Cybercasts

Hello Everyone,

We woke to perfectly blue, clear, and calm skies here at camp 1 (21,000ft). It was also a very calm night, and everyone did well coping with our new sleeping altitude. After breakfast, and when the sun warmed our tents we got out and headed up the ridge above camp 1 to the base of the ice cliff. It took us about three hours, and we finally got to use our mountain gear, including big boots, crampons, harnesses, and ice axes. It was a good practice ascending some fixed lines and remembering the French technique with crampons. We felt a little tired under the hot sun but everyone did well. We are still acclimatizing but progressing well on the mountain. Tomorrow we will probably head back down to ABC for a couple more days of rest before our 2 nod of three rotations to the summit.

Thanks for following along,

Ben

Hello Everyone,

We all made it safely and successfully to camp 1 today. It took us about 6 hours to reach camp 1 under occasional snow showers and occasional sunshine. Everyone did great today! We just finished up dinner and are tucked into our sleeping bags and tents at 21,000ft where the clouds are starting to clear high on the mountain above us.

With the help of a bunch of teams on the mountain the lines will be fixed to camp 2 tomorrow. Our plan is to hike a couple hours above camp 1 to the base of the “ice cliff” and then return to camp 1 for further acclimatization. Hopefully I’ll get some good pictures tomorrow of camp, the climb, and the mountain above us. It’s beautiful here right now, fairly warm, no wind, and clearing!

Talk to you tomorrow,

Ben

Lakpa cooking

Clouds on Cho Oyu

Camp 1 with Cho Oyu above

Hello Everyone,

Today we had another rest day today here in ABC before heading up to camp 1 tomorrow. We are mostly all in various stages of a head cold but for the most part doing well and on the mend. It’s been snowing most of the day but not much accumulation in camp. The weather is forecasted to get nicer starting tomorrow and we are hoping for that. Our plan will be to spend a couple nights at camp 1, seeing how everyone is doing and possibly going part way or all the way to camp 2. We’ll keep you updated but the group is excited to get up on the mountain and start acclimatizing.

Talk to you soon,

Ben