Retreat

We had spent the last 24 hours watching and listening to the snow falling. This unpredicted snow fall yielded somewhere about 18”. Today I spent much of the morning watching the almost continuous small avalanches off the rock face just a few hundred yards northeast of base camp. You hear the thunder sound, and then the swoosh of snow falling like a waterfall. Amazing to watch. We are still watching a tropical storm forming in the Indian Ocean. It is predicted to become a typhoon (the Pacific Ocean version of a hurricane) in the coming days and drop a lot of precipitation in eastern Nepal. The amount of snow predicted is anywhere from 7 to 15 feet. One crazy weather station said 45 feet, but that mad. As I looked at the avalanches this morning, I tried to envision what it would be like with 15 foot of snow? As I said previously, our “newest” plan was to retreat to Sama before the storm hit on the 25th, wait there and see if a later summit attempt is possible. Today as I talked to Terray, a lot of people will be in the same boat. At this stage moat teams have withdrawn off the mountain to BC, thinking about what to do next. (Only a few crazies are still up there). To cut a long story short, I have decided to head to Kathmandu and wait out the storm there. A few reasons for this:

a) I have spent 4 nights in a damp hostel room on Sama, another 8 or 9 don’t motivate me – if there are enough rooms available

b) if after the storm the mountain is not climbable this season, that’s a lot of people looking for a helicopter out

c) some weather stations are talking potential catastrophe, in which case we could have floods in the Nurbi valley, possibly talking out the bridges leading to the village from both sides, meaning walking back to Kathmandu, about 3-5 days walk, might not be possible, so one would really would be stranded.

So all things considered, Kathmandu seems the obvious choice, but it was not as easy a decision as it appears. Every mountain is my last mountain, so chances of me coming back here are slim. This is also likely my only shot at a 8,000 meter peak. However that’s the heart speaking not the head.

Things can still workout. The storm may not be too bad, and I can helicopter back in from Kathmandu, and try again starting late September. The team here is committed to support me, if there is a late Sept opportunity . The weather will make the next decision. Woodie is pulling out and heading home. He had some challenges on our climb up to Camp 1, and he has a deadline to be back in the US. So if I come back it’s me, Terray, and the Sherpa team – they can carry me up!!

As a tease, the view of the nearby mountains and Manaslu tonight at dusk was incredible. Was it saying goodbye, or come back and see me?