As is usual at the North Col, we are woken by the sun at about 6 am and start getting preparing for the trip up to Camp 2 - which will be a record height for all of us. I struggle with my breakfast but am not sure whether this is my appetite going or simply that I am not keen on rehydrated porridge and strawberries. As a result I take a wider range of food for the next few days than I had planned which means that my bag is quite a bit heavier than I had hoped.
Gus doesn't appear to want to get out of bed and hasn't really moved by the time I leave at a bit after 8, complaining of stomach issues - I just hope that this is not a continuation of the revenge of the chicken!
Right from the start I am feeling strong and soon end up walking with some Sherpas again - eating two meals a night seems a recipe for success; I will just have to see how long I can carry it on for.
The plan is to start using oxygen at some point today as the key to summiting Everest is using as little energy as possible on these two days to start your summit bid with as much energy as possible. I end up leaving this until quite late on and am surprised at how little noticeable effect there seems to be. So I try a few things out and it appears to be that the regulator provides a set flow of oxygen (I was using 1.5 litres a minute) and this doesn't do a lot to the large amount of deep breaths that I take. If I move slower and breathe slower and deeper, I seem to get a much better return from the oxygen. This was something I was always concerned about as I use a very large amount of air when scuba diving.
The day is a snow slope for about 500m vertical with a range of gradients and then rock and rubble for another couple of hundred metres; there is quite a bit of scree which makes the final route into camp pretty tiring. Camp is very spread out with tents on any available ledges and many of these ledges are rather concerning with most tents having up to a couple of feet hanging in thin air - especially worrying as we are being buffeted by the high winds keeping us off the summit! These make putting our tents up a cold and tiring business but provide great relief when we finally get inside - the sun is pretty strong so it is actually quite warm in the tents.
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| Getting ready to head up to Camp 2 |
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| All set to head up the mountain |
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| A long line of other climbers |
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| Getting close to the transition to rock here - Camp 2 is the mass of yellow tents above |
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| Climbing through the rocks |
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| Final few climbs up to Camp 2 |
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| A very rocky Camp 2 with the weather coming in - pretty difficult to pitch tents in such conditions! |
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| Erecting our tent on a pile of rocks |
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| After the weather clears, we get some great views |
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| View back along the North East ridge |
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| View out across the Himalaya |
Food goes well again and I manage two meals in the afternoon / evening. It's a shame I haven't been able to make more of a dent in my snack bag as that is really pretty heavy - quite a few snickers, mars and other assorted sweets. But they will (hopefully) keep me going on summit day!
My main concern at the moment is my ribs which continue to deteriorate. I am in agony when I cough, sneeze, sit up, roll over etc. the only good thing is that it is not quite so painful when I am breathing normally; the pain goes as soon as it comes so unless there are any funny moves on summit day I should be ok and will just have to deal with the consequences when we get off the mountain.
Unfortunately, Gus hasn't been able to make it today and has returned the North Col camp. I have not been able to make radio contact yet but hear a highest altitude attempt may be on the cards for tomorrow!
At this camp it is just me and one of the Sherpas so we have a spacious tent for a change - lucky as the 'space' is in fact where the tent is hanging off the ledge and so usable for bags etc but little else.
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