Hello Everyone,
Not much to report the last couple of days but it has been great for the team to continue acclimatizing and resting at Basecamp. After a couple days of review and training in the lower icefall to get prepared for the Khumbu icefall we are now ready to head up to Camp 1 tonight! It’s exciting and a little nerve-racking the first time going through the Khumbu icefall but we are looking forward to it. From all accounts from our Sherpa and talking with the “icefall doctors” the route seems very good this year, with minimal ladders to cross or climb and pretty direct to Camp 1. Our first time through will probably take us around 6 hours to gain the roughly two thousand feet to Camp 1. It might not seem like a lot of elevation gain but overall with the ups and downs, twists and turns we will take through the icefall it amounts to much more elevation gain than just two thousand feet. Today we took hot showers and packed up our gear that we need to get from Basecamp to Camp 1. A couple hours after we leave, our climbing Sherpa team will leave and pass us somewhere in the icefall on their way to set up camp for us while also carrying more of our gear to make it easier and more efficient for the climbers. We have some of the strongest climbing Sherpa on the mountain and it’s always a great pleasure to work with them and see them work at high altitudes. These guys make the hard work at altitude look easy!
The photo below was from a previous expedition I took of people with headlamps ascending through the Khumbu icefall. This is what we will look like from Basecamp as we start our climb at 2am. I will be reporting by satellite phone on our 5 day rotation above Basecamp and will add more photos after we return. Thanks for following along!
Ben Jones
Expedition Leader
