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Going Higher: Up to Camp II
by Liesl Clark
At 4:30 a.m. a low deep hiss hits the senses before cognition
arrives. It's a sound like no other that seeps into your
dreams until you awaken to reality; you're at Everest Base
Camp. Someone is already in the kitchen tent heating up water
for morning tea. Throughout the day the hiss of the kerosene
stove will continue—it's our lifeline of fuel and fire
to heat water and food. Without it, we'd be unable to survive
up here at 17,600 feet. Ice crystals cling to the roofs of our
tents, the remains of frozen breaths from a long night of
sleep in zero-degree temperatures.
Today David Breashears, Jangbu Sherpa, Pete Athans (our
climbing digital cameraman), and our team's three climbing
Sherpas are all heading up the Icefall to Camp I, and then on
to Camp II. Ed Viesturs and David Carter are at Camp II,
having spent several nights up there already, for
acclimatization.
I throw on several layers of clothing before unzipping the
tent door to crawl out into the early morning freeze. There's
no movement outside, the stars are out, and the peaks stand
silently, waiting for the first rays of sun to hit them. An
early morning stumble to the kitchen tent demands a concerted
effort in coordination, to avoid tripping over the many shaped
stones that layer the ice of the glacier.
You have to duck down to enter through the hanging tarp "door"
of the kitchen tent, and a cup of milk tea is handed to you
the moment you step inside. David, Pete, and Jangbu cradle
warm cups in their hands as they sit on the stone seats that
make up the kitchen tent's walls. A blue tarp acts as the
ceiling for the kitchen's stone structure, which is lined on
one side with cans of vegetables, sugar, and powdered milk. In
the center of the tent is a stone table where the two kerosene
stoves hiss all day long.
Why do the climbers have to leave so early for a trip through
the Icefall? "You want to get in there before the sun hits,"
explains David. "It not only gets so hot up there you can
barely move, but with the sun's heat there's the perception
that the Icefall becomes less stable and large pieces of
glacial ice can come tumbling down on top of you." Twice
already, ladders have come down on the route through the
Icefall, putting a stop to all traffic between Base Camp and
Camp I. "Generally when that happens, it means the ice that
the bottom ladder was set on just gave way," interjects Pete
Athans. "And, it just means time for the ladders to be re-set
again."
Continue: The Magic Hour
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