At last! 10 days in Camp 3 is more than enough. We were up at 7:30, had a simple breakfast of Quakers Oats (yuk! a mix of blueberry and apple/cinnamon), packed our backpacks, took down all the tents and buried them along with all the unwanted gear and snacks. Minimizing weight for the remainder of the journey was crucial. We didn’t need to carry the tents, as RMI has tents and some gear cached at Camp 4. So the bags were reasonable, and we were eager.
There was quite the crowd ready to move by 10am. Big question of who would go first. Whoever went first had the unenviable task of breaking snow and establishing a trail. No one had gone up since the 20+” of snow. Unusually Dom held back. The Russian team, the Lithuanians, the other RMI team got to the hill before us. Not all were heading all the way to Camp 4 at 17,200 feet, but to cache above the fixed lines. The question in the back of everyone’s mind was how far would we get. The stability of the snow was still questionable, and the accessibility of the fixed ropes across the ridge. The positive factor was the AMS team had crossed the ridge to get down.
Unfortunately being so far back resulted in delays all the way to the top of the fixed lines. We waited at the base of the slope, as the teams ahead of us were quite slow tackling the initial incline. For me, and as I found out from all of the colleagues, this 2nd climb up was more challenging than our first 6 or 7 days ago – so long I can’t actually remember!, The impact of sitting around in Camp 3 was having an effect. However, the body warmed up, and the slow pace got me back in the groove. We went further before our first break, which made the 1st stretch quite testing. Dom did this for 2 reasons, we wanted to try and get ahead of some of the people ahead of us, as the pace was slow, and he was testing us. He wanted to push us to see if we were upto this stage, and the final stage to the summit. 2 of the group, Sophia and Tait from NYC, quit at the break. They fell quite far back on this first stage. Ben brought them back to Camp 3, where they will remain until our return. They will camp with the other RMI team, who are only heading up to cache some gear, and will return to Camp 3 today. This clearly was a tough call, but the right one. It was clear over the trip, and especially during our first trip up to cache, that they were struggling. It was additionally rough on them, as they also had to turn around last year.
We made reasonable time to the bottom of the fixed lines, slower than our previous trip, but were held up for over 30 mins before getting onto the fixed lines. It made me think, in a very simple way, of the delays on Mt Everest at the Hillary step. We just sat and waited for the slow line ahead, to climb over the crevasse, and start up the fixed lines. You’re stuck, you get impatient, you can’t go on, as you watch people ahead struggle or move slowly, or perceive to move slowly. Fortunately, there was no wind, as it would have been quite cold if there had been one. I reckon it was about 10F.
Eventually we got on the fixed lines. Adjua, who was now on my rope team ahead of Andrew, was extremely nervous as we worked our way up the blue ice section. The blue ice (it really is blue) is super hard and slippery. The crampons didn’t grip the ice like they do the snow, so maintaining a foot hold, and not slipping was challenging. So kicking really hard, repeating as often as is necessary to get a grip, to get a couple of spikes into the ice is crucial. The angle of the slope at this section is about 60 degrees, so the nervousness is understandable. However, contact is aided by the ascender, so a serious fall is very unlikely. The slope is not sufficiently steep to require the aid of the ice axe. The key tester is to have your feet securely anchored, especially at the points where you have to detach and re-attach the ascender when one fixed line ends, and the next begins.
At the top of the fixed lines, which is about 2,000 ft, and almost directly vertically above Camp 3, as you look back, we waited for Ben. Having returned Sophia and Tait, he turned around and followed us up. More like, he raced back up!!
The guides dug up our cache, and we loaded up to head to Camp 4, at 17,200 feet. We had no idea what was ahead. We were about to traverse the West Buttress. The first section was a steep scramble up to Washburn’s Thumb – named after the famed climber and photographer Brad Washburn who established the route after photographing Denali from his plane back in time. Washburn’a Thimb may have looked insignificant from way down in Camp 3, but not now! On this section, Ben, our guide and rope leader, slipped, but quickly self arrested! I discussed this with Andrew later in the day, and this stumble had a similar (but silent) affect on both of us. It definitely increased our anxiety, making breathing difficult. I remember thinking I can only half fill my lungs, I have a cramp in my lower chest! After the scramble, there was a short section of fixed lines. At this point there was only one group ahead of us, so the snow was not packed, adding another vector to the challenge. The route was a mix of snow and rock, and rock and crampons aren’t great. After the fixed lines we were on the ridge. The exposure on both sides was something. Having said that, it was incredible. Steeply down below our right side was Camp 3. For days we had looked up at this ridge, with no knowledge of what it was like. Thankfully the route was passable. It was also clear why doing this ridge in the wind was a no-go. We walked for a couple of more hours on this ridge, occasionally having to scramble over rocks, which is quite different whilst wearing crampons. This section, which gained us about 1000 feet, was physically tough. We reached Camp 4 at 7:00pm. This was later than expected, due to the time lost earlier in the day on the lower sections. Then it was the normal routine. Establish camp – shovel out a flat platform for the tents, erect the tents, assist with the Posh and the latrine, unpack the backpack, blow up your air mattress – which is no fun at 17,200 feet -. Given the significant drop in temp, it was time to bring all layers into the tent, and keep your boot liners, socks, all gloves, all layers, and water bottles in your sleeping bag. The guides boiled water, which takes a lot longer at 17,000 ft, and we had a Mountain House dehydrated dinner in our tents. My yellow curry with chicken was quite tasty. I was tired. So was Andrew, and as it turned out, so was everyone else. It had been a long day, tough climb, wildly exposed. Nonetheless, it was exciting to be here, it felt good, to be within a day’s climb of the summit.
Dom gave his end of day speech, saying we were going for the summit tomorrow. He put our chances at 50/50, with the risk being avalanches. The ground above us, and route to the top was virgin, untouched snow. The leader of the Russian team (he was American) said he had never seen so much snow on the route ahead.
So, exciting day ahead, but prayers needed to make it happen. Despite the excitement and anxiety, sleep came easy.
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