April 21, 2007

"He who dies with the most toes, wins." — Greg Mushial

Today was a hard day, a painful day, an incredibly rewarding day. I didn't sleep much last night, whether due to anticipation or altitude I do not know. We started off at 4am the last group to leave high camp. Right off the bat as usually seems to be the case I was dragging ass, but as always I came into my own after 1/2 hour or so. It was a surreal feeling climbing in the dark, I could see the light from the headlamps of the other teams off in the distance and I was secured to Kaji by a short section of rope, but I was very much alone. Everyone is in a zone, nothing else really seems to exist, just darkness all around, you might as well be on the moon. It is an awesome experience to climb in the dark, one that I always cherish, the surrealness and utter peace and calmness of it all. All morning I felt like I was running a marathon (same exertion just in slow motion). I felt like puking and my helmet felt 3 sizes too small. Every little pain seem to be magnified 10x, at one point I feared I had severely sprained my wrist simply by turning it akwardly, the pain was that intense.
I think Kaji and I were men on a mission as we caught up to and blew by every other team on the mountain. I use the term 'blew by' as a relative term, much the same as an old man with a cane blows by a one legged old woman with a walker. We were the first team to summit reaching the top at 7:30am and every single moment of those 3 1/2 hours was exquisite (lets forget the constant suffering) from the spectacular sunrise, first sighting of Kanchenjunga, crossing an exposed ridge, ascending the fix line to the summit, those last few steps to the top and the VIEW! The view from the summit was nothing less than breathtaking (after accounting for the altitude of course). All 5 of 8000m peaks in the region were basking in the early morning rays and the shear size of Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu from that perspective, simply stunning. After perhaps 1/2 hour on top spent with only 2 other climbers we headed down before the masses arrived. While I wish I could say the descent was peachy as well, it wasn't. The views were still incredible by the heat was incredibly oppressive, even after shedding layers I still felt like I was being cooked alive, luckily the descent to high camp took only 1 1/2 hours, for a total trip time of 5 1/2 hours, which seems quite fast, another group took 10 hrs and none of the groups we passed on the way to the summit had returned when we left high camp an hour later for Mera base camp. I'm still feeling lingering effects of the altitude and sun 7 hours later but it was all worth it, and I would do it all again and in fact I will in about a week on Island peak, which although lower altitude is more technical climb.
Of curious note the one part of my body that I thought safe from the cold, my feet, were the coldest part of my body. I was wearing my Arctic expedition boots rated to -40 , heavy mountaineering socks, vapour barriersand overgaiters (insulated), if anything I thought they would be too hot. Must have been due to the lack of oxygen which hinders circulation to the extremities.
It was blizzardly for the past several hours now and temperature has dropped quite considerably along with an accumulation of several inches. I hope no one was caught on the trails in this weather, especially on Mera where with trails covered and its broad featureless slopes it would be easy to get lost. At anyrate I intend to remain as snug as a bug in my tent until tomorrow.