Moving to camp 1

Whew ... I miss oxygen!  I woke up early this morning - at 5 to the gentle voice of Moma, one of our cooks saying "Dee Dee, milk tea."  Dee Dee is the Nepalese word for older sister, he serves the steaming, syrupy drink each morning from a thick thermos and I fear that I will need to go to milk tea rehab when I get home.

At 6 our small team of 5 headed up the rocky hill adjacent to our camp.   Going from sipping milk tea to hiking up hill at 15,700 feet is a difficult transition, especially at 6 am, and my lungs screamed at me for the first 30 minutes.

After about an hour the rocks gave way to glacier and we stopped to put on crampons and harnesses.  I was happy to be on snow.   We moved pretty quickly through the crevassed  Larkya glacier.  Instead of traveling as a rope team, we each clipped into the fixed line that the Sherpa anchored to the glacier yesterday.  Clipping in is accomplished by attaching a carabiner to the fixed line; that carabiner is attached to a short rope, which is attached to my harness.  If I should fall, using this system would keep me anchored to the surface of the snow, preventing me from falling into a crevasse or sliding down an exposed slope.

Moving to camp 1
Photo:  Lisa White

Camp 1 is positioned at 18,200 feet - a little lower than expected - we arrived there in good time, just under two hours.  After staying for just a few minutes, I reversed my path and returned to the comfort of base camp and the familiar sounds of yak bells and the whistles of their drivers.

The plan is to rest at base camp tomorrow - and if it's sunny I may even wash my hair again!