We arrived at Basecamp on the 23rd just as the afternoon cloud rolled in. The views as we came in were spectacular if a bit short. Comms from here are by Sat phone only so this means low res or no images
Once here the team sorted themselves into their basecamp tents / sorted out their climbing equipment (which had come in by Yak a few days ahead of us) and then made themselves with the BC facilities and the BC and climbing staff.
Our BC staff had been here for a few days getting everything ready for our arrival as well as getting to know the other Sherpa teams here at BC
Altitude Junkies are here with us and had already made moves on fixing the SW ridge. Our Sherpa team joined forces with them today to add to the already 1200m of rope fixed – adding another 800m to the top of the SW ridge – which now opens the way for the final pish to the summit by the fixing teams in a few days time.
Meanwhile we began our acclimation process with a load carry to High Camp at 5100m (approx 400m above BC) which we will ony use for 1 night to give us better acclimation as we move on and up to Camp 1 (5700m)
The views of the mountain today were nothing short of amazing with clear blue skies and no wind.
Over the next 2 days we will move up to HC to Sleep and do some training on the glacier before climbing with some loads to C1 and then return to BC to rest before our next cycle on the mountain which will involve negotiating the rock tower above C1 to gain the SW proper.