6400 m Camp 2 Everest - After a chilly 6 a.m. start out Camp 1 yesterday we arrived at Camp 2 around 8:30-9:00 a.m. This camp is perched to the side of the glacier streaming off of the Lhotse face (see photo of the face and with good eyes, due to the web size display, you can see Camp 3 another 1000 meters (~3300 ') higher perched along the hanging ice field just to the right of center). That is where my team is headed tomorrow (May 2) for one night.I'm happy to report that team 2 (The Yeti Team) made it safely through the Khumbu icefall today and are now settled in to Camp 1 for the night. We will cross paths with them here at Camp 2 the night of the 3rd as we rest before descending to BC and they head up the Lhotse face.
Another spectacular aspect of where Camp 2 sits is that we can look up and see the plume off Everest's summit and also get a great look at the south summit and distinctive yellow band of rock high on the mountain. Please see the photo which shows the south summit just right of center and the small snow plume blowing off our ultimate goal, 2450 meters above us.
Tomorrow will prove to be one of the most difficult days yet as our bodies will crave for more oxygen, something that will become less and less, as we put one foot in front of the other. 6-7-8 steps, pause and breath, repeat. The climb tomorrow will likely take 5-7 hours and some, if not all of us, will be greated with headaches, nausea, and pure exhaustion. Fun, fun! So today's rest day has been very welcomed. In fact, the film crew for The Discovery Channel asked several of us to practice wearing a chest-mounted camera. See the photo as we used this time to blow off some steam vs. staring at the hard work ahead, that being the Lhotse face and a night a Camp 3. What's the saying? "No pain, no gain." Living the dream is reality now for sure and I hope to dispatch more about this dream/reality after a successsful "run" up to Camp 3 and all the way back to BC for much needed rest (oh yeah, a shower and shave too).
Namaste from Camp 2 Everest!
