated Michelin star restaurants – Barcelona – Mont Bar, Girona – El cellar de con roja. I can’t remember the rest!

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Andrew shared his favorite NY venues. – Atomix, Daniele and Shuko

After dinner tonight we prep’d for tomorrow’s move to Camp 3. We went through all our gear, and see if there is anything we want to leave here at 11,000ft. Part of this is the base layers and socks we have used since we flew out of Talkeetna 7 days ago. What a relief to wear a new base layer and underwear. You have no idea!! Tomorrow I will wear fresh socks!!

I have a blister on my small toe that needs watching. Ben helped apply a ‘Compeed like’ bandage. It is only bothersome when I descend, as it gets squashed somewhat in the toe of my boot. It’ll be fine.

Tomorrow is a big day – our move toward 14,000 and establishing a base to prepare to attack the summit. This will be our longer term home, and the place we would wait if the weather changes. We have walked most of the route 2 days ago, and we are eager to move on.