Day 17 June 25

It snowed last night. Not a lot, just a little bit on the ground. It also wasn’t so cold. Maybe I got the air mattress the foam pad and the sleeping bag to be friends. I got a decent sleep, maybe the best so far. Sleep isn’t continuous, it has a series of breaks.

After breakfast – ugh, pretty bad, we’re getting to the bottom of the barrel, – grits, like eating sawdust in water -.

Dom asked who wanted to hike up the hill towards Camp 4. I was thrilled. I needed to assure myself that I still had the ability to walk uphill. I also needed a break from just walking up and down Camp.

Three of us took up the offer. The fresh snow made it different to the time we headed up to cache some stuff, whenever that was! We probably only went up 600ft, but we lost sight of camp pretty quickly after starting our ascent. It felt good to test the legs and the body, albeit a short test. The descent was scrunching in deep soft snow. It felt great.

After getting back, with still some energy to expend, I dug steps into the slope that had become the ramp to the loo. It was so slippery I feared my last step would be a slide into the CMC. I couldn’t let that be my demise, so I crafted steps into the ice. My good deed for the day, maybe the week or month!

As I retired to the tent about 1:30 pm, it started to snow. Steadily over the next few hours the splatter of snow against the tent soothed me to a snooze, and then I started my next book, The Blind Assassin for a bit. The snow accumulated, probably to the point that my good deed is rendered pointless.

What will this snow mean to our progress, or should I say to our lack of progress?

At dinner Dominic said there would be no move tomorrow. More snow coming, but there would be a break perhaps on Friday, with a better break possibly on Sunday. The possibility of a break in the weather lifted everyone’s spirits. There are only a few groups remaining here. As the eeek progressed a few more turned back. The Russians are still here. The other RMI group too. They are in a better situation than us, as they have longer left on their permit.

In the meantime we continue to wait, and hope those breaks in the weather come to pass. Friday would be just ideal!