We’re all now safely down at Base Camp after an early morning descending the Ice Fall and are already thoroughly enjoying the comparative luxury it offers. We persuaded our guides for a later start, having had a long day up to over 7000m and an early start the day before, and were off down towards Camp One at about 6am. The trip down took about the same amount of time as last time, approximately 4 hours, and the whole team moved quickly as we all feel much more comfortable and efficient clipping in and going over ladders. One thing I noticed today just before we got into the main section of the Ice Fall was just how blasé you become about crevasses; we would be walking over tiny snow bridges with a gaping crevasse going down 50m on each side of us, and no one blinks an eyelid, or more often just doesn’t even glance down. This isn’t usually a coping mechanism either; it’s just that you cross so many of them that they stop being of particular interest or awe. However, every time we pass it the place that the Sherpa fell still revives my fear of the crevasse crossings.

We were pleased to find Lawrence here when we got down and to find out that the Base Camp doctors have been really pleased with how his fingers are doing and have predicted that the swelling should go down in two days, and that he should still be fine going back up with us, but perhaps going on oxygen after Camp Two so that the tissue doesn’t refreeze. He is currently on oxygen right now, and slept with it over night too, as that helps his fingers to recover. We definitely never expected anyone to get frostbite at that stage, and now our guides keep checking that all of us are looking after our fingers and toes!

This whole rotation was definitely a trial. Much more so than the last one. Spending five nights at 6500m drains you of energy and depletes your appetite. Waking up every morning to a frosted up sleeping bag and snow on the inside of your tent, as well as becoming out of breath just going to the bathroom, just doesn’t do it as far as motivation or enjoyment is concerned, and I found myself thinking more and more about Base Camp and tea houses, and even of back home. So arriving here today has been such a relief – with showers, and a warm mess tent, and thick air we’re all feeling great. Even if the showers were taken in the snow. We’re going down on a drop back about 1200m lower than we are now; heading off tomorrow morning, spending one night at Pheriche before carrying on down to spend another three nights at Debouche. This is meant to give our bodies a chance at healing themselves, and gives us a mental escape from the mountain too. The oxygen percentage should be at about 80 percent (approximately) down there compared to 50 percent up here, so cuts that have refused to heal for weeks, and our Khumbu coughs (which I have developed with vengeance over the past two days) should be able to clear up in that time and we should be back to full energy ready for our summit push.

Current happenings on the mountain: The new route up the Lhotse face is going really well, despite getting a little crowded at popular times of day. It’s currently much safer than the normal route due to rock fall, however it’s currently snowing with little wind and this is predicted to continue, so the snowfall should make the face much safer and will allow for line fixing to continue. A meeting has just ended where they’ve decided who will be fixing up to the South Col, and it’s been decided that, weather permitting, that will start on the 7th/8th, ready for loads to be carried up and for, when the weather window opens, for line fixing to continue up to the summit. So, all is looking good, and this weather is favourable. Good news, besides the fact that Base Camp is now quite cloudy and cold, where as before we would usually have a couple of hours of nice warm sunshine in the mornings!

That’s about all for now, or at least all I can think of, so hope you’re all well. Ttfn.

I forgot to mention the photos I’ve attached: In the photo of looking down
the valley you can just see Camp Two on the right hand side, in the rocky
area. This was taken just before getting onto the Lhotse face, and shows
down the Western Cwm. Then you can see my dad and myself looking very
attractive in our big down suits. Finally there’s a photo of the start of
the new route up the Lhotse Face. The person in the picture is my dad, and
you can’t tell at all from the photo, but where he was was actually 70
degree ice, which involved a heck of a lot of effort, and some skill too.
None of us were particularly elegant to begin with, but you soon learn that
at that altitude you just can’t maintain a hectic scramble.