Usually when climbing any big mountain, you would leave between 1-4am because the summit day is long, and usually has a longer descent than ascent. This leave time also aims to avoid the bad weather that most often comes in the early afternoon. We however left at about 9am as we were going to be camping as close as we could get to the summit.
My day however, started at 2am as our tent in high camp is as close as you can get to the dining tent. There were at least 10 people who were having breakfast at 2, as 95% of Lobuche climbers would.
I still got my 9.5 hours of sleep don’t worry 😅😅
We woke up, had a slow breakfast and geared up in our boots, harness, helmet… Since it was well and truly daytime, I just wore my thermal top, and shell pants. This is one of the only times where I have left during the daytime for a big summit, apart from Ama Dablam where we left at 7:30am (due to the cold).
It had snowed a lot overnight, so we had to put our crampons on, only 45min into the climb. I usually like to wait as long as possible for crampons, but this felt necessary. As you’d think, smooth rock covered in snow is quite slippery!
We continued on slowly, being the only people the mountain on our way up. I had climbed this mountain with Dad exactly 2 years ago, but this time was completely different in the 2nd half! Much more snow, and (at least I think) a slightly different route.
We had a couple of breaks, and I made sure to eat as many carbs as possible, and drink lots. As much as I try to break up the expedition, and focus on each stage individually, this is “just” an acclimatisation peak, so I need to come off it feeling good! (it’s almost as if I have to climb Mt Everest after this)
Kristen is such a beast! I’m so grateful she is climbing with me, and I am learning so much! She is also CRAZY STRONG! I knew that already, but climbing with her really showed it. And Pemba, who I climbed with last year, and this season on Island Peak, is also incredibly strong! Being with those two, made it very easy to feel slow and unfit. Also the fact that there were no “normal Everest climbers” going up for me to compare myself to, didn’t help either. That’s ok, and we weren’t in a rush so they were very happy to slow down! I didn’t want to push myself unnecessarily hard to keep up with them, and then get tired.
Anyways, the weather got pretty bad and it started snowing a lot. Hence why most people leave in the night! It wasn’t windy or too cold, but snowing very hard! There was quite a lot of rock, then a longgggg steep-ish section. Normally there are steps kicked in, but the snow covered them pretty quickly! We could use our jumars/ascenders and get into a nice rhythm.
We then made it to the (almost) top! 2 Sherpas had very kindly set up the tent for Pemba, Kristen and I, and we immediately took our crampons off and crawled in. Where the tent was pitched, is only about 20 vertical metres from the summit. The weather was too bad for us to go then, so we will go tomorrow.
It took us 3.5 hours from high camp to the summit at 6000m. It’s meant to be 6100m but every gps we have say 6000m.
The three of us set up our mats and other gear in the tent. The next few hours were a bit of a blur… I listened to podcasts, Kristen watched her Norwegian reality TV, Pemba played solitaire. Then we all napped a little, I had some snacks, Pemba melted some snow for water, Kristen and I chatted (with the aim to not nap anymore to ruin our night’s sleep). I texted Mum, Dad and Charlotte on my satellite device which was also nice and took some time out of the 6 hours (so far! It’s now 8pm as I’m writing) that we have been lying here.
Then came dinner time, as the snow and wind calmed down. I had dehydrated “Thai green curry with chicken” and Pemba ate the other half. Kristen had tomato pasta and potato chips.
Now I’m going to watch the Manosphere for the 3rd time! 😆
‘Twas a fun day!!
