After a rest day at Base Camp we made an early start with the whole team carrying heavy loads to Camp 1. The cooler morning air made for a much easier ascent of the icefall, yet by the time we reached the plateau the heat made the going as tortuous as ever. It made for slow progress and we were all pretty happy to reach camp. We spent the evening melting snow so as to rehydrate and eat, and with the weather looking good we prepared our gear for our first load carry to Camp 2.
By 4am we were on our way and despite the numbing cold Soren, Kees, Adrian and myself made good time across to the bottom of the SW ridge and the start of the route proper. The lower slopes were steep and quite exposed, especially while traversing, and any fixed rope had been buried by the recent snowfall. As we switched back under the main face we were confronted by a large swathe of avalanche debris strewn across the route and our way to Camp 2. It was a worrying sign. Nevertheless, we climbed up a steep adjacent face of about 60 degrees, this time jumaring up the first usable fixed rope. With the weight we were carrying it was a real effort, and the altitude was now beginning to tell.
As we breathlessly reached the top of the fixed rope we saw the huge overhanging ice cliff that had been giving so many problems to other teams – and we could see why! Just as we were wondering how best to get up, a Nepalese Sherpa with an Italian team arrived and decided to free-climb up another slope. An hour or so later and he’d put in three fixed ropes and opened up a new route to Camp 2. What a star! His name was Dawa and it transpired that he had previously summited 8000m peaks no less than twenty-one times! Quite why nobody had tried this variation earlier is anyone’s guess. Perhaps they felt it was potentially too unstable and for sure it’s not ideal, but it’s a damn sight better than the other way! Soren was the first to climb up, followed by myself and Kees and before long we found ourselves in the spectacular surroundings of Camp 2. We decided to push on to upper Camp 2, a small platform about 50m higher at 6500m with room for about 10 tents or so. The weather was superb and we could clearly see the route above us to Camp 3, a bit steeper overall but certainly no harder than we had just come up. For the first time since we arrived I allowed myself to think about reaching the summit. We set up two tents, dropped our loads and started to head down – full of confidence for what lay ahead. It was a great feeling to be on the mountain at last!
