Saturday, April 28, 2007

Base Camp

We are back at base camp! We came down from camp two yesterday, and arrived just in time for lunch. We were delayed a bit in the morning because we were radioed from base camp that there was a break in the icefall, and we didn’t want to leave until we knew that the “ice doctors” had fixed up the route. As we came down, we found that the break was in a flat area known as the “football field” that we had previously designated as a “safe” area to take a little rest. And the whole shelf just collapsed!

Now that we have spent a night at camp three, we are done with the acclimatization process. We are going to take a few days for rest and recovery, and then we just wait for good weather to make a summit bid. We plan to go back down to Pengboche tomorrow so we can really get a good rest at lower altitude before our summit attempt.

Here is what we have been up to these past few days:

4/23/07
Yesterday we all made it up to camp one for the night. We were joined by Tori from the London Business School team, because she wasn’t feeling 100% when her team went up the day before. Tori and I were tent-mates at camp one, after I managed to convince Victor that we did in fact know how to use a stove. As we are both the only girl on our teams, I thought it was quite nice to have a “girly night”, as Victor called it.
Today we all came up to camp two. It was very hot coming up the Cwm this time, and we all had heavy packs because we had to bring up what we had left at camp one the last time we stayed there. It certainly made it a lot harder work!

4/24/07
Despite the fact that I caused us to get a later start than planned this morning (I had a particularly hard time getting out of my warm sleeping bag into the cold air) we accomplished our goal for the day. We went up the very first pitch of the Lhotse Face, and are now back at camp two for the evening.


4/26/07
Yesterday we went about halfway up the Lhotse face to camp three to spend the night. This was a new record for my dad and me, as our highest night ever! Camp three is at about 23,500 feet, and our previous highest night was at camp two on Cho Oyu, at 23,000 feet. We arrived at camp three around noon, and then had a lot of time to kill in our tents, as it wasn’t really safe to go more than five feet outside the tent without putting on crampons and clipping into the fixed ropes. Thankfully, I had not yet reached a hypoxic level where I couldn’t enjoy my book.
Coming up the Lhotse Face was a bit windy, and some parts were pretty icy. It gets fairly steep, so I was glad to have my ascender, which slides up the rope, but not back down, so you can use it as a handhold to pull yourself up.

15 comments:

Terry Moore said...

glad to hear you're both suitably acclimatised! -- I think of that as one of the hard parts -- the ascender sounds a very handy device! just curiosity -- what's the book you wanted to take? love to you both from us -- Terry

Unknown said...

i just have one thing to say to you and this is all that you need to hear. "you're soarin, flyin, there's not a star(or mountain) in heaven that you can't reach if you try it. so you're breaking free!" i have have a little bit more to say. i love you and i am so proud of you and ive really enjoyed reading about youre progress. i wish you the absolute best of luck with the rest of your journey. tell your dad i say hi! be safe and have fun! -alex

Unknown said...

i know my comment said sarah because i dont have a google mail account and my friend sarah let me use her's. she says good luck and God bless! -alex again

Unknown said...

congratulations on your achievement! I just read about your accomplishment on the CBS2 website here in Los Angeles. We are all proud of you!

HowcoulduforgetMe said...

CONGRATULATIONS!

HowcoulduforgetMe said...

I came across your blog, YOU ARE AWESOME! CONGRATULATIONS ON SUCH AN ENORMOUS GOAL YOUVE ATTAINED!!!

Travel Nepal, we support ! said...

COGRATULATION!! YOU REALLY CROSSED A WAY OF SUCCESS!! RESPECT TO YOUR BRAVE!! WE NEPALESE ARE ALSO HAPPY AND PROUD BCOZ OUR GREAT MOUNT EVEREST BROUGHT YOU KIND OF PERSIONALITIES ON US.
NAMASKAR !!

adorinee said...

Hi, I 'm from India and have a GREAT longing to someday do something as daring as your journey to the Everest. But maybe it will always remain in my wishlist. But reading your post gave me the vision to feel myself being there... doing that. thanks a lot for yor MARVELLOUS article.
Congratulations for doing it yourself.

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Anonymous said...

Samantha ---

Can you tell us about your Dad ?

How he raised you ?

You did amazing job climbing Everest, but wondered more about how your Dad and family encouraged you, growing up!

Anonymous said...

Read about you in the boston globe!

Were the trips expensive ?

Is there a way we can donate to defray the expenses ?

Rajiv Sharangpani said...

Dear Samantha,
Heartiest congratulations to you and your father. I had met Dick Bass who had done the seven summits as I was going to Gokyo lakes. We met at Machhermo.
I would love to meet you and your father.
Dr.Rajiv Sharangpani

Anonymous said...

wow. cool.

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