Local time: 25 April, 17:20
Location: Camp 2
Altitude: 6500m
Weather: Foggy, then fine in the morning, intermittent snow in the afternoon.
Hi it’s Paul coming to you from Camp 2. This morning we woke at 4:30 am to get an early start for the walk to C2, as it gets extremely hot.
Getting ready
Attila and I melted some snow for water and made some porridge for a quick warm snack. I find if I eat something I feel warmer. By 6 we had packed all our gear into our backpacks and then were ready to leave.
The walk to C2
It was quite cold when we left, and I only had old gloves. After 15 minutes my hands were very cold, so I tried warming them up by swinging my arms to get the blood down to my hands. This worked a bit, but not well enough, so I stopped and took out a chemical handwarmer. I always keep a few of these handy, because they can really help in a cold spot. (I have taken about 40 pairs of handwarmers with me to Everest). I opened the packet and shook the little pouch for five minutes. They take longer to warm up here, because there is so much less oxygen. Soon it was warming the inside my glove, and my fingers were fine. It was very breezy too, and I made sure that I angled my face away from the breeze, otherwise you can end up with a frostbitten nose and cheek. This is not easy when you are trying to look where you are going.
I bumped into TA on the way to C2. She was headed down. She looks great and has a slight cough, but otherwise was moving well. We stopped to talk for a few minutes before the cold forced us to keep moving.
The sun reaches us
At 8:10 the sun hit us and it started to heat up. All the effort of an hour ago seemed crazy as down jackets and warm hats were thrown off, in exchange for sun hats & sunscreen. On my top I wore only a white longsleeve top, and this kept me reasonably cool. My black pants absorbed as much heat as they could though If you are looking on Google Earth, you’ll see that we zig zagged back and forth for a long way near camp 1 to cross crevasses, then we started on a long diagonal traverse from one side of the glacier to the Everest side, where Camp 2 is located. Once you get to the Everest side you then head towards the Lhotse face to your camp.
Camp 2
Our camp is one of the furthermost away from C1 & while it would be nicer to be closer, it makes our climb up to C3 a bit shorter. There is probably half an hour walking between the first tents of C2 and our camp. We are near Adventure Consultants and IMG. I’ll share some more information about C2 tomorrow.
Your Messages
Hi Roger, You’d have no problem with the ladders, although you’d want to be a bit careful with the weight of your backpack. There’s only one way to find out!
Hi Jac, Yes, really looking forward to Fiona and co getting here.
Hi Kieran, My camera does get cold, so I often keep a battery in my pocket to keep in warm and then put it into the camera. You do have to be careful with cold on your nose.
Hi Cam, We don’t loose our footing – crampons help a lot, but there is an art to it. I am not sure how many ladders there are, maybe 30. I lost count.
Hi Jennifer, Yes, I have enjoyed the maple candy, flags, t-shirts and books that QECVI sent. Keep and eye out for QEVCI things showing up in photos. Have you read the Everest books? What did you think?
Hi Neil, Great to hear from you. You are probably taking Marg to the airport as I write this. I am sure she will have an amazing time.
Hi Jon, Great to hear all the news from you. Unfortunately I can’t receive photos up here.
Hi Lollie, Thanks for your message. What school and class are you from? In which country?
Regards,
Paul.
Great you get there without more difficulties.
As you mentioned ladders I thought sharing with you that according to the
BaseCamp Medical Center’s website the icefall doctors have set 32 ladders in the icefall this season. Would you mind to share some more information about them? Who are these icefall doctors?
All the best, Mira
Are they very stable??I mean when you see them in a photo they look very bendy!!I know i wouldn’t be able to climb it!!!
As always thanks a million for the real news updates. Fantastic to hear from you. BTW, just fyi, looks like Apa and Lhakpa Gelu will be arriving there on Thursday or Friday. Also, I talked to Julie Smith (you remember her from Asian Trekking last year…you were on the same summit day push.) She says hello and that you are in her prayers every day. Hope you’re having a great and fantastic time! thanks much. p.
Hi Paul and Attila
Thank goodness for chemical hand warmers! A good thing!
Paul, I was wondering, would you venture to say there are more crevasses in the Icefall this year? Just curious.
Congrats on getting to C-2. And it is wonderful that you are feeling well with no signs of the Khumbu cough!
The best, MC
Hi Paul, I guess you two will like this story from one of your reader (posted on Pat’s pages as the reader believed Attila is Pat’s climbing partner – I have just copied here) maybe this brings back some of your memories from last year, too.
“i’m just a follower of this site and don’t know anyone. i’m from melbourne australia so first heard of fiona and paul’s adventures last year. i did post once or twice last year and was interested in the little things around the camp. loved the story of dogs doing crazy things at higher altitude like eating all the eggs ( ?hypoxia) hope you and your team all make it. we have a female dog called atilla and we spell it with two “ll’s” and one “t” so we abbreviate it to tilla which is more feminine. so we have a special interest in your climbing partner.” rita voselis
Best, Mira
Steve,
It was great to see your photo climbing up a ladder to Camp 2 today. I thank God for your restored health. The temperature changes must be challenging esp. at night with the cold. I hope you stay as warm as you can.
Luke has been studying Nepal and Mt. Everest in his freshman geography class, and his teachers have been asking about you. I will try to keep him posted, as I just belatedly registered for these updates.
Tomorow AM I have to attend a Western WA Medical Group IT Committee meeting and tell them that we in Primary Care don’t want, don’t need and don’t want to pay for their proposed $500 K dark fiber network which the specialists feel they need. When you get back, I may need to consult you about alternatives when we do go to EMRs. We don’g need an autobahn of bytes to view images like the specialists do. Just a little news from the home front.
If you get this, I’d appreciate a reply if you can. You’re in our prayers.
Your brother,
Tom
Hi Paul, Thanks for the updates. I just got my computer back after it needed some intensive care so am just catching up. Sounds like everything seems to be going well at this stage. Hope your health is OK and you’re having fun.
Regards, Phil M
Paul, great pic of you at Camp 1 by the crevasse with Everest behind you. I was reading Bonnington’s book about the his expedition’s attempt to go straight up the South Face, (behind you I assume) quite a few years ago now. Looking up at the face now, what do you reckon? What do you think such an attempt must have been like? Nick
We read your site once a week in our class & look forward to reading your stories. We discussed how amazing it would be to find it really freezing & then later quite warm so that you then have to take off jackets/hats & put the sunscreen on! We have been reading books on climbing Mount Everest & read about the Nepali Legend of the beast the ‘yeti’ or ‘abominable snowman’. So…have you seen a ‘Yeti’?
From Robert, Vedat, Jarrod, Mark & Sarah