ABC lassitude

When will the snow stop falling?

We have a new team page up...

24 Sept ABC 5640m

Mark headed down to BC today with Da'Nuru carrying the second half of his load. Apparently only Da'Nuru reached Zhangmu; Mark is waiting there for some other climbers and by the time they arrived it was too late to leave.

Hans' medium Sudoku are evil. The hard ones are a mind mess.

After many days of expectation, it started snowing. Lightly, and at ABC level melting as it landed on the ground but by late afternoon it was sticking and at night we cleared the tents a couple of times. One team (not us) who would rather not be named had their communal sherpa sleeping tent collapse and they cut themselves out, but there were no other dramas that we have heard.

25 Sept ABC

This is our sixth day waiting at ABC and it won't be the last. We woke to around 20-25 cms of snow, not a big fall. However I am sure that on the mountain much more fell. At least we have seen a hint of our Camp 1 tents, so they are buried but still up.

We have plenty of time and can wait until conditions get better, not so most other teams so some hard decisions will be made in the next day or two. Probably of most concern for teams who want to get out, rather than hope for an (unrealistic) quick summit, is their gear at Camp 2. This could be hard to retrieve.

The Japanese, who arrived late and are yet to have their puja, are looking in a good position. Yep, they are arriving late but there is a logic, they will be going to Lhotse's South Face in winter and so wanted some conditioning prior.

Our plans are to pick up yet another weather forecast then see how the day dawns tomorrow. We are in no rush to climb on potentially loaded slopes, and will only head up when we really feel it is safe.

Apologies for the relative lack of photos.