[From Val] After 58 days, we are finally ready to go

Fifty-eight days after leaving home, we are ready to make our summit push. A lot has happened in between.

We have made it through the many restrictions imposed due to the Chinese climb on the north side. Made it through the excitement and dread of the rumor mill up until their summit on day 47.

We have become comfortable with the route up to our high points so far. In the icefall, that may mean that we clip the rope sometimes, and other times we choose to move more quickly through a straightforward section. Sometimes we now move two ladder rungs at a time. Sometimes that means arm-rappelling down a steep section, or going ahead and doing a full-on rappel down the Lhotse face when you are tired. It means adjusting how you climb the steep Lhotse face, focusing on your legs to carry you up, and not too much on your arms. (The picture attached is of me heading up the Lhotse Face--on a more mellow section of the Face, followed by PhuNuru and others.)

We’ve learned what food fuels us best. Now we know that a fresh apple at C1 on the way to C2 is exactly what you will crave after 4 hours of almost non-stop climbing in the icefall. Or that keeping a hard candy in your mouth at all times helps with both energy and coats your throat to help avoid the Khumbu cough. Or that 1.5L of water on the way to C2 just isn’t enough (luckily the Indian Army has a great custom of bringing juice down 1 km from camp and are generous with their Tang and biscuits).

We have strategically placed our gear on the mountain: down suit ready to go at Camp 2, down gloves ready in the C4 bag, food that will hopefully taste good up high all packaged in bags by camp. We’ve practiced with the oxygen setup, changing the regulator as we will on the Balcony, practiced walking around camp with the oxygen, now knowing it will be hard to see our feet as we walk above Camp 4. Through the great help of many many Sherpas, the route through the South Col is already fixed and the camps in between are all set up, and by the 21^st the route should be complete to the summit.

As you saw in Monty’s post, our intended summit day is May 23—we’re hoping our health and energy levels stay strong, the weather window stays open and relatively calm, and that we receive that little bit of extra luck to make it to the summit!

Namaste,
Val