I woke up at 1:30am (I was soooo nervous I wouldn’t wake up from the alarm), activated my chemical hand warmers, and packed up my sleeping bag and mat. Dad and I are leaving a lot of gear in camp 2, such as sleeping bags (we have 2 each, 1 for base camp and 1 for up high), mats, down suits and some food – this is so we don’t have to carry it all up again next time we go up.
I put my boots on and headed out of my tent to the dining tent. It was a little chaotic in there with a dozen climbers with their backpacks, putting on their crampons and harnesses, whilst also trying to drink and eat a little bit.
I had a little bit of black tea, but I sort of forgot to eat anything before leaving 😅. I had some gels to have along the way.
I geared up, and started walking with Anastasia and Shehla, and of course Pemba too! We walked pretty fast (passing some of the men 😉 as it was cold and easy terrain. It took us only 35 minutes to go from camp 2 to 1 – even though it can take 2.5-4.5 hours to go in the other direction!
We got to camp 1 and we had a little rest. I had a gel (toothpaste consistency, packed with carbs and sometimes caffeine) because I didn’t have anything to eat at camp! We continued on for another 30 minutes and actually had another short break just before entering the Khumbu Icefall. This is because in the icefall we don’t want to stop, as it is very dangerous. I even had a caffeine lolly, to make sure I was wide awake and concentrated. It was still 3am or so!
We climbed down some more, reaching the big ladder crossing. This is quite safe, even though it can be a little scary standing over a very deep crevasse! Especially in pitch black!
We then entered the very dangerous section, where there was an avalanche just a few days before. I was very happy that the girls I was with were fast, and we all moved very quickly through this section. The terrain is a little technical, and of course at 6000m we tire more easily, but we went as fast as we could.
Once we were out of this section, we were all a bit huffy puffy! But we had to continue before we were properly safe.
I really liked this climbing down through the icefall with the girls! We all have a similar pace, and didn’t have to wait too long for each other. As dangerous as it is, we had a lot of fun, sharing snacks, taking photos of each other, and cheering one another on! We had a laugh when I went down a steep section first, and Pemba (my Sherpa) kept telling me, and then the other girls to do a huge jump at the end – which was way out of our league! Maybe after the summit I’ll jump there!
We finished off at the icefall, doing some more abseils, and down-climbing. Finally we reached crampon point! This is where we can take off our crampons, as from then on the terrain shouldn’t need them. We took them off a little early 😅 so we did slip a little!!
As we walked back into camp, I had to walk separately to the girls, with Pemba as Manish, the drone pilot had to film for the German crew.
I finally got back to base camp at 6am with the two women and Pemba! We immediately went into the dining tent, to have some tea. Even though we were warm when climbing, we got very cold very fast!
Then both my Mum and Dad walked in! It was so nice to see Mum (and Dad too 😅) because I hadn’t seen her in a month! It was early and very cold, so we all had some tea and chatted. Dad and I did some more interviews, between our coughs (from the dry cold air in the icefall).
The rest of our group arrived, and then we all split up to go to our tents to warm up before breakfast. It was still very cold!!
At 8am we headed to breakfast! I wasn’t too hungry but tried to eat as much as I could! Then I raided the HUGE bag of food Mum brought. I took some pringles and sour patch kids into my tent, whilst I caught up on messages, emails, and social media.
I pretty much chilled the rest of the day, migrating into the coffee tent in the afternoon with Mum, Dad and some other friends. I was pretty tired and a little bit sore!!
Just before dinner, Kristen arrived! She’d been at camp 3 in super rough weather conditions, and come all the way back to base camp! We all had dinner together, then I went straight to sleep at 9pm, and didn’t wake up until 7:30am! I can tell this rotation and other acclimatisation is working, because when I first arrived at base camp my sleeping heart rate was 80-85bpm, and last night it got down to 46bpm which is close to what it gets to at home!
