Yesterday we did the same route, but today we left Camp 1 for good and moved to Camp 2.
My night was not to good as the tent was positioned wrongly, note to (Jurjen &) myself: when positioning the tent watch the mountain inclination/place the tent so that the head is higher, but never a left to right difference (a Dutch saying says: one learns whilst doing:)
Somewhere in the middle of the night I build a leveled platform (with my dawn jackets – not only good for the cold:) and from that point on I managed to get some sleep. I slept until I heard the first voices at around 8:15. I stayed in the tent until the guides told us breakfast was ready. I passed by their tent and got some backed bacon and toast bread. My thermos bottle got filled and that together with the powder gave a delicious Cappuccino. It are the small things in the mountain that give tons of joy! (Like the wet toilet paper with Aloe Vera – what a treat:)
We took down the tents and left at approx. 11:00 on time. As we knew the walk it was pretty nice. I chatted a lot with my neighbors and time flew past. In no time we were at Camp 2. The guides had prepared some small bites and Jelle gave us a last briefing concerning the weather and the climbing strategy.
The weather outlook was getting even worse for the days after the 11th. So now for sure the 11th would be the day to try to Summit. The plan is now to head to Camp 3 tomorrow with all gear + 5 kg of expedition material. The 11th we will start in two groups so the faster people would/could stay warm during the summit attempt (as there is a difference in “natural” speeds)
Because the Summit attempt will be really tough (heavy carry the day before – day 11 -not enough acclimatization – we have three day less – and strong winds – 65 km/h +) we discuss some options to lessen the effort. The two options being:
1. rent a porter for the load carry to Camp 3 (20kg at cost $ 468)
2. take Diamox
Although I feel very strong (I hoped to feel like this, but never could have expected) I need to consider both/it would be irrational not to give both options a second thought….food for thought the coming hours.