Subject: Resting at Base Camp
Posted by Rob on 03 May 2005 12:58 GMT+1 17:43 NST
For the past few days I have been resting at Base Camp. Although we have done the basic steps to acclimatise for the summit, it is still too early. So I'll be going up to Camp 2 and Camp 3 again for some more fitness training (at 6500m) just to be as ready as possible. I'll head up The Hill on 4 April and be gone a few days. Not sure how high I will go, depends on the weather.
In the meantime, here are a few snippets of life at base camp:
We are camped on an active glacier, but it is covered in stones and pebbles, and some very big rocks! During the night it creaks and cracks and makes odd popping sounds. It is critical to convince yourself that you won't suddenly get swallowed by a crevasse!
Our 'shower' is a large garden weed-killer container and pump that has a nozzle on the end. We have a little 4 ft by 4 ft tent (but 6 ft tall) that we clean in. I don't bother with the weed killer pump, but just use a very large bowl. Having had my weekly 'shower' yesterday, I don't seem to have lost much weight yet (it is the only time to really check). I didn't think I needed the shower, but everyone else said I did!
I even wash some clothes sometimes! Today I cleaned various garments in a large bowl of hot water and put them on rocks to dry. I then move them to the tent for a final dry. When the sun is out it can be 70F in the tent. But each night it has been -10C here at base camp. Our eating tent is great. Real plastic chairs, carpet and gas heaters. Very comfortable for the evening meals and card games at night. The light is driven from the battery driven by the solar panels. Pretty nice when it is snowing outside. In spite of this luxury, we go to sleep about 8 pm each night with a hot water bottle.
The day then starts at 7 am when the sun hits the tent and milk tea is delivered to us.
Other than that the Pope is German, the only real news we have of the outside world is the English football scores. Personally, I enjoy being in this isolated world where the focus is the big hill behind us. I do a lot of reading. My little red folding chair is great! I can even sit on it in my tent. A typical afternoon is spent reading and listening to music on my MP3 player. For all you Apple fans, iPods don't work at this altitude! Something to do with lack of air pressure.... At camp 3 (7300m), the air pressure was only 400mb (compared to 1000mb for normal sea level.
Weather-wise, for the past 2 weeks it has been sunny in the morning, then clouds up mid day with snow late afternoon. There is a cool breeze, so never hotter than about 8C outside when the sun is shining. Light winds most of the time. The only bad day was when I went to Camp 3!
Overall I'm very healthy and no problems, I do have a cough when I breathe cold air, but that isn't unusual. As long as it doesn't get worse I'm fine. I'll provide an update when I get back down again. Having most of the preparation done means I can relax a lot and just enjoy going up and down. Only 3 of us have spent the night at Camp 3 (7300m) so far, so most of the others went up this morning (Tuesday) to try and go up to there.
Thanks for all the support!
Rob
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