BC to C2  20,000 May 19, 2009 Mild and Windy

This morning we moved all the way from BC to C2.  We skipped C1 as supposedly we are acclimatized enough now not to need the intermediate stop.  Unfortunately, the food and water (or fuel to melt snow for water) that were suppose to be a C1 we did need.  I was not a happy camper.  It took Puchhang and me about 4 hours to go through the ice fall including a short stop at the place where Lapka was last seen and at a wide flat spot called the football field.  By the time we started for C2 from C1 the sun was beating down in the Cwm.

I wish I could describe how hot it feels.  It is a very common sight in the Khumbu region now to see parabolic cookers in the villages. These things look like satellite dishes pointed at the sun.  A cooking pot filled with water is at the focal point and within a few minutes it is boiling away.  They have been a great ecological improvement over the burning of wood down lower.  I suppose at the altitudes where yak dung is the primary fuel they are saving yaks from having to toil(et) making all that fuel.

I have a new name for those parabolic cookers “cwm cookers” – same principal.  The sun reflecting off the Lhotse face, western rib, and Nuptse is focused on anything moving in the Cwm.  What I had done two weeks before three hours in very windy and cold conditions would take almost five hours today and I was leading the pack.  I was so dehydrated I couldn’t work up a spit.  Eventually someone from C2 met us about 30 minutes below camp with some cold juice.  There have been some tough days on Everest where I collapsed into the tent when I got where I was going but this may (the only non-technical virtual stroll on the whole climb) have been the worst.  It is just a good reminder of the importance of good hydration and food intake.

It is frequently a challenge to stay hydrated and eat regular.  In the ice fall there is one place where it is generally considered safe enough to take a break.  It is an area commonly referred to as the “football field”.  It’s more like a tennis court.  It qualifies as being flat because you can sit down without having to clip in or dig your crampons into the ice to keep from sliding downhill.  You quickly learn to master the Lhotse squat where you dig your crampon spikes into the ice and bend your knees so your butt slides up against your heels. You also need to be very careful taking that backpack off lest it start home without you.  The “football field is about 2/3rds of the way through the ice fall so a person moving slow can easily go three hours without a break.  That is probably the worst place in terms of where you really can’t stop but there are plenty of multi hour stretches on Everest where it is just too scary or too much trouble to stop.  I would recommend anyone who is Everest bound needs to add a little starvation and dehydration to your training routine.

The first time I ever went climbing was on Rainier in Washington.  I was on a training seminar and the guide said “some of you guys are overdressed”.  He was looking at me.  But I was from the south, it was snowing and in middle Georgia that means you wear everything you own.  An hour later I was so hot I was throwing up.  It was an auspicious start to my climbing career.  Ever since that time I have tried to be careful about clothes.  I’ve learned the quickest way to get hypothermic is actually to wear too much.  The minute you sweat you are in danger.  So a good rule of thumb for me is to be sure I am mildly cold when I leave camp.  Eventually I will begin to warm up from exertion.  Unfortunately, most of the rules just don’t apply on Everest.  You do the best you can and you don’t pass up a chance to adjust clothing, drink or eat because it may be hours before you get another.  But ultimately you are going to spend a fair amount of time uncomfortable.  Of course, if you wanted to be comfortable you could have done it for a lot less money by staying home.

We finally pulled into C2 looking like refugees.  C2 is probably my least favorite place on earth.  It is at the end of long shallow pile of rock along the western rib.  It extremely crowded, a lot like base camp but without the views.  We eat an early dinner and go to bed.  It is much to cold here to be out at night.  Tomorrow is a rest day before we move to C3 and go on oxygen.