Photo Above: Breaking down Camp 3 as we get ready to descend to Basecamp.Photo below: Yveline, Elisabeth and me at Camp 1, taking a short break for lunch and tea before continuing the descent to Basecamp.
We heard the stove going in the other tent at around 7AM… it was cold again but we could see the sun coming up over the Himal Pradesh through the fabric of the tent. After tea (hot water and lemon for me) we got out and broke camp. The first part of the descent would be unroped… so we could leave on our own. The sun was bright overhead as I left at around 8:15.
The descent toward Camp 2 site was easy enough…. Plunge-stepping in deep snow. Once we hit the plateau it got more difficult as I was breaking through the lower layers up to my waist… the sun was now overhead and in the valley there was no wind… got hot.
We made our way separately to the glacier below and then Y/E and I waited there for Tendu before crossing the crevasse field. Made our way down and then up the final ascent over the moraine to our old Camp 1. Mingma had climbed up from basecamp and was preparing lunch for us… very welcome attention. We had tea, popcorn, corn, and some other goodies (Tuna for the others…). After a rest hour we headed down. On the traverses above the glacier we ran into some sketchy terrain as the heavy snow/melt days had obliterated the route and everything was sliding… with some regular rockfall from above. We realized that Raja and the others from Camp 1 were descending the glacier below… so we set out to carve steps ourselves. Then, it was Phuba to the rescue as he rounded the corner and did the heavy lifting again.
Mindful Moment: I looked out at the sketchy looking scree/snow traverse, over a drop of several hundred feet to the glacier below. I dropped my pack, reset my crampons and put on my helmet... took my axe and stepped out onto the slope, setting my crampons and pick into the squishy earth/snow. Then Phuba appeared around the corner … I watched him move out onto the slope to cut steps for us... He made it look effortless.
We slogged our way down to basecamp by about 3:30 PM. I was really tired on that final couple of hours… just slowly moving step by step. We celebrated with a Tang toast to the mountain.
Rejoined Chris who was happy that we were down safely. They had been worried about the conditions on the mountain as well. We had a great dinner with a Kalanag cake specially prepared by Mingma. Chris ate… feeling better after several days of rest/acclimatization.
Later, I got a bucket of hot water from the kitchen tent and took a sponge bath… first in a week! This felt luxurious as always after days of climbing. I did my tent-yoga practice (pretty restricted movement) and meditated. The climb was over.
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