It’s Tuesday. I thought it was Monday. The day doesn’t matter here. All that matters is the weather, not the weather here at 14,000 ft, but the weather at 17,000 ft and above.
The teams that moved up to 17,000 2 days ago are still there. I believe it’s a miserable place to be stuck. Hopefully I’ll see soon.
Last night was cold, about 10f. I made 2 mistakes. Firstly I did not put my socks on, but slept in my down booties. My feet got cold during the night. My second mistake is I didn’t inflate my airbed. I thought it was inflated enough. As the temp dropped overnight, the air mattress ‘deflated’ some more, which meant my sleeping bag got closer to the freezing ground, and I got cold. I guess I made a 3rd mistake in not doing something about it immediately I felt it. I eventually addressed both issues. It’s like when I wake and I need to go pee, you try and ignore the urge, say it’s okay, only then have to do something 30 minutes later, having just tossed and turned in the meantime.
So bedtime from now on means socks on and inflate the mattress! On all my previous climbs this has been standard, but the weather is so mixed here – some nights are much warmer, and I might even take a layer off. Once we move up it will be significantly colder.
Whilst it is boring here, there is no doubt this is the place to wait, and as usual, Dominic’s strategy was correct. Our camp here is luxurious compared to what we will build at 17,000. We have a mess tent in which we all can gather, and we have a ‘decent’ loo. I can’t believe I said that, as it is quite primitive – actually worse than that, or maybe I’ve just crapped in a bucket for too long – , but it is sheltered and private. I recall on Vinson the blue bags behind the rock, and carrying your ‘prize’ like Borat! That was seriously primitive!
Today we walked to the “End of the World”, with precipitous views to the Kahiltna glacier, thousands of feet below. It was a nice day, blue skies, so clothing was alternating between a base layer and a base layer and a fleece. We had a view of Camp 1, and the earlier part of our trail. Some of the team scrambled out to the edge of the rock, but I stayed sensible. I promised Fionnuala I wouldn’t do anything stupid!
We then prep’d the ground for the arriving RMI team. We dug out a platform for their tents. This is a huge help to them, as I recall how exhausting prep’ing was when we arrived here last week. 6 days ago – holy cow! Shoveling snow and stamping ground is no fun! When they arrived, they were mega pleased.
Tonight we heard the forecast, no change in the weather, means no move tomorrow. Dominic continues to contact his 3 friends, who independently send him forecasts. Then he meets daily with the Park Rangers stationed here. He is very thorough, and will await the optimal window. He is very proud of his record of never having anyone get frostbite on Denali.
We have a time limit though. Two factors will determine this. Firstly, our permit expires on Monday – that’s 6 days. Secondly, is our food supply. Carrying all that food here has been a pain, and there was a huge urge to cache some down lower. Whilst I did cache some, I brought a lot. Etienne says he has 2 days worth left. He also ran out of toilet paper. (Luckily descending teams drop by offering up their leftovers or excesses, so they can avoid carrying them back down. Etienne managed to address his toilet paper conundrum in this way).
Some groups have made the decision to turn back. The Lithuanian group have descended to 11,000 ft and will wait there. This doesn’t make much sense, as there is better acclimitization here, but as I said earlier, each team has a different strategy.
So still sitting and waiting….
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