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Jamie's to the summit pixOur summit push went smoothly but we had a major drama on the way down. Enjoy photos of on the way up, summit pix soon.
15 May to North Col, 7040mWe have done this before, so now an easy climb, a mark of how we are acclimatized we are.
Where do you go to the toilet at North Col? We had a PETT toilet which people from other teams would sneak into sometimes as well. It has a surprisingly simple bag system for no mess. 16 May to Camp 2, 7640mNorth Col is easy; getting higher gets harder and harder. It is a tough haul up to C2 and most people arrived late in the afternoon.
Climbing higher looking back at North Col camp and Changtse |
A panoramic shot of the West Ridge of Everest on the left, Pumori the 'small' shapely mountain
(actually 'Daughter Peak')
and dominating the right side is Changtse, the "north peak of Everest".
By the time the last of the team arrived at our C2 the scene had changed to moody.
With tents dug into snow platforms (a sherpa job) C2 was less uncomfortable than usual.
Jamie with a bedtime snack, a chocolate Clif Shot
Everyone - Micha, Dudu, Brad, Tonya and Sele - plus Jamie and a sherpa team climbed from our 7640m camp to our 8220m camp.
Tonya (right) setting off from Camp 2. The true summit of Everest is not
quite visible.
The route that Tomas (who died) and Tormod skied is from the highest snow triangle a bit below
edging left under the obvious cliffs onto the snow 'gully' or minor ramp that runs diagonally
down into the real couloir. The step (an inch diagonally from Tonya's roll mat) is the last of
the difficult obstacles on their way down. From higher up the route they skied is SERIOUSLY
steep. It really was a real mountaineering feat, but one that unfortunately went horribly, sadly
wrong. I watched them during the day, knowing they were making history, but cloud often obscured
the view so I didn't see Tomas fall.
Our team and a couple of other at around 8000m heading up.
The last tents for C2 are at around 7900m and then the trail leaves the ridge and begins
crossing steeper terrain.
Most climbers are using oxygen here, although not sherpas.
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It was a long day to C3 (8220m) but everyone arrived safely. Then we set about preparing for the summit push by repacking, preparing drinks and snacking. Some climbers had real sleeping bags, others like Jamie just a down liner, a summer sleeping bag over the down suit. 18 May - summit day!tomorrow... 
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frozen in time 2006
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